Does my ducati suck, or do I sucK?!

[thirteenoNYC]

Let me give you some background first...

My first bike was a buell blast, 2000+ miles in i totaled it. Second bike was a DR200 enduro bike. Third bike was a GIXXER600. Fourth bike was an 09, ZX6r, put 10,600 miles on it. Loved it. I traded my kawasaki in for a 2011 796 hyper, because i wanted something a little more coocoo bananas crazy and comfortable.

The hyper IS comfortable, but I am fuckin pissed.

The Hypers brakes feel weak
The engine seems under-powered
i am always either slipping the clutch too much or not enough: she is so easy to stall
The gear box is complete shit. COMPLETE shit, let me elaborate:
neutral is no where to be found. She will always miss neutral and sometimes even be in neutral but the light wont show, wtf?! The shift lever requires a CRAZY amount of pressure to change gears, my big toe is killing me. Three times, she also just stalled out on me while rolling in neutral(after a small throttle blip for a down shift, the bike died out, what the fuck is that about?)

I thought that maaaayyybbeee its just the engine breaking in, but I'm just not sure. Am I suffering from JAPbikeITIS? Are italian bikes just an acquired taste? Am I a shit rider? Or did I purchase a dud? A runt of the litter?

thoughts?

[Hazzbin]

First of all, if you're used to Japanese middleweights, I'm guessing that the 796 WILL feel weak. Of course unlike the Jap bikes, you don't have to wind it up to make it go, it should be torquey pretty much throughout the range.

Second, your transmission shouldn't be shit. Take it back to the dealer and see what's going on. Mine is easy as it can be, although it's an 1100 and I also came from a BMW, which are complete clunkomatics.

When I first got my Hyper, I would have been with you on the brakes. Again coming from the Beemer, which was 2 finger stand it on it's nose braking with ABS, I had to learn HOW to make this bike stop. Now I'm used to it and the brakes are fine.

Fixing fueling issues on your bike will also take care of some of what you're dealing with regarding the clutch. I can let mine out at 1300 rpm and it will idle in first gear. Before going the stacks/pipe/ecu route I sure as hell couldn't.

Last, it's probably you. (just kidding!)

[Ducait Hyper Hypo]

This is my first Ducati as well and I'm having the completely opposite experience. Love everything about it. I dont think I'll ever go back.

As far as power you should have done some more homework before buying the 796 I spoke to three different owners before I went with the 1100. Which doenst have all the top end my old bikes did but the torque early makes it so much more fun especially when riding hard.

Some of your issues sound mechanical too my trans has tons more feel than my CBR600RR and Ive only stalled it once so far in the 900 miles I've put on it.

[HYPERR]

The transmission on my Hyper is not the buttery smooth snick snick snick type in my CBR600RR. That being said, it has a very high quality precise feel and shifting gears is very smooth and positive. I was actually pleasantly surprised about that as was not expecting it. It is much more refined than the tranny in my Cagiva-era 900SS. The clutch other than the occasional chewbacca noise not withstanding, is very smooth and positive as well.

As for the power, I have the 1100 so there is plenty of mid range thrust.

[desmo796]

tell us how you really feel . . .

This is my first Duc as well and have owned and ridden many more high end "R" bikes, @ different displacements from different manufactures.
I own current model liter bikes. For me, its getting on something different, manner-wise and learning it.

I got to ride a bike like this B4 I bought. I knew going in so was not blind to the
idea that engineering is engineering across brands. That gave me peace of mind.

I have read much more than I have posted on here and found a lot of useful information
that I will use to acclimate my HYM796 away from some of those annoying subtleties.

I read reviews as well which did not elude to every niche quirk but gave an
overall outline of the bike and where some improvements could be made.

I like my tard, give it some time and work with it or . . . 1100?

