Extended Warranty on a Ducati; Ageis vs Ever-Red?

[PrincessFalafal]

I agree. The best commuter I had was a K1200s. Heated grips, decent fairing coverage, good ergos and (comparatively) easy, low maintenance.

Sold it after I no longer had a commute.

I actually rented one a few years ago (I think, I can't remember the exact model) and vowed to never ride one again. The split turn signals were a terrible idea, and the linked brake system that would trigger the front brake when stepping on the rear brake was infuriating. It almost made me drop it a few times in parking lots.

I had a '11 and '14 Multi, both bikes had weak/nonexistent rear braking power.

The 1290 KTMs are great [...] KTM's road bikes definitely have a bit of that "italian insanity" but IMHO they're a bit more thoughtful in their engineering and design (not always haha). I'd heartily recommend at least test riding one to see if you like it, for sure.

I might take a test ride on one, I'm not Anti-KTM as I loved my 690 Enduro. But I'm not sure I'd call them more thoughtful in design, I recall just how much of my 690 was broken from the factory. Bad rocker arms, melting turn signals, useless headlight, time bomb of a fuel pump, weak tank/subframe bolts, stupid fuel filler design, weak shock collar, etc. I would hope the 1290 has less stupidity on it.

The electronic suspension I'm kinda split on. The lazy old man in me would enjoy the push-button convenience and ability to mellow out the bike when I'm feeling soft. The hoon in me knows and likes his manually adjustable clickers and shiny Ohlins stuff that comes on the PP.

Fuck I wish my V-strom wasn't dying on me and I could have gotten another year out of it. I feel like in 2-3 years more of the smaller bikes will have keyless and will be on the lightly used market, because really I don't need the power of the big Multi or the 1290. I'd be quite happy with the 950 or 790 in terms of power, if they would just have the other features I'm looking for.

 

[PrincessFalafal]

If you're looking at the Multi and you want a bike with all the bells and whistles, look at the S1000XR as well. That's what I ended up going with.

Thanks for the pointer. I'll look at the bike, but just from the pictures on the website it looks like a kinda cramped seating position even if it is more upright. I like a tall seat and a long reach to the pegs for commuting.

 

[jeosbor1]

I have the Ever-Red on my Monster, have not had to use it yet....knock on wood.

 

[WWWobble]

Fuck I wish my V-strom wasn't dying on me and I could have gotten another year out of it.

Wait! V-stroms die?

 

[Caddywumpus]

Wait! V-stroms die?

This is clearly propaganda

 

[fubar929]

Yes it is surprising. What does the weight of the battery have to do with it?

With a higher-capacity battery, there's the possibility of powering active electronics, multiple receivers, etc. With a tiny battery that struggles to start the bike (Hello, Multistrada 1200!) you don't have much/any spare power to run a more sophisticated keyless entry system.

 

[PrincessFalafal]

Wait! V-stroms die?

This is clearly propaganda

It's noticeably down on power to the point that it struggles to keep up with highway traffic two-up, and there's frustrating problems with squishy brakes that I've been chasing for years. Maybe it's an easy fix but I'm just tired of throwing money at it to keep it going. In the last few months I've spent over a thousand dollars on maintenance; Suspension rebuild, chain and sprockets, wheel bearings, brake pads, caliper piston seals, plus the monthly fees for Motoguild and all my time doing it. Of course the smart thing would have been to get a new bike before I spent the money on this one, but oh well. The next suggested attempt at fixing the squishy brakes is calipers, which is another $600.

Not that a new bike will absolve me of those costs, but at least it'll have the convenience features that I want and won't be a frustrating thing to ride every day.

 

[Junkie]

It's noticeably down on power to the point that it struggles to keep up with highway traffic two-up, and there's frustrating problems with squishy brakes that I've been chasing for years. Maybe it's an easy fix but I'm just tired of throwing money at it to keep it going. In the last few months I've spent over a thousand dollars on maintenance; Suspension rebuild, chain and sprockets, wheel bearings, brake pads, caliper piston seals, plus the monthly fees for Motoguild and all my time doing it. Of course the smart thing would have been to get a new bike before I spent the money on this one, but oh well. The next suggested attempt at fixing the squishy brakes is calipers, which is another $600.

Not that a new bike will absolve me of those costs, but at least it'll have the convenience features that I want and won't be a frustrating thing to ride every day.

will you be keeping it or selling it?

 

[PrincessFalafal]

will you be keeping it or selling it?

I don't know. I suspect it would be worth more in parts than selling it, on the off chance that someone out there has a 2nd-gen V-Strom that they're upgrading. Rear shock, forks, master cylinder, few other goodies.

