my name is mwd

Finally got the Ducati back today, with a hideous bill. It’s nice to have it back, but I’m a little hesitent to call it fixed until it’s ran for a week or two. Already I note that the temperature reading is off. I took it for a small run this morning after I picked it up around some of the local villages, but there’s a certain lack of trust at the moment....

So, the garage let me know (well, I phoned them yet again, as they never proactively give me information (well, I bet they will when they want money)) that the 907 is still needing work, as the alternator they were sent for it is duff too. I’m beginning to think that even if this bike gets fixed, if I have this problem every time it needs work then perhaps I’m best looking for a replacement....

Yesterday I woke up aching a bit, and decided against doing any long journeys that I’d had in my mind. The walking up hills and comfort of the 996 had taken their toll a bit :) However, the best laid plans etc… I started off with a bike up to the BMW Motorrad centre in Bishopbriggs and the Ducati garage in Glasgow. Although I’m not really in the market for a new bike (I think/hope) I’d have to go to London to try and find the nearest such shops to Cambridge, so I went to drool....

The other night I watched the MotoGP documentary film Faster, which follows the 2001 and 2002 MotoGP seasons. 2001 was the last year that the world championship was run on 2 stroke 500cc enginers, with everyone moving to 4 stroke 1000cc enginers for 2002. Popular opinion with the riders appears to be that the 500s were more fun to drive, despite the 1000s being faster. In the intro to the film there’s lots of quotes from various riders, including this one from Valantino Rossi, who happened to win both the aforementioned seasons (and every one since…):...

So, I’m clearly a cursed man. Went to take the bike for a short run today and I had problems engaging the gear and pulling off. Turns out the chain had gone. Looking at the failure point it’s clear that the link on one side broke a while back (the break is dirty/corroded) and the link of the other side just went as it’s clean. Gah. I already had to take the bike into the garage, but now I have to figure out how to get the bike to the garage....

The saga continues… I did a bit of prodding the bike with a multimeter this morning, and the battery appears not to be getting a charge, which means something somewhere is either not connected (if I’m lucky) or burnt out (if I’m unlucky). Either way, means the bike is out of action until i can get someone to look at it, and that appears to be next Friday. Oh well, perhaps I can get them to look at the non-working fuel guage whilst they’re at it....

So, the battery charged over night okay, the bike started up the firs t time fine, but on the second start I could hear the starter struggling again and the red battery warning light returned once more. I took the bike for a 20 mile run (and thus missed the gym – no bacon roll for me today then…) to see if that would help remove the red light of doom, but alas not....

Went to start the bike this morning and alas it failed to start up :( I’d noticed that the battery light was on last night as I headed home, but I didn’t have time to take it for a longer run to see if that would charge the battery up more and remove the red light (another example of a warning system that causes the problem to get worse, albeit very slightly)....