Clutch cable failure

So yesterday I was leading a ride of some "out of towners" on one of my lovely local twisty roads when all of a sudden I had no clutch....the floppy left lever syndrome! Being about 100 km from home it was an interesting ride home clutchlessly shifting between 2nd, 3rd, and occasionally 4th having only to stop(or should I say stall) at a stop sign. Good thing I wasn't on a roadtrip.

Turns out the little lead knob at the lever end of the cable had completely pulled off and fallen out of its home. There does not seem to be any haywire fix that will work so I will just have to wait for the part(about $36US from Ducati Omaha)to arrive, hopefully within the next couple of weeks. The good news is we're going away for a week on a non-motorcycle trip so I will only miss one week's riding.

The HS will celebrate it's 2nd birthday on July 25th and the odometer is sitting at 35,500km. In all those km this is the only real problem I have had so I suppose I can't really complain!

I should have ordered two cables! I'll see if I can add one to the order.

I live in south central British Columbia, just north of the US border and about 3 hours north of Spokane. I tend to ride a lot in eastern WA and OR and a little less in ID and MT. I also do a fair number of day rides from home, usually 250-400km. I'm fortunate to live in an area where i don't have to go very far to find good roads, i.e. lots of twisties and not a lot of traffic.

On roadtrips, I like the comfort of a motel- a real bed and a good shower! I usually do 3 or 4 4-6 day trips and sometimes one longer one. This year that was a 9 day trip to east central CA on the east side of the Sierras near the eastern end of the Sonora and Ebbetts passes(just south of Lake Tahoe).

I'm a lucky guy!

The front box has one wrong rated spare - and it's on the high side. Explain that in your warranty claim.

Also - in all their wisdom, it takes 3 different wrenches to remove the fairings for easy cooling system and front fuse holder access. One is a 4mm allen wrench which is strangely missing from the tool kit - 3 and 5mm are included just so you can ponder the universe and its wisdom.

Also you need a 24mm wrench for the lower bolt "reach around". I removed that bolt and the 24mm threaded post and can detect no problems as a result.

I also carry a spare clutch cable. But no issues so far.[/QUOTE]

When on anything more than a daytrip I carry a selection of metric combination wrenches as well as a set of hex keys(2-12mm). I also carry the socket required to remove the rear wheel and sprocket nuts, the c-span wrench for chain adjustment, and a socket to remove the front axle. Also a tire repair kit and some spare fuses. On a day trip I carry a pared down version. Sounds like a fair bit of stuff but when you need it, you need it! Oh yeah, a few zip ties, duct and electrical tape....

Can't say whether mine had the plastic sleeve or not, the end of the cable was what broke and fell out. Interestingly, the bike had been in for it's 30,000km tune about a month ago and nothing was mentioned about clutch cable issues. Bike was manufactured in Mar/13.

Turns out Ducati Omaha found one closer to home and shipped a few days ago. Should have it in my hands by Tuesday, about 8 days after ordering.

Now I just have to snake it in there!