[thirteenoNYC]

Thanks for the input guys. I, honestly was just very very upset at feeling like a squid when my bike stalled in traffic and wouldn't shift into neutral to start back up. I was just concerned that maybe the transmission was no good: finding neutral should not be russian roulette style click up, test, click down, test. And that stalling out thing... it just sounds fishy to me, a bike with only three miles on the clock when i bought it, should it be behaving like this?

My dealer shrugged it off with a "its just breaking in." and when I asked them to raise my shift pedal and break pedal with the intention of increasing leverage, he told me "you should be riding covering the break, raising it up will cause you to rest your foot on it." So homie is trying to tell me how to ride the bike I payed for... I ride toes on pegs, i dont cover. And he shouldn't be telling me how to ride... but whatever, I'll rock it out for a little longer and see what she has in store for me. Im at 300+ miles now. Same issues, but only time will tell

[Gilly]

My take is that a new bike can have issues finding neutral. But other than that the shifting should be done with assertiveness. I have had some issues finding neutral from a dead stop. I prefer to find it while rolling.

I'm surprised you went from a 600cc I-4 to the 796 L-Twin.

If you are launching correctly, it should not stall. I would have the dealer test ride it for some stop and goes to confirm. Perhaps he can watch you launch it as well.

On every Duc I replace the clutch slave to my favorite. If the slave is giving you issues with launching or finding neutral.

Hope you get it sorted. Nothing wrong with the 796. I would imaging you can get crazier on it than the 1100.

[nickd64]

796 has a wet slipper type clutch, which from experience has an on / off feel with late take up on the lever. 1100 HM has dry clutch which is heavier but tends to be more progressive in it's action. I would suggest getting the chain tension checked, too tight and it will cause heaviness on the shift and difficulty finding neutral. There are threads on this forum that discuss chain tension & setup (problem is not limited to the HM). Definitely give the bike a chance to run in. Can't complain about the brakes, but I have monoblocks on my 1100 which are solid with a 2 finger action......

[spindrift]

I have a 796 as my first and only bike. But I know what you speak of in terms of the neutral/stalling annoyances, probably like many others.

The low-rpm related fueling mods work wonders (PC5 which includes an O2 Optimizer, decat, 14t front for starters). As for finding neutral, I find it is still hard after a few k miles, so I just never go in neutral unless I really want to fiddle at a long light. Brakes must be an experience thing as they are pretty bomber for me. For shifting, I can't compare it to much (a Honda CRF 250 certainly doesn't count) and thus don't know what's 'reasonable'.

good luck...

Rob

[freezer16801]

I own a 1100, so my brakes are likely different. Regardless, I changed my pads out to EBC HH pads and the initial bite was greatly improved. They are not as good as Vesrah RJL's, but still good.

On the 1100 (pre 2011), the stalling issues has to do with several things that the dealer can handle, or you can handle with a bit of research: tps reset, air bleed screw adjustment, and fuel trim adjustment.

Mine stalled when I would give a good handful of throttle while idling and much more frequently when very hot. I adjusted the above items after I replaced my flywheel. Theoretically, the bike should have more difficulty idling with the light throttle. To the contrary, the bike idles much better now. Keep in mind, I have the ducati performance 2 into 1 exhaust ECU. Your scenario might be different.

I am not sure that these maintenance items coorelate to the 796. It is worth looking into.

I would also bleed the clutch master cylinder very well to ensure that air in the system isn't causing the shifting problems. Mine shifts as easily as the japanese bikes that I've owned (3 total over the course of 10 years).

Another poster recommended getting a larger clutch slave cylinder. That would actually give an easier clutch pull, but would make the bike more difficult to find neutral. Shazamm did a very informative tutorial on larger displacement slave cylinder's in the hall of wisdom section.

I hope this helps, I am very pleased with my transition to Ducati. I think with a bit of fiddling, you can make your bike as good as you expected.

As for the lack of power, the 1100's horsepower is more comparable to a water cooled i-4 600. The torque is nearly double that of a 600 though.