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Recall: Ducati XDiavel S

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It looks we’ll see two Ducati recalls this week. In addition to the Ducati 1199 Superleggera recall we saw on Monday, the 2016 Ducati XDiavel S is also getting a recall from Ducati North America.

This recall centers around the rear wheel on the Ducati XDiavel S, which may have been installed incorrectly onto the wheel hub. This recall affects only the XDiavel S model, and encompasses 925 motorcycles in all.

If the rear wheel was incorrectly installed on the hub, this may cause the drive pins to fail, which would result in a loss of brakes and power from the engine.

Since a failure of this type could lead to the motorcycle crashing, Ducati North America has issued a recall with the NHTSA.

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Bikes

This Time-Lapse Video Shows What It Takes to Recall a Yamaha YZF-R1 Gearbox

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The gearbox recall for the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 was a massive undertaking. In total, the recall affected 2,921 motorcycles, with Yamaha estimating almost 16 hours of labor per bike in order to change out the gearbox. That’s a lot of shop time for each individual motorcycle.

That time isn’t cheap either, and the cost of the labor alone was somewhere around the $5 million mark. By the time you threw in the cost of the parts, the R1 recall likely cost Yamaha somewhere north of $10 million.

To get a sense of how long that recall work took, checkout this time-lapse video that a mechanic made while working on one of the affected superbikes. Be sure to note that the video spans two days of shop time. It’s quite the process.

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Recall

Recall: Ducati 1199 Superleggera

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Ducati North America is recalling the Ducati 1199 Superleggera for an issue in its clutch assembly. The recall affects all 168 units that were sold in the USA – bikes manufactured between April 8th, 2014 and November 13th, 2014.

According to Ducati North America’s filing with NHTSA, the damper plate assembled between the primary driven gear and the clutch basket assembly could break due to fatigue.

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News

California Lane-Splitting Bill Moves Forward

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California just moved closer to codifying lane-splitting in its vehicle code, as California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51) just passed the California State Senate Transportation Committee, with a 11-0 vote.

This means that AB 51 now will go before the State Senate Appropriations Committee, before it can be presented to the Senate floor.

For those who don’t recall AB 51, the bill aims to codify lane-splitting into the California Vehicle Code, and the bill expressly permits state actors, like the California Highway Patrol (CHP), in developing and teaching educational guidelines for safe lane-splitting.

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Recall

Recall: KTM 1290 Super Adventure

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Attention KTM 1290 Super Adventure owners, KTM North America is recalling 1,238 units of the adventure-touring machine for a faulty rear shock.

According to a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the rear shock on the KTM 1290 Super Adventure may leak oil from the rebound damping plug, which could result in a loss of shock function.

Since the loss of function from the rear shock can affect the handling of the motorcycle, which could result in a crash, a recall was issued with NHTSA.

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MotoGP

Saturday MotoGP Summary at Catalunya: Dealing with Danger, Data-Driven Design, & the Right to Complain

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What does the MotoGP paddock do the day after a rider dies? Carry on as normal. Or nearly normal: bikes circulate, riders compete, but conversations are more hushed, the mood muted. The whole paddock is a quieter place, bar the bellowing of racing four-stroke engines.

Heartless? That is putting it a little strongly. It is in part a coping mechanism, immersing yourself in your work to avoid dwelling on tragedy, and thinking too much about danger.

But it is also a response to the request of Luis Salom’s family and team. When Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta asked them what they wanted to do, they said they wanted the race to go ahead.

Their wishes would be respected, but it was not the first choice of everyone in the paddock. Danilo Petrucci told the Italian press he would have preferred to have packed up and gone home, and he was not alone.

“Yesterday I was crying together with my brother because [Luis Salom] was really young,” Aleix Espargaro told us. “This is a disaster. With Pol we were thinking that the best thing was to not race because actually now I feel empty inside.” We all felt empty inside, and still do.

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MotoGP

Opinion: On Motorcycle Racing, Danger, & Death

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“MOTORSPORTS CAN BE DANGEROUS” it says on the back of my media pass, the hard card I wear around my neck and which gives me access to the paddock and the media center.

