Yesterday's ride revealed, in no particular order, a lack of weight over the front wheel meaning handling was a little sketchy and didn't inspire confidence, the gear lever was too low so my boot kept on catching it as I tried to hook underneath it causing the quickshifter to chime in when not wanted and the pillion seat pad kept on making a bid for freedom.
The lack of weight over the front wasn't unexpected; I was concerned, during the build, about the clearance between the front wheel and the radiator when the forks were fully compressed so I'd lifted the whole bike up to be taller than it was before. There was no evidence from yesterdays ride of the tyre rubbing under full compression so the forks were pulled up 2 rings - about 8mm - in the yokes.
Gear lever adjusted and the pillion seat lock mechanism was lubricated and adjusted.
Took the bike out for a spin this afternoon and immediately handling was much, much better. Not as good as before, as far as I can remember, so was planning on pulling the forks up another ring. Gear lever was now in the right position and the pillion seat was resolutely staying in place.
Started giving the throttle a bit more of a workout, still nowhere wide open, but enough to develop a Pavlovian reaction that when the throttle is opened my right foot mashes the back brake pedal down to keep the front end down. That's going to be very confusing if anyone follows me, as I rapidly accelerate away from them with the brake light glowing.
The quickshifter is awesome and changes are so smooth and seamless it's difficult to tell sometimes if it's actually gone up a gear. I think a gear indicator might be a wise move, Healtech make one and if it's good as their quickshifter I'll be getting one.
So popped over to Mansfield to see the chaps at Vale Paints who did all the power coating, painting and hydro dipping...
...stopped on the way home to fill up to the brim with Esso's finest 99 RON fuel, and see what kind of fuel consumption I'm getting (130 miles from 16 litres. But the engine's running a bit too cool for my liking, not getting much over 60 degrees, which means the coolant trim table in the ECU will be richening up the fuelling and knackering the mpg. On the to do list is to make up a blanking plate to go over a portion of the radiator and encourage it to run warmer in cooler conditions).
A mile or so up the road an unpleasant noise and vibration started coming from the engine, akin to the noise a large bearing devoid of grease would make if it was being spun. Limped it to Cornerspeed as I was in the vicinity and initial diagnosis - based on Nelly's experience with 1098 engines - is a knackered main bearing.
1098's don't have a tip over switch and it is common for a bike that has been on its side in a crash to keep on running and suffer from oil starvation and damage the main bearings. Takes a little while for the damage to get bad enough to be heard.
My engine came from a Cat D write off so it's pretty likely it had been on its side and running.
Had to leave the bike at Cornerspeed as my van is in the bodyshop after a little prang a few weeks ago, once the van's back I'll go and reclaim the Ducati and investigate all the other possible causes (starter gears, water pump, flywheel etc.) before having to commit to getting the engine out and stripped down.
While I was waiting for Helen to spin over in the Smart car to pick me up I started to apply some man thinking and maths to the situation and, if the engine has to be opened up to change the bearings, how I might as well get the crank lightened and balanced and chuck some lighter rods in as well so that the rev limit can be raised and 170 bhp can be achieved.
But that's being ridiculous, given I'm nowhere near using the current power.
I will take the opportunity to wire in a tip over switch to prevent any main bearing damage post crash in future.
) means more interesting stuff for an already great thread 
