Priceless...

[Yellowducky]

Hi all,

Just wanted to share a bit of silliness with you all on my experience with changing my side stand.

The stock side stand on my bike is short and when its resting on the side stand, it leans so far that I am paranoid that it'll fall over 1 day. So I bought a cyclecat side stand from www.Topendz.com which is 1 inch longer than stock and it should be relatively easy to change.

I took out the kick stand sensor, then started to undo the bolt. I didn't realize that there is a nut at the back holding it so I eventually snapped the bolt off of the nut. I've made calls to all the dealerships in Ontario in search of that bolt and none of these dealers have it in stock. With the North America warehouse closed, everything has to come from Italy.

In desperation, I called ARGYLL MOTOR SPORTS in Edmonton, Alberta and they have 1 in stock! That bolt costs $79 + tax and I had it shipped overnite to Toronto, total came to $111. I got the backing nut from GP Bikes and they only have 1 in stock which costs me $4.75.

side stand....reasonably priced,
changing it myslef...free,
feeling like an idiot when snapping off the bolt off the side stand...priceless.

Here's a pic of the bolt that costs me $111 where noone in Ontario stocks...lol (sorry for the huge pic)

[greyduc]

A $79 bolt?? And a $4.75 nut?? I wonder if generic standard size fasteners that would have cost a couple of bucks could have been used instead.

[stucatz]

What? are you serious, a $79 bolt? Am I missing something here, what is so special about it....couldn't we just head over to Brafasco or something to get similar fasteners?

Short of being called thieves, that dealer should be ashamed

[stucatz]

And just to add to this, how in the world is Ducati ever going to increase bike sales in Canada with this kind of bullshit...It's this kind of nonsense that moves potential buyers away from the marque.

I hope that Steve Hicks in his new capacity will improve this situation, I mean really,...a bolt, c'mon.

[Yellowducky]

To be fair, this bolt is not just a regular fastener. It is deep and was tapped so the side stand sensor screws on. It also has a collar so it sits flush with the side stand openning. But then the nut has a colar as well but cost only 5 bux.

Robert from Rev told me that GP bought all of Steve's stock so I tried GP first, but they only have the nut. All other dealerships have no stock whatsoever. I guess its not everyday someone needs a side stand bolt and nut so why should a dealer stock suck items, I don't blame them at all.

I do find the bolt expensive, I thought 20 bux would have been more resonable for that. Oh well, I needed one and I paid for my mechanical incompetence.

[stucatz]

Yellowducky, I don't blame the dealers at all on this, Ducati S.P.A. is at fault.

When Volkswagen entered the North American market way back in time, the philosophy was," There must be enough parts on hand at any dealership to build an entire car".

As a person in sales I agree entirely with this type of thinking, "move a part out of stock replace it immediately".

There is no excuse for corporations to handle this otherwise.

It's the same a e-commerce type businesses who carry no stock whatsoever, but expect you to wait for goods as they do not carry any inventory BUT they want to make the same percentage profits as someone who does, I don't support this type.

[Stephen W.]

You do realize that you're gonna be kicking yourself for a long time over
this, eh?
No, not because you broke the bolt. Every one of us has done something just as silly, (or worse, DON'T ASK!).
No. you're gonna be upset that you didn't look around a bit first. On Ebay
right now is a full side stand assembly including the bolt and nut. Two days left, one bid of $1.00 US.
Or ask if anyone had one. Lots of bent bike shops, like Wounded Duck. With so many of the DOCC members having track / race bikes, (with spares) I'm sure you could have found one right here in Ontario at a fraction of the cost.
Yoyodyne might even have had a Ti replacement for less.
OK, so don't be kicking yourself!
Think of this as $111 towards your tuition fees.
I'm working on my PhD.

[Yellowducky]

I was looking at Speedzilla and email a guy there since he wasselling off the street parts, then he wasn;t sure about if he had one or not...Browsed thru Cowin-tech/ducati and got frustrated browsing thru the ads, and I was being impatient so I went the quickest route, call a dealer...

Guess I should have posted on here first... lesson learned...still laughing at myself tho.