It says the same thing everywhere around the circuit: on rider passes, on the back of tickets, on signs which hang on fences around the circuit.

You see it so much that it becomes a cliché, and like all clichés it quickly loses its meaning. Until reality intervenes, and reminds us that behind every cliché lies a deep truth.

Friday brought a stark reminder. During the afternoon session of free practice for the Moto2 class, Luis Salom exited Turn 11 and got on the gas towards Turn 12.

Just before the turn, traveling at around 170 km/h, the rider caress the front brake to help the bike turn through the fast right hander of Turn 12, an engineer told me.

At that point, Salom lost control of his bike, fell off, and he and his bike headed towards the air fence which protects the wall there.

They slid across a patch of tarmac put in to help the cars if they run straight on at that corner, and Salom’s bike hit the air fence and wall, careened off the wall and into Salom, fatally injuring him.

Salom received treatment in the corner, and was then taken to a local hospital where doctors did all they could to save his life. Sadly, they could not. Luis Salom died at 4:55pm on 3rd June 2016, at the age of 24.

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News

California Making Moves to Codify Lane-Splitting

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Riding a motorcycle in California is pure bliss. Motorcyclists benefit from the state’s perpetual sunshine, its gold-kissed coasts, and of course lane-splitting for two-wheelers. Lane-splitting in California, from a legal stand-point, is sort of awkward though.

There is no law that grants motorcyclists the privilege of lane-splitting, but that doesn’t really matter when it comes to the California Vehicle Code (CVC), since there is also no provision that prohibits it.

I wouldn’t say lane-splitting in California is legal only by a technicality, but the Golden State would benefit from some more formalized words on the practice, beyond the CVC’s default that all motorists should operate their vehicles in a “safe and prudent” manner.

That might change this year though, as Assembly Bill 51 (last year’s attempt to codify reasonable lane-splitting rules) is getting an update. This is both good and bad news.

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Recall

Recall: Honda Gold Wing Airbags

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If you follow the four-wheeled world at all, you will know that there has been a massive recall for vehicles equipped with Takata airbags. The recall affects roughly 34 million vehicles in the United States, at last count, though more seem to be added each week, my own four-wheeler included.

The size of the recall is due mostly to the fact that Takata makes the majority of vehicle airbag systems, and their design is fairly universal. In fact, it’s so universal that Takata even powers the airbags found on the Honda Gold Wing, which brings us to this story.

For the same reason that millions of cars are being recalled, American Honda is recalling 2,701 Honda Gold Wing motorcycles that were equipped with an airbag feature.

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WSBK

Video: Chaz Davies’ Ducati Panigale R Erupts in Flames

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Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. That was the case for Chaz Davies at Donington Park today, as the Ducati rider found his Panigale R race bike going up in flames during FP2.

An unknown mechanical issue forced Davies to pull off the track, and not long after getting his bike to a stop did flames started erupting out of his Ducati Panigale R.

The bike was a total loss, and the whole ordeal cost Davies a valuable time during the practice session, but at least Davies didn’t have to abandon ship at full-speed – like Colin Edwards did on the Aprilia RS Cube.

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Columns

The Next, Next Big Thing: Action Cameras

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I know what you are already thinking, everyone and their mom already has an action camera. To make matters worse, GoPro (the leader in this realm) has seen its stock price drop in what can only be described as a complete free fall for the past month, thanks mostly to lagging sales.

So, how can action cameras be the next, next big thing in the motorcycle industry? The answer is a simple one, if you will allow me to explain.

The next, next big thing for motorcycles isn’t the cameras themselves – those are basically already at commodity status for consumers – but instead the future for action cameras resides in integrated camera platforms for motorcycles, and other action sports.

There is a lot of business school “bullshit bingo” in that last statement, so let me break it down to you in human-speak.

Motorcycle brands need to realize how consumers are using their vehicles, and adapt to meet those needs directly. In this case, it means offering an integrated video recording solution with their motorcycles.

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