Ducati Scrambler 2015

[BSJ]

"I wish I wish upon a star a new XS to carry me far

my old one did in 71 and riding it I felt "Top Gun"

So Yamaha star where ever you are you made the SR

now it's time for another old one

Green and chrome so when ever I roam

I can think of my first one I had back home"

If KWaka can do the W650....800, Yami can do the XS650!

Edited March 13, 2015 by BSJ

[eeeya]

Anyone have any info on what parts are / will be available for the scramblers? So far a search only reveals hat and scarf options.

Jokes aside ive only really seen the stick on panel for the fuel tank and maybe handlebar options. But what else? They're talking wireing loom with interchangeable connectors. What could it be for? Its got the USB under the seat.. What can it do? does it supply charging power only or is it connected to the ECU as well?

[eisfeld]

You can find that information on the official site.

Apparel: http://scramblerducati.com/en/apparel

Accessories: http://scramblerducati.com/en/accessori (page seems to be broken right now, just wait for it to come back)

[eeeya]

You can find that information on the official site.

Apparel: http://scramblerducati.com/en/apparel

Accessories: http://scramblerducati.com/en/accessori (page seems to be broken right now, just wait for it to come back)

Thanks.. seems like a logical place to look.. ha!

Thailand manufacturing...from FB

Edited March 16, 2015 by eeeya

[eisfeld]

Here a very nice video for anyone wondering if this thing can do a bit of offroading (french audio but english subs):

[nikster]

^^ nice review!!!

[jamesjohnsonthird]

Good to see the Ducati guy in the woodchopper shirt get whacked. Best part of the movie.

Riding like it's an Enduro, looks pretty heavy on those jumps.

I would say this bike is 90% pavement - 10% dirt road bike.

Trail bike? I don't think so.

Edited March 22, 2015 by jamesjohnsonthird

[eeeya]

Full throttle available May .. Says ducati at paragon

[eisfeld]

So, I got my Scrambler last saturday after an initial small delay (should have been wednesday). Delivered it back to the dealer in Phuket via truck last night.

While driving home the rear break stopped working suddenly while I was riding on a smooth road, not fast and generally relaxed riding because break-in.

I thought the break lever was stuck or something as I couldn't push it down. Front break luckily still worked or I would be in huge trouble.

Then noticed the red oil warning light on the dash goin on, and then noticed a lot of smoke coming from the rear of the bike. Immediately stopped at the side of the road

and noticed the whole mid to back of the bike was covered in oil! The frame, swingarm, tire, exhaust (where the smoke came from), chain, seat... just about everything.

I am not sure what exactly happened but it's most likely that some part of the break started leaking the break fluid onto the tire and distributed from there.

The Ducati guy said this morning it'll take them probably 1-2 days to find out what the cause was and fix everything.

Of course things like this can happen anytime to any vehicle but the fact that they didn't provide me with the number for the insurance (stupid me forgot to check) would have left me stranded by the side of the road wasn't it for the sales guy in BKK who picked up his phone sunday night and gave me a contact at the insurance who then sent a guy to check the bike, call the truck and drive me home. I had to pay 3k THB for the truck and hopefully will get this reimbursed by the insurance or Ducati or I'm gonna be even more pissed. The insurance guy said he couldn't understand how I didn't crash the bike with so much oil on the tire.

Ride report will follow when I get the bike back and can do some more riding. For now: not impressed with my first Ducati ownership experience for a couple of reasons.

[wantan]

Sad to hear. Hope you get your bike back soon and we can see lots of pictures of a nice bike and a happy owner.

Correct me if i am wrong but brake fluid usually isnt "oil", so much less danger of accident i guess. But lots of danger for paint and rubber parts and so on as brake fluid is very agressive. You should check your bike carefully for possible damage caused by this.

I do not agree with "things like this can happen anytime to any vehicle". We are talking about a brake on a new motorbike that just left the factory. Assuming that noone has damaged the brake line on delivery. But even then, they should have checked the bike carefully before handing it out to you. Faults on brakes on new motorbikes arent excusable in any way imo.

[eisfeld]

You are probably right that it isn't really oil but it felt oily. We'll see what the report says from the mechanics.

Very good point about the danger of damage to the material and this is what makes me feel really uneasy because this stuff was really everywhere in big quantities and will be a huge pain in the ass to check. How are they even gonna clean it from inside the exhaust and other more difficult spaces? I wish they'd just give me a new bike.

Wonder what my chances are requesting a new one hm. Probably slim this being Thailand and all.

You are also right that a new bike should not have breaks that ... break so quickly. But it could be a freak occurance, will be interesting to hear if more owners start having issues.

[Dutchbike]

.

