normal shop behavior or boycott time?

[Privateer]

I find that consumable or maintenance parts are in stock or received very quickly.  But crash repair parts, take forever.  I lowsided about 2 years ago and it took 6 weeks for a new kickstand.  I won't go into the shenanigans of the gas tank replacement.

But yeah, bolts are bolts, screws are screws.  Might take some scrounging around or cutting things to length, but totally do-able.  Unless it's something really special, like a kickstand bolt which I've replaced once (blue loctite ftw), but it was cheap and in stock.

off topic kind of, i bent the bolt holding my napolean mirror together and trying to figure out what replaces it.  Scouring home depot and lowes is a hassle but cheap.

[acemoney]

thanks guys! all the commments are pretty much what i figured. MCC was always perfered (i've got other pieces there that they had IN stock) but further away. sevice was better and seemed to be more knowledgeable there  but i just got lazy and went to the closer shop and paid for that in waiting time and nothing but bad attitudes. it's not even about the time because i wasn't really in a hurry, it's the not knowing and or lying about the answers to ANY question and always blaming someone else. if the piece takes 2 months tell me that. if you screwed up and didn't order my piece the first time i came in tell me that. if my piece don't cost enough to get solo shipping for tell me that........don't lie and say "shouldn't have bought a ducati it's your own fault" or "i don't know becuase our system isn't showing anything"....which happens to be the same system that told me my piece would be there the next day and then sent a postcard a week later telling me another month. should've known what i was dealing with when 7 workers and 30 minutes later noone could tell me what type or fork oil my ducati takes (but that's a whole nuther story). i can tell you this much.....NEVER AGAIN.

[acemoney]

far from the norm! 
Maybe try MCC in Villa Park, great guys and true enthusiasts or give us a shout....  we have those parts on hand 95% of the time. 

is Mikey back over there?

[redxblack]

I've been waiting since Memorial Day for 4 O rings for my oil cooler lines. If I didn't need to replace my tires, I'd be really upset that $2 worth of rubber bands would be keeping me from doing a track day.

[RetroSBK]

The orings are the kind fo part you can source through Grainger or your local hose supply house. There isnt a part fo the country I have been to that didnt have a Hose man or something similar.

I tend to replace all the nuts and bolts type stuff with ARP or Poggipollini fasteners, cost about twice the OE Ducati stuff, but WELL worth it. (ok maybe 6x more if you get Ti)

You guys werent around this game back in 1995 when the reg/rec's were on world wide back order while Ducati siorted out a new vendor, while in recievership. I knew guys whose bikes were down for 4 MONTHS waitig on that one part, under warranty. Yes, some lemon law'd them. Things have changed for the better, a BUNCH.

There are a ton of dealers in the LA area, at least 2 more than we need, but a couple of them are OUTSTANDING, but they are therefore expensive. There are others that are part of a multi line dealership, and you dont get the service ideal people expect when they buy a Duc. There is at least one dealer, near to hollywood and it might be the worst in the country.. you couldnt belive the horror stories I hear out of that place! pretty scary really.

All that being said, Ducati has come a long way, and in dealing with the typical Ducati owner, thats saying alot! We all want it better, quicker, and cheaper...

Will

[Langanobob]

But yeah, bolts are bolts, screws are screws.  Might take some scrounging around or cutting things to length, but totally do-able.  Unless it's something really special, like a kickstand bolt which I've replaced once (blue loctite ftw), but it was cheap and in stock.

off topic kind of, i bent the bolt holding my napolean mirror together and trying to figure out what replaces it.  Scouring home depot and lowes is a hassle but cheap.

Just to clarify a little bit, hopefully without sounding confrontational.  Bolts are not bolts and HD and Lowes bolts might be fine for mirror  bolts  but handlebar risers and other critical parts are not a place for Chinese bolts.  A good industrial fastener supply place and motorcycle specialty shops will have real bolts made from proper materials and heat treat.

[Popeye the Sailor]

Just to clarify a little bit, hopefully without sounding confrontational.  Bolts are not bolts and HD and Lowes bolts might be fine for mirror  bolts  but handlebar risers and other critical parts are not a place for Chinese bolts.  A good industrial fastener supply place and motorcycle specialty shops will have real bolts made from proper materials and heat treat.

I was under the impression Home Depot and Lowes also sold grade 8 bolts. That should be more than enough. Do they not carry them?

[corndog67]

Just to clarify a little bit, hopefully without sounding confrontational.  Bolts are not bolts and HD and Lowes bolts might be fine for mirror  bolts  but handlebar risers and other critical parts are not a place for Chinese bolts.  A good industrial fastener supply place and motorcycle specialty shops will have real bolts made from proper materials and heat treat.

