strange bars problem on 696 - Ducati.ms

bartman314 · Oct 11th, 2011, 2:58 pm

i was looking at my wife's lil monster the other day and noticed that the bars hit the gas tank on left side before they hit the stop (bad side bars picture) and do not hit the gas tank on the right side - they properly hit the stop first(good side bars picture).

i've measured the bars and they are properly set (same distance from end to fork on each side).

my wife did drop the bike on the left side recently at 0 mph and i had to pull out the little mesh psuedo vent. but i find it hard to believe that such a low energy drop could have caused damage to the stop.

bike rides fine...

i'd appreciate any suggestions or thoughts on what's going on.

thejazzoflife · Oct 11th, 2011, 3:05 pm

I'm not familiar with newer monsters so I can only assume the steering stops are the same as the old ones. Could the bolt/adjuster have backed out a bit? The one underneath the headset? Happens on my bike every once in a great while.

Sent from my Motorcycle iPhone app

CrimsonCloak · Oct 11th, 2011, 3:15 pm

Two things...the controls could have rotated slightly fouling the fit into that mesh pocket. The bars shifted in their mounts, they are rubber mounted so you may want to loosen and retighten them. Most likely the first. Only a few degrees will cause an issue.

bartman314 · Oct 11th, 2011, 7:31 pm

after making some more measurements and inspection, i decided to adjust the left side stop. after 5 minutes with a wrench and allen wrench, bars don't hit tank.

thanks for the inputs!

Secret Squirrel · Oct 11th, 2011, 7:57 pm

Wait a minute not so fast. This part is important. Do you know if the bars would hit the tank before she dropped the bike? If they didn't then you could have another problem. If the bars did rotate back slightly in the clamp from the fall then the bars would be close to the tank on both sides as long as the bars didn't bend. Simply adjusting the steering stops is just a bandaid and possibly not fixing the real problem. The forks and triple tree could of been knocked out of alignment when the bike fell over. It doesn't take much force for this to happen. If the forks are crooked you will need to get the front wheel up in the air and loosen all the triple clamp bolts and loosen the front axle and realign the forks properly. In a more serious crash you would need to check to make sure that the forks aren't bent. In your case I don't think you need to worry about this.

bartman314 · Oct 12th, 2011, 5:37 am

thanks for the sanity check - you're right i should check alignment.

les96 · Oct 20th, 2011, 4:43 am

The bars will be bent, the originals are made of chrome cheese.

My wife dropped her 696 at 5mph and bent the LH bar into the mesh tank panel.

Rizoma MA001B make a black replacement set that also make the bars a little bit higher and closer to the rider, much more comfortable.