Dropped my 999R for the first time

[John]

Out of all the vehicle possessions I have had, I'm responsible for all the damage to them. To my Dodge Ram at the gas station, I opened the door on a pumplock metal pole I didn't see. Big dent. Same truck while backing out of a customer's loading dock just as my customer started to raise his hand I turned my wheel into his dipsty dumpster, smashing to hell my left quarter panel. In a hurry tying down my 916 because I was late for a dinner after MotoGP, a few potholes later I experienced throw-up in my throat when I opened the side door. The bike was on its side laying on another metal chock, lotsa broken parts. When I put my kickstand down on a ride to a lake, jumped in the lake when someone yelled "hey, one of your bikes just fell over!" Mine being the only red Duc, someone yelled, "what color is it?" "RED". Ouch, blew up the nose fairing, mirror on the ground, fairing dented and cracked, tail cracked, etc. Oh, my truck again when I forgot I had my trailer hooked up when I opened my PU tail gate and dropped it onto the watchyoucallit turn thing to raise and lower the tongue.

Tonight, after a ride on my 999R I wanted to put it up on rear and front Pit Bull stands. The back is always dicy since my bike is an 03 with the gray swingarm and no swingarm spools. Its the old wrestling match with bike and Pit Bull to get those two rubber coated stumps underneath the swingarm while trying to center the bike at the same time. What a fucked up system, why Ducati failed or forgot to put spools on the damn swingarm is beyond me. Anyway, as I was calmly massaging the bike and stand the front wheel was turning, which is common. Also, the bike is backing up, thats common too, but in combination while trying to get the stand centered, it can lead to the friggen bike going too far over the other way and bang, it hit the deck. We all know that once it passes that imaginary 90 degree line going away from you, you suddenly realize the bike does weight in excess of 400 pounds. All I could do without killing myself was slow it down maybe slightly if at all due to the fact I'm not supposed to be doing this stuff anyway. After it hit the ground fuel started flowing out of the gas cap, I cut my thumb pretty good and blood was flowing pretty good too. I knew from me trying to pick up bikes before and with my back, there was no way I was going to pick it up. I quickly opened the laundry room door to the house and with a controlled scream, "Whitney, Whitney I need help out here, where are you?" "I'm going to the bathroom Dad" I yelled for my wife and went back out to the garage and put some towels down to soak up the gas. Just then my wife and daughter came out and the three of us righted the bike.

Knowing my luck (above incidents) I was prepared for some damage. I detected a small scuff on the lower right fairing board, there was a little scuff there from the previous owner having a garage incident. After a complete inspection I finally got lucky, no hint of damage except for some minor gouges in the area of the swingarm chain adjusters (more on this soon). I concluded because I installed DP rear sets a couple weeks ago and the fact I had down a large rubber garage mat, these two items saved the bike. The DP rear sets have stationary pegs, they don't move and I've heard they help in situations like this. I don't know if they help in a harder crash, but at this point who cares. The peg end landed on the rubber mat so no scrapping occurred there and it must have softened the impact. Also, a few days ago I installed Rhino rear axle sliders, they stick out pretty good. They may have helped too. I'm really surprised and lucky nothing really happened. At this point, I'm quite a happy person, man I'm I happy!

The moral of the story is to think before I do anything and this week I will be shopping for a chain adjuster replacement that has the stand spools built in. I know you can tap your swingarm and install spools, but that could be a can of worms for me. I did see a chain adjuster (titanium) once, with a price tag of over 6 bills, but I'll be looking for something more reasonable, maybe Gilles?

[dirkwrong]

Man, I have never had a problem putting my bike on a rear stand, and that's without spools also. I guess without a grab handle though, it would be tougher.

Sorry about your bike and thumb.

[desmo2]

Glad to hear you got out of it with minimal damage.

With an '03, I shared your frustration on the spool issue. Welding the swingarm did not appeal to me, nor did the expensive Ghilles adjuster.

Finally, I found my solution! Supermoto Engineering makes a rear axle slider that adds a spool spacer between the axle and the slider cap.
http://www.supermotoengineering.com/...ail.php?id=275

Obviously, you can't remove the wheel when using this, but for routine maintenance and for parking, it works like a dream. If I need to remove the wheel, I will flip the mounts on the Pit Bull stand to the L-brackets and use it as you have been. Cost is well under $100!

[DMCTRUBY]

Sorry to hear that, but glad you got away with minimal damage.

If you have issues with scrathes I can suggest a really good product. I found it after reading a Consumers Guide review , it was the only product that performed as promised (and the other products were well respected names. I had many of those products myself and felt their must be a better way to fix scrathes short of respray. I have the package downstairs and can IM the name if you want it.

[LaRossa]

Man I cringed while I was reading, good to hear is ok.
Check these out!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Gille...5%7C240%3A1318

[2ducs]

Damn John. You accident prone or what? I did have a fall one time with the Pit Bull in the carport. I had it back up before the wife came running out yelling "WTF was that noise?". Dunno dear.
I was shocked that the only damage was a dime size spot of paint missing on the rear rim next to the tire valve due to one leg of the stand going through.

[rodericb]

I have barely even thought about putting mine onto the DP stand - lining those rubber pads up, gripping the tail section as there's no grab handle..... yow no thanks! Certainly a two person job that one.

[pentathol]

Sucks man. Glad you got out of it with minimal human and bike damage.

I cringe everytime I jack my bike up too since the swingarm rests on the little rubber things and the front wheel turns as yours does sometimes. I'll have to be extra careful now that I know it can go horribly wrong.

[Desmogod]

Originally Posted by rodericb

I have barely even thought about putting mine onto the DP stand - lining those rubber pads up, gripping the tail section as there's no grab handle..... yow no thanks! Certainly a two person job that one.

What?
I do it on my R1 all the time, seriously, it's not that hard.

[edvin70]

Dude I'm glad it was not too bad.

I've always thought that the grey swingarm was better looking (and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference in performance with the box style). Why it wasn't made to accept spools is a mystery.

I had my 999S slip off my pit bull stand twice in my garage. I was lucky that both times I had the bike right next to my workbench where it came to lean with no damage (not even a mark on the bar end).

I got the Gilles adjusters and lifters installed. I couldn't be happier, the look great and I think they are easier to use than spools. I am still using the same pit bull stand and it rests rock solid on it.

Some folks are offering the adjusters for the 999 really cheap these days.