Absolutely.  There is a major difference between high quality grade 8.8, or better bolts from a reputable place like Grainger or McMaster Carr, they also carry the o-rings mentioned above, and suppliers like MetricScrew-toolco.com, and Aarons metric screws.  Those guys carry all the various strength fasteners.  I've noticed some guys mentioned stainless screws.   Some of the Chinese ones are about half the strength of a standard Socket Head Cap Screw.  Be careful when replacing screws with stainless replacements.  Not all of them are high strength, after all, your barbeque requires quite a bit less strength than your 160 MPH bike. 

[red baron]

Ahhh McMaster.


Bolts are also avail from Yoyodyne.

[Privateer]

Just to clarify a little bit, hopefully without sounding confrontational.  Bolts are not bolts and HD and Lowes bolts might be fine for mirror  bolts  but handlebar risers and other critical parts are not a place for Chinese bolts.  A good industrial fastener supply place and motorcycle specialty shops will have real bolts made from proper materials and heat treat.

you're right, I over generalized.  I wouldn't replace a mission critical fastener with something from HD/Lowes.

[pennyrobber]

  I wouldn't replace a mission critical fastener with something from HD/Lowes.

Me either, I just use zip-ties.

[BomberHead]

had my ducati for a year so i'm not sure if this is the shops ignorance or if it's ducati's laziness.

story: i took my bike apart and of course break various pieces along the way. first thing i broke was my handlebar clap screw (snapped it in half, don't ask) so i figure i go order one from the local ducati shop, no biggie. i wait 3 weeks and no call or nothing from them.  so i stop in there and dude says "woh that's wierd, it's not showing backorder and it doesn't say a shipping date". after him not being able to tell me why or how or when he says "it should be here within 2 weeks". which led me to beleive he JUST ordered it right then. 35 days from when i ordered it i got it.

month later i break the brake stop switch and figure i try one more time from these jokers. place the order 4/22 and i was in there on 5/25 looking at bikes and figure i check the status. dude told me "delivery date says 5/26 which is tomorrow we'll call you tomorrow". well, that "tomorrow" came and went and about a week after that i get a postcard (not even a damn phone call) "your piece you ordered is on backorder, eta of 7/1/09". now, does it REALLY take 40 days just to learn of a piece being on backorder?!?! piece came in on 6/18 (almost 2 months from ordered date) when i went to get it the dude there looks at my reciept and says "damn, you ordered this a long time ago" to my reply of "that's seems to be normal from you guys". the guy get his panties in a bunch and says "oh thats why....it's YOUR OWN FAULT....you bought a ducati". he had no answers to why they would tell me it would be in on 5/26 and never came in and was speakless when i told him a person could walk to chicago quicker than they can get a part shiipped from there. now mind you, never no apologies and never any explanations, just a bunch a dumb people going "i really don't know why".

so, is this a ducati issue or a CHICAGO CYCLE issue?

p.s. come to think about it they are pricks/ignorant there and are boycotted reguardless

i wouldn't expect anything better from the 2 shops here in SD.

[causeofkaos]

Me either, I just use zip-ties.

i carry 2 part JB weld with me every where i go, that and a ice cream stick so i can mix and apply

[Langanobob]

I was under the impression Home Depot and Lowes also sold grade 8 bolts. That should be more than enough. Do they not carry them?

Sorry to take so long responding.  I happened to be in a HD yesterday and yes, they had some Allen socket head metric bolts "Made in the USA" that I would actually use on a motorcycle.  Not much of a selection but they did have some.  The rest of their fasteners were in my opinion a hodgepodge that I wouldn't trust.

I personally don't like HD and I admit to having a knee-jerk reaction against them, but they've put everyone else out of business here so sometimes I don't have much of a choice.   One of my concerns about their fasteners and other products is their purchasing program is high volume and very attractive to vendors and in order to get the HD account, suppliers go to extreme lengths to be the low bidder.  Not good for quality products.  Husky hand tools used to be good US made tools until they went offshore in order to get the HD account.  Anyway, I'll spare you the rest of my patented HD rant     

[corndog67]

If you go to an Orchard Supply and Hardware (OSH), it might be a CA regional thing, they will sell you 2 SHCS metric grade 8.8 screws, say 6mm 1.0 x 20mm length for about a buck, maybe $1.25.   Last time I checked, you can get a box of 100 for about $8.25.  Of course, you don't always need 100 metric cap screws of the same size.