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time wrote:We was at the local eatary having BBQ spare ribs and beer when they pulled up. They didnt have a very throaty sound and when they put them in gear, wow, you wonder if they left a transmission behind or not .

Ha. Yeah, the dry-clutch of a Ducati can throw people for a loop when they aren't familiar with the sound. That is how they are supposed to sound though.

Ducati makes some killer bikes ... Then again, I love motorcycles. So I pretty much like every brand out there and appreciate each of them for what they have to offer.

Dragonhawk wrote: Ha. Yeah, the dry-clutch of a Ducati can throw people for a loop when they aren't familiar with the sound. That is how they are supposed to sound though.

Thank you, for the info you just gave was the reason for starting this thread, plus trying to find out if they was a good manufacturer or not. I have no concept which manufacture is high maintenance and which one is low maintenance
Information like this can tell you if you should continue your research or not. The main question was about the clutch noise and I had to wonder why I didnt see more of them locally. I asked the local bikers and none of them had seen any of them around.

qwerty wrote:When a boy pulls out his wallet and buys his first motorbike, it's usually in pretty good shape a couple years later when he trades it in. When Grampa pulls out his wallet and buys a boy his first motorbike, it's usually in a basket or scrap metal within 6 months, and Grampa often no longer has a grandson. That's just my observation. Take it with a grain of salt

One of my Grandsons is like that but the others are not. The first sportster I bought him was in better shape when we sold it, than it was when he got it. The one he has now was bought new and he has close to 65,000 miles on it. I rode it to town today, completely different center of gravity than mine had.

The last trip we took was three years ago (my health has kept me down the last two years) and we went down to Atlanta -- Birmingham -- Hattiesburg -- New Orleans -- Houston -- Arlingen -- McAllen -- El Paso -- Tucson -- Yuma -- San Diego -- the upper route home. The year before we went to New England and across to Chicago -- then down Indiana -- Tennessee -- Atlanta and then back north east to home.

I think I'm just re-itterating things, but Ducati make some lovely bikes.

As you said, your grandson rides well, and should have an appreciation of what he can handle. Only thing to watch are the service intervals, the Ducatis tend to have very very regular services, due to the valves constantly needing adjustments. There may be some after market modifications you can do for this, but I am unfamilliar with them.

They are a very well known manufacturer, and should provide the quality of service that you'd expect from Harley, Honda, Yamaha, etc. Also obtaining parts should not be too much of an issue.

Theres a huge market for Ducati, meaning there are also many aftermarket parts suppliers for them too, should your grandson wish to alter the windshield, add hard luggage, etc

time wrote:

Dragonhawk wrote: Ha. Yeah, the dry-clutch of a Ducati can throw people for a loop when they aren't familiar with the sound. That is how they are supposed to sound though.

Thank you, for the info you just gave was the reason for starting this thread, plus trying to find out if they was a good manufacturer or not. I have no concept which manufacture is high maintenance and which one is low maintenance
Information like this can tell you if you should continue your research or not. The main question was about the clutch noise and I had to wonder why I didnt see more of them locally. I asked the local bikers and none of them had seen any of them around.

Well, I personally know at least 4 Ducati owners. The "myth" is that a Ducati requires a lot more expensive maintainence than Japanese counterparts. Apparently this myth is not true.

The "truth" is that Ducati shops do charge a lot more for maintainence, but the maintainence schedule on a Ducati is really no greater than that of other bikes. Therefore, if a bike owner is the type to work on their own bike, something like a Ducati would never be an issue for them; it would cost just as much to maintain as any other bike. If a bike owner is the type to take their bike into the shop for everything, a Ducati might end up being more pricey.

Dragonhawk wrote:Therefore, if a bike owner is the type to work on their own bike, something like a Ducati would never be an issue for them; it would cost just as much to maintain as any other bike.

You're on the right track, but Ducati parts are more expensive and apparently much harder to obtain.

The big Ducati expense comes from their desmodronic valve system which uses two rocker arms, rather then one. It posivitely opens and closes the valves rather then relying upon a spring to return them to closed position. It seems that with twice as many shims it would only take twice as much work to adjust the valves, but it actually takes much more. You're looking at a 4-6 hour job to adjust the valves. And the adjustment interval is... fairly often.

However, for a modest cash output you can replace the part that wears the quickest and quadruple the miles between adjustments.

Gentlemen
To just say, I appreciate the information that all of you has given, would be a huge understatement. While everyone doesn't completely agree, there is a trend in the information that takes shape.

Out of this, has come another benefit -- my grandson has learned they can feel free to discuss with me anything that is on his mind, something I thought he knew all along. I never realized he was interested in other brands of motorcycles until now.

We are looking for some Dukati dealers so that we can talk to the mechanics and also so he can at least sit on one and hopefully try one out. After we check that out he wants to look at a Norge (never heard of that manufacture) but if he wants to look at it and consider it, I will stand behind him. We have called two dealers but they dont have any new motorcycles on hand, well not Dukati's but they would like us to come in and see their other brands. I guess we'll have to go to Atlanta.

thanks so much

time wrote: After we check that out he wants to look at a Norge (never heard of that manufacture) but if he wants to look at it and consider it, I will stand behind him.

The Norge is a Moto Guzzi sport tourer. I didn't know they'd started selling it in the U.S. yet. Here are the specs and details :

http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/Moto-Guzzi- ... orge-1200/

time wrote:Gentlemen
To just say, I appreciate the information that all of you has given, would be a huge understatement. While everyone doesn't completely agree, there is a trend in the information that takes shape.

You're most welcome