WTF happened to Ducati Winchester/Ducpond Motosports

[booger]

Sorry but the CAM sub board is a total ghost town. I figured I'd get more replies here. Winchester Ducati (in VA) is no more as of Sept 2020, no warranty service either. Is Ducpond still in operation servicing Ducati? I tried calling today during normal business hours and got the answering machine. Not sure what is going on but I'm in a near state of panic over it. First FasterTwin and now this? 

[Airborne]

Oh geez, I just saw this post. Looks like they are still up on google?? Faster twin leaving was a blow, I was hoping this place would stick around.

Do you have any experience with Coleman?

[booger]

DucPond lives, just got some tires mounted. I spoke with them and apparently Ducati wanted them to buy a bunch of crap to remain a dealer and they basically said nope. So the shop is still in big business but the dealership is gone. No experience with Coleman's, that's where Raffaele used to work but I hear too much negative about them so I stay away. I just need the valve adjustments, I can do all other maintenance operations myself. Technically I can also do the valves but prefer not to as I'm way too meticulous and it would take me too long to get it wrapped up.

[Airborne]

Hey, yeah the CAM board is dead. I noticed you’ve been on this board a long ass time like myself. I am in Arlington… back when I was in the NY area I rode with a lot of guys from NYMMC, that’s all dead too. I’m down to ride or grab a coffee sometime. I’m on a pretty heavily modded s2r, have garage in Arlington with full size motorcycle lift table if you’re ever in need.

[booger]

Hey, yeah the CAM board is dead. I noticed you’ve been on this board a long ass time like myself. I am in Arlington… back when I was in the NY area I rode with a lot of guys from NYMMC, that’s all dead too. I’m down to ride or grab a coffee sometime. I’m on a pretty heavily modded s2r, have garage in Arlington with full size motorcycle lift table if you’re ever in need.

Cool beans man. I'm in DC. I have a colleague with an S2R800. He never had a bike before he saw my S4R. I sent him the CL ad for his S2R which he bought a few days later. Took to it like white on rice. He impulse bought a Streetfighter V4SP a couple of weeks ago, so he be hooked. Ridership is not dying out entirely but the traffic around here seems to be getting worse. I'd love to get out & ride with somebody ANYBODY, and your offer of the workspace is very kind indeed.

[booger]

Well it appears Donnie Unger's name is mud. After years and years of praise heaped upon him, his last salute to his customer base is of the middle finger type.

Duc Pond is in fact defunct, and apparently from what little info I was able to find has retained possession of several customer bikes post-bankruptcy. Donnie had a big building behind the shop where he stored bikes for people over the winter. Lots and lots of bikes. Wonder how many he decided to keep?

To be honest I never liked him because he was a bit of a prick and I wondered why people heaped so much praise upon him. I just went with it anyway because I don't care about a guy's personality if he does good work.

After having been to FasterTwin (which is also defunct but I got a t-shirt) I began to question the quality of Donnie's work. I received much better service at FasterTwin, and complimentary espresso. Rafaelle just had a lot more class, and with him having superbike team experience and being Italian he immediately seemed to be a much better choice. It's tragic that he left.

Some eye opening excerpts from Yelp:

"Had a terrible experience. Owner can be quite rude and from my experience possibly dishonest as well. Customer service sucked. They never call you back. He was gonna charge hundreds for replacing a fuel sensor that Ducati allegedly never sent him. Funny the other dealer called me in a week with the part and replaced it free in less than an hour. Idk. Someone is either a crook or inept." 8/4/2020

"Winchester Ducati no longer sells or can perform warranty service on Ducati motorcycles since September of 2020. I wish I would have been told this before the owner (Donnie) took my Ducati in for warranty service in October 2020 and let the bike sit for close to two months. I now have to take the bike to another Ducati dealer for the work W.D. could not perform. I won't even get into the horrible customer service when I originally dropped the bike off...." 12/10/2020

"This place is trash. They will try every single way known to rip you off! Avoid at all costs. Read other reviews and you'll see what I'm talking about. I took my 650 there to get a new battery and tune up and it was a complete disaster. Made up service charges etc. they are terrible. Owner is a complete prick and conman. If I could give them 0 stars I would, they don't even deserve 1 star." 2/23/2022 (Ducati made a 650?)

"DucPond has my Ducati and there is no longer a way to contact the business. Anybody have any thoughts?" 2/4/2023

"Don't try. They are in bankruptcy, chapter 7. If you have a claim, contact The US Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia. The Case number is 22-50511. To make a claim, you must show proof of the loss (bike or money or whatever). They robbed people in a number of ways trying to cover previous debts--like a check-kiting scheme. If you'd like to pursue a group criminal prosecution action, I'd be interested." 2/10/2023

Donnie is kind of a redneck sadly, so I won't miss him. Now it appears he is also a criminal. Only place to obtain service now are the local dealerships. I prefer independent specialists but I suppose the dealerships will have to do. Bob's BMW is now a Ducati dealer, go figure.

[Airborne]

Wow. Thanks for the research.

I saw your pm but I’ve been swamped and my Ducati is down. I think it’s the fuel pump. I’ll try to fix that up and pm you, we can hopefully get out for a ride sometime.

[potomacduc]

I was bored eating lunch and googling away and I came across this thread and it sparked feelings of nostalgia. CAM was a great board in its day. The Monster world in general was an amazing community back then. Ducati is selling a lot of bikes these days and they are getting bigger premiums and profits  than ever, so they probably know what they are doing from a business it does seem like something has been lost, articularly since the sale to VW/Audi. 

As for service, I am a former (happy) Faster Twin customer and it is sad that they moved on.

As for Duc Pond, I have met Donnie, but was never a customer and neve interacted with him enough to form an opinion.  That being said...wow.  Maybe I dodged a bullet.

For local service, I had a bad experience at Coleman's many years ago and the few visits I have made back to buy parts or whatever have not given me any desire to give them a second chance. Bob's BMW sells Ducatis now, but when I called last year, they said they do not work on any bikes pre-2016.  I have gone back to District Ducati (formerly Battley) and been satisfied with them even though they are ~40 miles away from where I live.


As for Ducati building a 650, the 650 was the third iteration of the original Pantah bikes, with the 500 and 600 coming before it. The 650 Pantah motor evolved to become the engine used in the Cagiva Alazzurra, the original Cagiva Elefant and most notoriously the Ducati Indiana.

[Airborne]

Thinking of rolling to one of these in the future: https://www.bikesandbreakfast.com/schedule

Second Sunday/month - Clifton, VA
Third sunday/month - Old Town Alexandria

future CAM gathering?