Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > General Motorcycles only > I learnt a lesson today…

[Ian]

…and thought it useful to pass it on so nobody else encounters this lesson.

Did you know that if you have you bike up on the axle paddock stand and you turn the wheel anti-clockwise (to do something like clean the chain), after a while without you noticing the wheel (and therefore bike) will unscrew itself from the paddock stand? It will very gracefully pop off before your eyes, totter there for a fraction of a second, whist your brain takes in what is happening and the chain of events that will follow. It will then follow that you will grab the bike at the first place of contact, and that place will have a sharp edge, but it being your pride an joy and the fact that the adrenalin has now kicked in you will not notice this until some time latter when it is pointed out that you are dripping blood. You will again discover that point of no return that all bikes have where they get to a certain point and you resign yourself to the inevitable that your bike will make contact with the tarmac; your only hope is to make her landing as gentle as possible. You then take a breath and shout for whatever help is at hand to lift her back to the only way that she should be. It is at this point that you recognise the old familiar site of the 2-finger brake lever. About half an hour later you discover that not every Ducati dealer has brake levers on their shelf and give you the horror stories of having to wait weeks or even months. But then, - Pro V Twins in South Godstone, Surrey come to the rescue, they have loads of parts on their shelves and even if I could not have driven over there they would have put it on an overnight delivery. Thanks Pete.

[pibbow]

Hear HEAR Brett , Pete and all at Pro Twins. Plenty stock of most things and an abundance Knoledge.

[TP]

BUGGER!!!! I hate that, I nearly dropped my 996 when I first got it like that. I literally dove underneath it to save it touching down and had a clutch lever sized hole punched in my skin for my efforts.

You want a paddock stand that has a bearing in it so that the part that goes into the wheel rotates around on it and doesn't spin off. My harris stand has one.

[Nigel C]

I still have this cluttering up my garage


http://www.ducatisportingclub.com/xm...8&pid=195 115


only £40 gotta be a bargain

[hogfisch]

I have to this day (touch wood) only ever had one spill on a bike and it was at 0mph in my garage doing EXACTLY what Ian has descibed. I thought my knee would act as a good way to break the fall. The bike had other ideas.

I was so pumped up with rage I picked the bloody thing up off the ground myself. Luckily apart from some very minor marks on the lower fairing, I got away with a snapped lever and scuffed the mirror ever so slightly.

I have got ultra paranoid about dropping the bike now. To me, it leans far to much over to the left when on the stand for my liking. Incidently, can anything be done about this?

[weeian]

Yea MotoRapido are great for parts as well !!!!!

Lol hard lesson, lucky that was all that snapped.

/ian

[MARTIN H]

Bad luck Ian, was just telling Gizmo last night that a similar thing happened to me!

I have put a new front tyre on the Multistrada and managed to drop the bike on the floor! I did that stupid thing where after lowering the front I let the bike down on the rear paddock stand and sort of let the bike flop down on to the sidestand if you know what I mean? However this time I had forgot to put the sidestand down! Horrible feeling as the bike falls past where it should be with the stand down and just carrys on all the way to the floor! ****! I was quite lucky actually as I had just placed a small mattress to sit on like you get on a camp bed type thing on that part of the floor! So the bike actually landed on that! Weird as it made virtually no noise as it landed. I had to laugh and then I picked the bike up and sure enough the gear levers bent, and then I noriced a 3 inch scratch next to the headlight where it had just very lightly skimmed the edge of my air compressor! Bugger!

Taken lever off today and got it pretty much as it should be (I heated up first) and it seems ok. No doubt it will snap when I am about 3000 miles from home?

[swannymere]

Yeah,happened to me,funny how the brain works a million times faster than the body in these situations,i fully intended throwing myself under the bike when it happened to me,unfortunately my body had other ideas and stayed put on the stool....Bugger

[RD]

Hello Comrades,

I hope everybody is well.

I've not been on our message board for a few weeks due to my own hellish customer experience with my Numptystrada
I will post a long rant soon, I just hope there is enough web space. Nothing to do with Ducati UK, in fact the Ducati dealers and Ducati UK have been excellent and really helpful.

I have the grey or silver DP paddock stand - The spindle or wheel support spins and rotates on bearings. It is a great piece of kit and highly reccommended, but I must say when I'm on my own mounting and dismounting the Numptystrada, I'm like a donkey on edge.

Ian,

I am very sorry to learn of your misfortune and I hope you and your bike are ok.
I had a broken clutch lever so I purchased a pair of DP - Race Levers. I still have the front brake lever off of my Numpty just sitting in a rucksack with other bike bits. Its yours FOC if you want it. I'll even bring it to you tonight if you like, I fancy a ride out and you're reasonably local Gatwick/Crawley. Alternatively we could meet somewhere. Just send me a U2U or call my mobile:07876-755794.

Take care and kind regards,

Richard.

[Edited on 4-8-2005 by Italian Stallion]

[Ian]

Thanks Richard, very kind offer. I did get one same day; I was panicking when one dealer told me that they were like gold dust.

Bit peeved that my bike has its first scratches, but that's life, worse things happen, bikes are for using not wrapping in cotton wool.