"Dead S4R"

[bigredduke]

'Twas a beautiful sunny morning & I thought to myself "I will go to work on the bike today"

Dropped the ankle-biters off at school and set off for a 9.30 meeting.
About 5 miles down t'road, a misfire then the bike died completely. The clocks pirouetted & the lights did their usual on off trick when the ignition was turned on but the starter just gave a limp click. :(

AA arrived, a few checks & the bike's only producing 8 volts so not charging the battery. AA guy reckons it's the regulator under the seat that's duff. Bikes currently on it's way to Italia at Lincoln to be mended under warranty.

Big up to Ian (the patrolman) and the AA massive!!! He was excellent, careful & considerate & a biker himself. Top marks! :)

Hope I get the bike back for Sunday's rideout! :mad:

[NattyBoy]

Dreaded rectifier/regulator - thought they would have sorted that by now.. :rolleyes: Remember my first one going on the 916 only too well...

Nat

[bigredduke]

It's a common problem I assume?

[NattyBoy]

Not with the S4R...nearly EVERY early 748/9** has been afflicted with this problem at some stage..rectified by fitting a stronger electrex unit I think with a plate on the back to refect heat...just bad luck I think with this one. I hear ducati are now sourcing many ancillary parts Poland etc and I the quality isnt quite what it should be (another example of component failure is the oil pressure switch).

Talking about niggles..make sure yoiuve got a sealed gel battery as ive heard of some S4Rs (with conventional batteries) shedding battery fluid all over the frame/heads and making a right mess of the paintwork. :eek:

Nat

[bigredduke]

Thanks for the advice - I will check the batery when I pick it up. It's only just 12 months old with 2900 on the clock!

Rather disappointed really - I have a 26 year old Suzuki GS750 which has never let me down on the road! Ironically it's up for sale! (maybe I should have a rethink!) Any other problems with the S4R that you've heard about?

[NattyBoy]

No mate....mines been an (touching wood furiously!) absolute peach to be honest.

Nat

[Mr C]

Same thing happend to me on my 996 Turns out it was the 40A fuse.

[bigredduke]

got my beloved back today - turned out to be nothing more than a loose connection!