Ducati Desmosedici

I had one of these when they first came out. Absolutely loved the bike. Two years passed between announcement and arrival and in that time Ducati went from the 999 generation to the 1098. The comparisons were obvious and many people with 1098R's would talk about how much better that bike was on the track. Even for people that owned both, the sentiment was always that the Desmo was inferior. I didn't own a 1098R but rode one a couple of times and came away with a different opinion.

The D16RR was always a fantastically different bike. It was loud in a way that's hard to describe, it has a unique sound and recordings don't do it justice. On the gas it was impossibly loud. The power was great, but off, the fueling was off and it ran very rich for some sort of safety level that Ducati had added at the last minute. An oily layer of fuel vapor would cling to your gear and the bike. A Dynojet PC improved it dramatically. The V4 was astonishing, the delivery of power and the feel of it made it an amazing joy to ride. There was no torque, way less than a standard I4 IIRC. The power didn't take off it just added. It didn't want to wheelie, it just wanted to go. The gear driven cams were also a joy, and every time your leg touched the tank you could feel them.

For all the unusual bits, the most impressive feature it had was... comfort. It was all-day comfortable. It was so comfortable that I used it as my primary weekend bike and put as many miles as I could on it. I rode it in the snow on Palomar, I rode it in the desert during the middle of the summer and some days I put 500 miles on it.

Overall, it was my favorite bike and I would still own it today except it had a problem you would never see coming from Ducati: it was unreliable. I know you're shocked, I was shocked too.

It started with the valve springs. The race bikes didn't have valve springs, they are unnecessary with the desmodromic valve system. But without them it's a bad idler and so the factory added springs in this case. They used their amazing engineering prowess to pick out the valve springs from a Monster, nobody objected. On a bike that revved out to 14K rpm, they just snapped. Then they floated down the gear driven cams. After the usual "who cares" period at Ducati, they voluntarily issued a recall which infuriated the dealers.

It turns out the frame has to be split to get the engine opened far enough and this required something like a full work-week. Ducati of course agreed to pay the dealers for half that time at a cut-rate and the owners got in line while the service department got to that in the never week of the not happening month. For me this process lasted 2-3 months roughly. If you were to buy this bike from a collector today, it wouldn't take you any time at all, because guess they aren't going to do it for you anyway. See it turns out that a "voluntary recall" carries a key manufacturers benefit, if you don't materialize in time they don't have to do it. It's hard to say whether the BAT bike had the valve springs done, but the guy didn't mention it and they all mention it.

For me, one problem beget the other and the clutch seal failed on a weekend ride almost exactly a year after I received the bike. My totally unfounded suspicion was that the angry mechanic had half-assed the reassembly. Ducati's much more reasonable belief is that they had made a design mistake with the engine. Turns out that the oil can flow faster one direction than the other when you make left-right transitions. If you add up enough short hard turns of the wrong direction than the oil volume would end up too high on the right side and blow the seal out.

I discovered the problem when I came out of a turn, rolled on the gas and the tire spun freely. It spun so freely that it was as if the bike was in neutral, but in reality the tire was covered in oil. This thing had evacuated almost the entire oil supply with 100 yards under high pressure. I called Ducati and they demanded the bike back and ended up paying me almost full price for it. I really hesitated, I loved the bike after all that, but the US Service head very frankly called me a potential-idiot and reminded me that I effectively had owned that bike for an entire year for 5-6K or whatever.

Fast forward 5 years. I get a call out of the blue from an attorney that got my number from Ducati. Turns out that this clutch thing had happened a few times and that I was the only one that had saved it (luck not skill believe me). His client had been hideously maimed in some way and as part of pre-trial discovery, he had gotten my contact info and all of their emails concerning my bike. He then proceeded to read me over the phone these emails they had sent urging one another to lie to me to get the bike back under all costs. That's a surreal experience, I can promise you.

I'm sure I'll buy another one some day, but caveat emptor for sure.

 

Here are some more pictures, including the oil

 

That's an absolute shame.

 

I think if I ever wanted one I don’t now. lol

Sucks for you Seth, but makes for an interesting story.

 

Dookati.


Glad you are still around to tell the story!

 

Nominated for Post Of The Century. That was beautiful, sir.