 

[Caddywumpus]

Which motoguild? SF or SJ?

Shiet id take it off your hands for free fiddy.

 

[PrincessFalafal]

Which motoguild? SF or SJ?

Shiet id take it off your hands for free fiddy.

SF. You'd reconsider if you saw it, it's an adventure bike and I adventured it pretty hard. It's been around the country, to the Arctic circle, flogged through the backroads of Death Valley, crashed in every timezone and it's got the dents to prove it.

 

[fubar929]

In the last few months I've spent over a thousand dollars on maintenance; Suspension rebuild, chain and sprockets, wheel bearings, brake pads, caliper piston seals, plus the monthly fees for Motoguild and all my time doing it. Of course the smart thing would have been to get a new bike before I spent the money on this one, but oh well. The next suggested attempt at fixing the squishy brakes is calipers, which is another $600.

If $1600 in repairs is causing you to blink, you might want to hit pause on the idea of buying an Italian bike! The "Ducati tax" is very real

 

[Junkie]

SF. You'd reconsider if you saw it, it's an adventure bike and I adventured it pretty hard. It's been around the country, to the Arctic circle, flogged through the backroads of Death Valley, crashed in every timezone and it's got the dents to prove it.

Even an ugly DL650 sells for a fair amount

I guess it's likely that you can get more for it in parts than as a whole, of course that also involves significantly more work

 

[NoobCorpse]

If $1600 in repairs is causing you to blink, you might want to hit pause on the idea of buying an Italian bike! The "Ducati tax" is very real

To be fair, I think he's lamenting the costs sunk into his older/well-loved bike, but 100% agree w/ you on the realness of the Ducati tax. Even doing partial maintenance tasks oneself instead of 100% dealer work is still expensive, but then you get down to that pesky resale value: I would be wary of ANY Ducati that doesn't have detailed service records and/or dealer documentation, unless I knew the owner / bike ownership history personally.

 

[PrincessFalafal]

If $1600 in repairs is causing you to blink, you might want to hit pause on the idea of buying an Italian bike! The "Ducati tax" is very real

Hahahahahaha, very valid point. If I do get the bike I'll be buying the warranty and pre-paying for the next six services, so . . . hopefully that'll offset the potential costs somewhat.

To be fair, I think he's lamenting the costs sunk into his older/well-loved bike

This is mostly it. I've sunk a lot of money into it and it's still got plenty of problems, plus most of the issues with it are chronic that I've been chasing for years. It's a frustrating and un-enjoyable thing to ride, the problems are getting worse and I'm just tired of it. The brakes have sucked since day one and I'm over $1,000 into trying to fix them over the years. The driveline lash has always been sloppy, it likes to pop our of second gear and back into Neutral if you're accelerating hard, the seating position has never really agreed with me, there's endless rattles and squeaks, plus it's noticeably down on power and just feels lethargic.

I bought the bike with 26k and I've spent so long living with these problems that once I got onto a bike that didn't have them, it was jarring just how frustrating of a machine I've been tolerating for the last six years while I was poor and couldn't afford anything different.

I know I'm not making a good case for the bike if I ever try and sell it on here, but I also wouldn't want a barfer to buy it without knowing exactly what's going on.

 

[davidmc]

OP, have you ridden the BMW R1200GS? Keyless ignition, great for commuting and a nice step up from your Wee Strom. Now that the new 1250GS is out, there should be some decent used ones available. Shaft drive is nice too. I put over 110k on my 2008 GS commuting and it was super reliable.

 

[fubar929]

Hahahahahaha, very valid point. If I do get the bike I'll be buying the warranty and pre-paying for the next six services, so . . . hopefully that'll offset the potential costs somewhat.

It's not just the maintenance that's more expensive; everything is more expensive. I bought an SW Motech rack for my 2003 FZ1. That rack was a pricey $200. The same rack for the 2016 Multistrada 1200S was $300! Here's the best part: the Multi rack actually has far fewer parts than the FZ1 rack. You'll find that lots of aftermarket parts and accessories are more expensive for Ducatis than other brands despite the fact that they aren't substantially different. That's another big part of the Ducati tax...

 

[mrzuzzo]

Hahahahahaha, very valid point. If I do get the bike I'll be buying the warranty and pre-paying for the next six services, so . . . hopefully that'll offset the potential costs somewhat.

you really don't learn... there is a reason everyone told you in this thread to not buy a Ducati as a commuter.

It's your turn to feel the pain I guess.

 

[Blankpage]

Owning a Ducati is like owning a helicopter

 

[UDRider]

I use my hyper for commuting, but then again I have second bike, and a car. For backup. Also I'll be selling it more then likely. Lol