Update on The Joys of Ducati Ownership - Barry's Trials and Tribulations...

As many of you BYOBIII'ers and others from the East forum know, my brand fucking new Ducati Multistrada died at BYOB. That um, sucked... many of you asked me via PM and e-mail for a status.

Ok, well, 8pm Friday. As of today....

Phone the dealer to get a status at, oh, maybe 5:30PM on Friday. Figure they close at 6PM on Friday, they've had the bike since Tuesday, maybe they know something? When I call I'm told the bike is done. WTF? I just purchased a $12,000.00 motorcycle and the dealer doesn't call to inform me it's ready? I also assumed they'd deliver it back to me... well, if they didn't call I guess delivery is probably unlikely. No freaking whey they are delivering it on Saturday. But I jump ahead...

So, I'm on the phone asking what happened. The nice girl reads that the sheet says "fuses blown". They don't know why... not encouraging. New bikes shouldn't blow fuses. FUCK, OLD bikes shouldn't blow fuses. So, I summarize that concept for her, nicely. She suggests the mgr, who is in the middle of selling some other fuck a Ducati should call me back.

It's after 8PM, my phone has not rung...

So, the plan is, to drive to Richmond, TRAILER my new fucking motorcycle that is in my mind, unfuckingreliable, home. I'll ride it and see what happens. As for the rest of this mess, I'm done. Officially. Unless I get a revelation (read: a ton more sensible info) when I arrive Saturday, I'll be in touch with Ducati North America imfuckingmediately to ask if this is how pride of ownership is typically developed? Oh, and if the standard response when new bikes blow fuses and strand their owner is "well, it blew fuses, but we can't determine why".

To make matters even more amusing, they told me that when the fuses blew, the [HAL 9000 voice] computer shut down the bike, disabling it from starting [/HAL 9000 voice]. Lovely. It saves me from no headlight buy stranding me in the middle of nowhere???

As you can tell by my use of CAPITAL LETTERS and the word FUCK, I'm not happy... I'm going to grab a pizza and a beer... And watch The Incredibles, and hug my doggies, who do not care if my new bike runs or not.

Barry

PS - anyone got Ducati North America contact info??? I be looking...

I feel for you man ! Nothing would get me as aggrevated as what you just went through........ I will never buy a Ducati product , NEVER !

What is really scary about this is I know only six folks that "attemp" to tour on Ducati motorcycles.....And all of them have been stranded at one point or another! I don't tour with Ducatis anymore. Don't want to have to wait around while "his" bike gets sorted out......I don't own one and I don't trust them!

Now, all of that said....I still lust after a 916 and S2R.....But not for touring.

BMW, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha....in that order are the only bike worth risking your vacation on......

Well, you don't know me directly, but I've done an Ironbutt and vacation on an ST2 and toured for many years with a 900SS with zero problems or issues. Even took the LD award at a Moto Guzzi rally (which really frosted a couple of people). Frankly, I hear of way more BMW reliability issues than Ducati these days and wouldn't trust a Beemer anyway near as much as an Italian bike. Japanese bikes are pretty much in their own category though.
Lemons come in all flavors and colors (or is that oxymoranic?); some are red.

Selling my 01 M900SIe with no problems and all fuses work....I want to get a house, let me know if you are interested.

Steve
(No HAL on the 01)

Damn, Barry. Sorry to hear about your troubles. I'll talk to a guy I know and see if I can get some names at Ducati North America for you. The regional sales rep's first name is Nick. That's all I know right now - I suck at remembering names. Hell, I suck at remembering much of anything.

Could just be that something shorted out in all the rain we had last week. Sucks bad that it left you stranded and that the dealer had it for the better part of a week and couldn't figure anything out.

Good luck getting this sorted out.

Dude, what have you had that thing for like 2 weeks? The cruise messed you up. Or is the Katoom just that good?

Then I spent $12,000.00 on the wrong fucking bike...

Thanks... get me this guy's direct line and you got a dinner on me...

Michael Lock
Chief Executive Officer
Ducati North America
10443 Bandley Drive
Cupertino CA 95014

Thanks,
Barry

Barry, I'm sorry to hear about your bike. It takes the fun out of what should be a joyous "honeymoon" time after a new bike purchase.

Nope, no DNA numbers in my Rolodex.

Good luck, Barry.

Yeah, that was a pretty tough fuse block too

In the crazy off chance you are giving me the rolly eyes, and not Steve... the computer shut the bike off based on the codes it received. I'm not sure fuses would have gotten it running again. Dealer cleared the codes.

As for putting fuses in it and going merrily on my way, something causes fuses to blow. I wasn't about to load up and roll only to possibly get stranded somewhere even more remote.

If the rolly eyes are for Steve... disregard.

Barry

You deserve what you get you promiscuous bastige, your nothing but a bike whore almost as bad as Steverino - and that's really really bad (actually I hate to see a biker suffer - even U)

Barry, chill a little. Your new motorcycle blew a fuse and you're going postal. Fuses can be defective too. While the dealer should have called you, what are you expecting Ducati to do now? Replace the wiring harness? Give you a new bike?

What happens in these situations is you replace the fuse and monitor. If it blows a 2nd time, then you start tearing into it.

- Mark

The bike was having issues the whole way up to BYOB, something to do with the headlight. It was most likely due to the rain. If that's the case, sorry dude, you did get the wrong bike. I would be fucking pissed off too! Good luck!

Good point...

Here is a kooky update... picked the bike up - my time/my gas - this morning from the dealer. They have ZERO clue as to why the fuses blew. Had the bike a week. Could not duplicate the problem.

Didn't even get it into my garage and the bike had no high beem or indicator. Then it had no headlight... then after I called the dealer, I figured, hell, lets see if it's like BYOB and it won't start.

Shocker. Didn't start.

Monday, lawyer... consider me done.

Barry