Then noticed the red oil warning light on the dash goin on, and then noticed a lot of smoke coming from the rear of the bike. Immediately stopped at the side of the road

Sorry to hear that, you where looking so much foward to your new bike.

In my opinion, you should be given a brand new bike, if it was indeed brake fluid, there's no way they can clean that up. and what about the red oil warning light?

Ducati Thailand got some quality control isues to sort out.

But the Scrambler is still a very nice bike.good luck sorting things out.

[nikster]

You are probably right that it isn't really oil but it felt oily. We'll see what the report says from the mechanics.

Very good point about the danger of damage to the material and this is what makes me feel really uneasy because this stuff was really everywhere in big quantities and will be a huge pain in the ass to check. How are they even gonna clean it from inside the exhaust and other more difficult spaces? I wish they'd just give me a new bike.

Wonder what my chances are requesting a new one hm. Probably slim this being Thailand and all.

You are also right that a new bike should not have breaks that ... break so quickly. But it could be a freak occurance, will be interesting to hear if more owners start having issues.

I hope you took lots of pictures. That can aid in any negotiations later on, should they not give you what you want. "Look a brand new Scrambler leaking oil" all over internet forums would be a PR problem and avoiding such a PR problem would be worth some money - by doing the right thing and fixing it & replacing all damaged parts and re-imbursing you.

Not an auspicious start for Scrambler Thailand... shoddy quality control there. The test bike I was riding was good so hopefully this was just a freak occurrence.

Lucky you didn't crash!

Edited March 30, 2015 by nikster

[wantan]

.

Then noticed the red oil warning light on the dash goin on, and then noticed a lot of smoke coming from the rear of the bike. Immediately stopped at the side of the road

Sorry to hear that, you where looking so much foward to your new bike.

In my opinion, you should be given a brand new bike, if it was indeed brake fluid, there's no way they can clean that up. and what about the red oil warning light?

Ducati Thailand got some quality control isues to sort out.

But the Scrambler is still a very nice bike.good luck sorting things out.

I guess the red light was the ABS warning light (lower left)? Or the oil sign (lower right) is used as a general warning light indicating a failure? But usually the ABS light should indicate a failure of the brakes, shouldnt it?

Which light was it?

[eisfeld]

nikster: yes I took a lot of pictures of the bike from all angles, the street (where you can see a trail of leaked fluids) and even of the service truck guys when they fastened the belts.

wantan: no it was the oil light, the red one between 4k and 6k RPM. But this opens an interesting question, should the ABS light have come on? IIRC it didn't.

[Dutchbike]

and noticed the whole mid to back of the bike was covered in oil! The frame, swingarm, tire, exhaust (where the smoke came from), chain, seat... just about everything.

I am not sure what exactly happened but it's most likely that some part of the break started leaking the break fluid onto the tire and distributed from there.

The Ducati guy said this morning it'll take them probably 1-2 days to find out what the cause was and fix everything.

.

Then noticed the red oil warning light on the dash goin on, and then noticed a lot of smoke coming from the rear of the bike. Immediately stopped at the side of the road

Sorry to hear that, you where looking so much foward to your new bike.

In my opinion, you should be given a brand new bike, if it was indeed brake fluid, there's no way they can clean that up. and what about the red oil warning light?

Ducati Thailand got some quality control isues to sort out.

But the Scrambler is still a very nice bike.good luck sorting things out.

I guess the red light was the ABS warning light (lower left)? Or the oil sign (lower right) is used as a general warning light indicating a failure? But usually the ABS light should indicate a failure of the brakes, shouldnt it?

Which light was it?

Just wondering how much cc of brake fluids a rear brake system holds? yet "and noticed the whole mid to back of the bike was covered in oil! The frame, swingarm, tire, exhaust (where the smoke came from), chain, seat... just about everything"

I expect there's more things went wrong with the OP's bike then a leaking rear brake.

[wantan]

Maybe it was real oil on the rear brake and thats why it felt like the "brake lever was stuck"? That would explain the oil lamp and the huge quantity of "oil" at least. How much cc has the rear circuit of an ABS brake?

Edited March 30, 2015 by wantan

[Dutchbike]

^My guess would be, not much more then 50/75cc brake fluid in a rear brake system.

[wantan]

Yes, it cant be that much brake fluid. And i find it hard to believe that a Brembo brake on a new Ducati fails within the first few kilometers. The quality control cant be that bad. These brakes must have been double/tripple checked i would guess.

[OmegaRacer]

Brake fluid or engine oil...whatever it was, I feel you're in a good position to ' politely but firmly demand' a new bike.

Good nothing more serious happened!

[DILLIGAD]

Brake fluid or engine oil...whatever it was, I feel you're in a good position to ' politely but firmly demand' a new bike.