 

That was by far the most interesting piece of writing I've ever read about that bike.

 

same one that was "borrowing" it?? The body is all carbon fiber... gona make that $6400/gallon paint seem cheap...lol

 

I was there, and it was the best, most satisfying thing I’ve ever seen!

I say that because the guy was a complete douche. Take any negative stereotype you could ever hear or imagine about a Ducati rider, put them altogether, and you have this motherfucker.

He was probably 35-40ish years old, had on multiple big rigs, slicked back Italian gangster hair, and a real shitass attitude.

He pulled up in a bigass truck pulling an enclosed trailer with Ducati logos all over it. Then proceeded to roll our a Desmo, Hypermotard, and 1098...and put them all under his Ducati canopy (with matching Ducati rugs, Ducati leathers, and everything).

It was like a douchegrenade went off in his pit.

...all to ride in Intermediate. For the record, there is nothing wrong with riding in Int, or having multiple Ducati’s for Intermediate, but this dude was a fucking prick.

When he walked around the paddock, he just held his head high and ignored people as if they were all peasants. He was one of those “my shit don’t stink” dudes. Even when coaches tried to help him, he would fuck them off as if he knew everything.

So then, after a few sessions, it gets time to bring out the Desmo. Rather than going to Pit-Out with everyone else, he sits looking over, and waits till they are all out on track so he could make a spectacle of himself. He proceeds to SLOWLY creep through the pits (as slow as you can possibly go on a bike without falling over), constantly blipping the throttle (to high RPMs), while looking all around to make sure everyone sees him. Keep in mind that he had the bike running for 10min in his pit.

The bike was hot, he just wanted people to look at him.

Me, Joe Melendez and Jessie Ringley go over to the fence to watch the session. Then DesmoDouche takes a left onto the entrance to Hot Pit, reaches the end and turns right onto Hot-Pit, whacks the throttle and wads his shit up in Hot-Pit.

I normally don’t laugh at people crashing, but the dude was completely fine, other than his douchemissle and his douchetastic ego.

 

Nice boots.

 

had a dude back in like 08 come to putnam park with one on the back of conversion van with a hitch carrier . he tossed it down the road in turn one , he was fine.. we were all mouth agape almost teary eyed when the crash truck brought it back in . he was all smiles it was weird... clipon rearset, bodywork so on trashed. he puts it on the kickstand opens the back on the van, and rolls out a second, mouths hit the floor. he rode fine rest of the day

 

I did a Ducati trackday at the Lausitzring (near Berlin) in 2009 or 10.

Brought along my clapped out RSV1000, where I had just put a megaphone DanMoto pipe on.

So Saturday morning, all full pits, people get excited to go out for the first session.

Dude next to us starts his desmo, heads turn everyone gets a boner.








Then I started mine and the desmo was not heard no more. Dude was so pissed.




But it got better when I passed him. Of course he got me on the long straights, but man, I think he wanted to kill me.


Loved the technology aspect of them though. And that you needed desmo -16 certified mechanics

 

It’s always fun to watch the kids go Duc hunting at track days

 

It is a shame we have people like this in motorcycling. I have been fortunate in my 40 years of riding to having some great bikes but I never thought they endowed me with superior riding ability or put me above my fellow riders.

 

This is not unique to motorcycling. I hate to say it but this is simply part of our culture - narcissism.

“I’m better than you because of my house, car, motorcycle, clothes” - the list goes on.

Honestly, it’s been one the things to which I’ve aways defaulted. Motorcycle people (racers especially) largely seem to rise above it. Some guy in Astro van with an SV pits next to some guy in a zillion dollar Prevost with the latest superduperbike(s) and it has little affect on how they treat each other. They help each other, share parts, food, stories, etc.

I think Peter Egan said it, “ Motorcycle people are the best people.”

 

Iconicmotorbikes.com has one for sale

 

Ask @DucatiBomber about “ The Podiatrist”...

 

There's a Ron White joke in there somewhere...

 

You should try the new electronic wonder bikes!

 

have you ever met @Steeltoe in person?? lol
You cant even shake his hand the ladies are crowding him 6-8 deep. Then he basically crowd surfs everywhere on a billowy pilla of size 2-6 Maxxis level wimmens. Hes Panera Pimp!!!