Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > You just have to laugh!

[ChrisBushell]

I got a phone call on the way to Heathrow, to collect the other half, from my Son. Turns out his bike has broken down and is making a terrible noise.

Luckily, he is only a mile or so from his mates house, so they come out and push him in.

Went round yesterday morning and put the bike on the trailer to bring it home.

Turned the fuel on, put the choke on and pressed the button and it starts up but runs rough. Am informed that this is a better noise than the one it was making the previous evening. So at least it wasn't some horrendous mechanical fauilure.

Bike starts to run rough and rattle. so switch over to reserve and it recovers. Relief sets in, but continue to make loud sucking and oh no type noises for benefit of said Son.

We take the tank off and I manage to get just under a litre of fuel out of the tank. I am amazed that it even ran on the main fuel position.

Son has had to sit down by now, having thought that he had blown it up!

Took the tank right off and found that some hamfisted previous owner had crushed the inlet pipe on the plastic petrol filter, so that was why it was missing at the top end.

To cap it all having filled it up with petrol, the hose between the tap and the filter has now sprung a leak so we are going to have to replace that this morning.

I just loved the comment "well I put a tenner's worth in over a week ago, why has it run out?"

He has now discovered the trip milometer and realises that the bike does 45mpg!

[Monty]

So he has discovered that a 600 supersport does less to the gallon than a 125??-hmmm, I wonder how long it would have taken him to figure that out without 'breaking down'...............

I remember doing something similar when I had a 350 B31 BSA back in the mid 60's-had to push it about 2 miles home because it ran out of fuel-I was in high dudgeon about 'some b4stard syphoning my tank'. Then we sat down and worked out where I had been since I filled the 4 gallon tank-it was about 250 miles-so better than 60 to the gallon-taught me a valuable lesson that-as I am sure this has for Ben.............

John