Good nothing more serious happened!

I agree but knowing Thai customer service (or lack of) , I don't think you will have a cat in Hells chance.

I hope I am proved wrong, for your sake.

[MAZ3]

A friend of mine had a Ducati(made in Italy)and had a bottom end knocking sound,after lots of complains no luck with the dealer or Ducati. So he stripped it down himself(he's an engineer on FI engines)and the idiots had put the shells on the wrong way round.

Sorry Sir,you've invalided your warranty. Because they didn't want to fix or admit that mistake and that was in England!.

All the best of luck here.

[jamesjohnsonthird]

That would fry me if my new Ducati had brake fluid sprayed all over it.

They can keep this one for their demo bike.

[eisfeld]

Small update: it was not brake fluid but indeed engine oil as some suspected. The mechanics checked the bike and the reason for the leak was found.

I don't want to offer more details as of yet because I am now in discussions with Ducati about it but will update once the case is closed which should be soon hopefully.

Edit: I poltiely declined to take this bike back and asked them for a new one. Awaiting answer.

Edited March 31, 2015 by eisfeld

[seedy]

Hope it works out OK for you.

[wantan]

Good luck eisfeld. Hope you are a happy Scrambler owner soon.

[NickJ]

Thaicoti....no thanks......thairumh no thanks......MGina......no thanks.....there is a limit that a die hard stomach can take.

HD forever.....

[OmegaRacer]

Thaicoti....no thanks......thairumh no thanks......MGina......no thanks.....there is a limit that a die hard stomach can take.

HD forever.....

Right.

In fact, HD are known for their reliability. And I'm sure all the purists will still hold up high the HD flag, now that the 750 is build in India and most parts come from China.

[eisfeld]

Ok so here some updates:

Monday afternoon I got a call from Ducati Phuket that my bike was ready to be picked up. Didn't have time so went there tuesday.

Ducati Thailand offered me a 30k THB voucher to be spent in April which I think was a nice offering. They explained to me that there was an engine oil leak due to some screw not having the required torque applied at the factory, which then came off slowly due to vibrations while driving.

A picture of the screw in question is attached (after it was fixed), it's the upper one of the pair in the pic.

So far so good. Bike quickly fixed and a 30k THB voucher seems like an acceptable situation. Well, if it wasn't for the fact that there was still many parts of the bike covered with an oil film! From a cursory glance it seemed like the oil was removed but I put my finger in the exhaust and there was a nice oily film.

Looking at the area of the rear mudgard that faces the tire you could even see with your eye the shiny substance. A few other places that are a bit hard to reach were also not cleaned.

Needless to say I told them I can't ride the bike like that. They offered to clean the bike again but I politely asked them to check with Ducati Thailand if I can get a new bike instead and leave my broken bike there for now. My reasoning was that the bike ran for a while without enough oil in

the engine and who knows what damage that caused to which they replied they checked the bike with the computer and all was fine.

The answer to my question if they opened the engine or other parts was a no. I explained that I cannot trust the bike because someone at the factory was not assembling it correctly AND the quality control failed too (they mark the screws to check the correct torque). On top they failed to clean the bike with enough care.

Today I got an update: I will get a new bike from Ducati Thailand but I wont be getting the 30k THB voucher. I hope they will pay at least the 3k THB for the truck.

To me a new bike is better than the old one plus voucher for two reasons:

1. who knows what damage was caused to the engine when it was running without oil and who knows what damage will come up in the future because

of the bike being covered in engine oil for an extended period of time.

2. I would not feel safe driving this bike again after that incident because the person assembling this bike might have made more mistakes and the fact that there was engine oil in areas where it shouldn't.

Also noticed the favorite shirt of my GF is damaged (cant remove the oil stains). All in all I am not happy and will voice my feeling to them.

Here two pics, one of the screw in question and one of the bike at the scene of accident. The latter doesn't do it full justice, trust me the thing was full of oil everywhere.

[wantan]

Looks to me that it was the connection of one pipe for the oil cooler that failed. This means the oil circuit was at least partly broken and indeed some parts of the engine maybe havent been lubed properly. But i am no bike mechanic expert. Its just my personal thought on this.

But you get a new bike. Thats good to hear. I would feel better too with a new bike. Hope they give you some money for your additional costs at least. Keep us updated.

Edit:

Looking at the bike covered in oil again i think you made the right decision. It looks like the engine lost liters of oil. The street must have been covered with it. What a mess. And how do they want to make sure to get rid of all the oil without disassembling everything? Taking a high pressure washer to the bike would be the typical thai like solution.

Good you noticed it and did not crash. Could have been much worser than just a dirty shirt and 3k Baht for the truck...

Edited April 2, 2015 by wantan