After a ride up to Newcombs Ranch on Sunday, I stopped to get gas for my trip home. As I went to downshift I could not. Clutch level was pulled all the way in and the gears would only grind. I finally slowed down enough and the bike slammed into gear. Problem was I was in 4th trying to downshift to 3rd. When it finally downshifted it was in 1st! I got gas and checked the shifting out. I wasn't too worried because the bike had done this to me once before when I had less than 100 miles on it.
After I left the gas station I hopped on the freeway. As I was getting into traffic I needed to down shift. Same thing happened. It would grind but not downshift. When I could finally get it to downshift I was like 2 or more gears lower than I wanted to be. It's at this point I started to hear some extra noises. I wear hearing protection when I ride, so it was loud enough for me to hear through the ear plugs. I stopped off the side of the road and checked everything out. Biggest thing I saw was the excess play in the shift lever. It has about 1/2 inch of free play up or down before anything engages. It's not the linkage, or any loose bolts. The play is coming from the transmission itself. You can see the "shift post" moves that much before anything engages.
At this point I'm 100 miles from home in the middle of the desert (Rosmond). I figure, maybe I could just put it in 4th or 5th and cruise all the way home. I take off again, but this time upshifting isn't working either... and there is a loud noise coming from the engine area. I also noticed that if I tried a full shift, it would grind, but if I did a 1/2 shift on the lever, it would engauge but was noisy. So I decided it was time to pull off and call for help. Called Ducati roadside assistance... and was told to leave a message!!!!! Friggen great. So I had to make some calls and have my truck brought to me so I could take my bike home. As we were waiting I started the bike and OMG there is a loud rawr-rawr-rawr-rawr noise coming from the transmission. Long story short, I got the bike home in the truck and I was uber bummed. I called Spectrum Ducati in Irvine and left a message for them to call me ASAP.
Spectrum calls me 20min after they open on Tuesday... so already I'm very pleased they got back to me quickly. Alan says he thinks he knows what it is and to bring it down when I could. I had Wednesday off so I took it down to be there when they opened Wed. I like Spectrum enough that I'll drive 160miles to get my bike serviced by them. Anyway I get there and he says they are gonna take it apart and to sit tight because it could be done that day. Long story short a spring broke, which apparently is a TSB for all 2v and 4v motors in a certain window. this is a "quick" fix. But, the spring had damaged a gear and needed to be replaced. Alan told me it could take a couple weeks to get my bike back on the road.
A couple weeks I don't have... next week I am taking the class to become an MSF rider coach and I need a bike. I go to the GM of Spectrum Ducati, Mike, and ask him for a loaner. He tells me they typically can't, that it's frowned upon by Ducati, but he would see what he could do. Mike was willing to get me a bike, but preferred my bike be fixed in time. Through some magic that Mike and Alan worked my bike was fixed that day! Both Mike and Alan are great guys... and fun to talk to. I also got to meet the owner, Jamie. Also a great guy. LOL, it almost seems like I'm a walking talking commercial for them... but trust me I don't get anything out of it. I'm just super stoked with them and their service. My purchase was awesome through them... my 600 mile service was also awesome... and then when the bike had a problem they went out of their way to fix it for me. Spectrum just rocks! Sales and Service are top notch!
Now to fun stuff.... After much debate on which exhaust to get I decided on the Competition Werkes afterburners. It's different, and that what I really like about it. I love the way it looks from the side, the rear you can see a gap, but not a big deal. I asked around and not many people had a first hand experience with the exhaust. I talked with Randy at BellissiMoto and he assured me I would like it... he was confident enough that he said I could return it if I didn't. So with that confidence I decided to try it.
The quality of the welds are awesome. It looks bitchen on the bike with the standard eliminator. The right slip on was hard to get on, seems tight around the tube, but with a light tap from rubber mallet it was on.
The sound... OMG loud! Loud like I need ear plugs loud and I rarely use ear plugs. Sound's so bitchen at full throttle and high RPM. Deceleration sounds sooo awesome! I went to a Euro bike meet and had a couple people take sound clips of it for their ring tone on the cell. It's not the typical deep "fluff fluff" sound from a Duc, it's more of a raspy sound at high RPM. I really dig it since it stands out. The sound is good. The only thing I could equate it to is a GP bike... but not as cool.

The clip I have does it no justice... and actually makes it sound like a dirt bike when it sounds nothing like that. I don't think your computer will have enough bass to accurately reproduce the sound this exhaust makes. Needless to say I'm happy with it.
I've had them on for about 2 weeks now. Today at work I had a co-worker grab the dB meter so we could test the bike. Used the SAE J1287 standard (20in away at a 45deg angle):
Idle: 98dB
3500: 104dB
Full rev: 130dB
YIKES!
For my hearing we did the idle and 3500 with the sound meter right at my ears:
Idle: 95dB
3500: 99dB
here are some standards:
140 ------------------------------------- Jet Engine (at 25 meters)
130 ------------------------------------- Jet Engine (at 100 meters)
120 ------------------------------------- Rock and Roll Concert
110 ------------------------------------- Pneumatic Chipper
100 ------------------------------------- Jointer Planer
90 ------------------------------------- Chainsaw
80 ------------------------------------- Heavy Truck Traffic
70 ------------------------------------- Business Offices
60 ------------------------------------- Conversational Speech
50 ------------------------------------- Library
40 ------------------------------------- Bedroom
30 ------------------------------------- Secluded Woods
20 ------------------------------------- Whisper
Pics and vid:
Here's the vid:
http://www.3.8mustang.com/justang/Ducati/848/CW Exhaust/MVI_2133.mp4
Sorry for the crappy camera angle during the rev.