In reply to wearymicrobe :
Actually, using EDM to remove a tap that is stuck is one of the cheapest ways to do it. Hole poppers are not expensive. They just burn the core of the thing out and flush the rest out. It is the industry standard approach for anything but a tiny machine shop, now.
Having run a family owned dealership for a decade, I can tell you what we did. My technicians had done LOTS of damage to customers bikes, ATV's, side-by-sides and PWC's. I made certain to do everything in our power to rectify any and all situations and it was always at our expense. We've bought painted body parts, plastics, engine parts, jetski hulls, tires, wheels, handlebars and on and on.....
They did damage to your bike, therefore they need to make you whole again at THEIR expense. My first call would be to Ducati NA. Call and explain the entire situation as you did here. Ask for a regional rep or possibly a regional service advisor to meet you at the dealership ASAP. Their North American HQ used to be in NJ. If their technicians don't possess the proper training and skills to do the repair correctly, ask to have it taken to another dealership. Also make certain that the repair is warranted for a specified amount of time(1 year, 2 years or so many miles). You have the upper hand here.
So they found a shop that has a tool for removing the tap with some specialty welding rig. Gets dropped off tomorrow and I should have it back around the 10th or so of next month provided the repair works and nothing stupid happens. I am not happy about waiting but given the number of bikes and cars I have its not a blip in my life and I will not miss a track day or a ride. Does make me really miss having a sports bike around and I think this will push me getting something like a used R6 or even a hyper naked to keep around as a backup in case I ever decide to convert this to track or make it to aggressive to ride on the street comfortably. I love my touring bike but using it in SoCal traffic on the really bad days is taxing, been using the XR1200 but that needs a tune and new O2 sensors. Been taking the choppers to work more often then I thought I would even over the Eltra Glide.
Also I got to ride a 2022 KTM RC390 and that thing is a hoot and a half and you can blast around, makes me miss my little WR250X. There is a fully built one locally with Ohlins and all sorts of upgrades for about 6K that would be fun as well and I have a line on a Knuklehead project that I may pickup as well.
So it was supposed to be done by now but nope they never even dropped the bike off to the machine shop. So called in and bitched them out. So looking at another 10-15 days for a total of almost 50 in riding season for a 1 day service at the best.
calling corp tomorrow to raise berkeleying hell. Story has now also changed that they broke a bolt on the head and then drilled it out and the tap broke not they cleaned the threads with a tap.
I just want the bike back.
Ugh, sorry you're dealing with this still!
As mentioned, hole poppers are common in machine shops, and never clean a hole with a tap! Use a chaser!
Don't you live in San Diego? Isn't your annual riding season something like 360 days long? lol.
Sorry to hear about everything that's going on. Would it be faster if they replaced the motor? Or gave you a new motorcycle? Or maybe corporate can authorize having your bike taken to another dealer and fixed there more quickly?
In reply to wearymicrobe :
If you want to race a TaG kart in Riverside on Sunday you can drive mine.
Bike is back and in the garage. Forgot how much I miss having a sports bike in the garage. It was nice to not have it for a while and reset my idea of what speed really is. Its not a full liter bike but its close and it really puts the desire to buy a smaller slower sportbike to the forefront.
In reply to wearymicrobe :
Well, that's a development! Good news, hoping for some details when you've ready.
So, did you wind up just waiting it out, or did you get corporate involved?
Im curious if you ended up with a compromised part or were they able to return it to 100%?
and does the tech that did the work still have a job?
Everything that needed to be replaced was at the dealers cost, I got a full walkthrough of the bike before and after. Corp was not called because they were honest with me and it was not worth the headache getting them rilled up.
Glad to hear that you got the bike back and the dealer ended up handling the issue in an acceptable way.
As a prior manager of service departments from OE dealerships to general service garages I can tell you that I have made a mistake like this right up to the point of having the Vice President of the company chucking a piston and rod out the front garage door (hitting another client's car) in anger. I was right and him closing the store was the best end of the day I could expect.
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