According to the German authorities, from whom I recieved a letter today, I didn’t drive too fast, but I drove too close to the car ahead of me. Yep, speed was 119km/h, so I should have been ~60m behind, instead, I was ~16m (sic!) so, being that I was less than 3/10 of half the measured speed, I got a fine.

So, that’s that.

Next time I’ll drive alittle further behind.

No pics.. (well, there is a pic of the ‘weapon’ somewhere a little further down.)
Edit: here ya go:

few pics of the recent project:

The original was in a bad shape,

so, we made a spacer from alu and milled some 5mm off the carrier and

argh! I screwed up with imagehosting and the links.. anyway, you get the idea.

Finished product:

the new chain:

chain and sprocket on the bike: (15/39 teeth, 525)

As soon as I remember, I will post a few pics from a recent Ducati/Aprilia club trackriding session. This is just to remind me

Stay tuned..

Edit: here are the pics.

Nicely modded 748

A battered RSV Mille R

This is what the Aprilia importer was there to showcase

Nice design

Action

Nicely done Classic racer, note the drum brakes. Also, the exhaust is nice

Do not fall over with this. (although, I have seen a pic of a crashed duc with this setup and the clutch did not suffer any damages.)

After receiveing the chain and sprockets from Stein Dinse, eager to put them on, we finally found out wat was the problem behind the sprocket eating the rear eccentric.

There was something very weird with the bushings in the middle if the sprocket/carrier thingy. The outer bush, #8 in the pic, had moved out of it’s place by a few mm’s.

the groove for the retaining clip on the carrier had enlargened itself (how, I have no clue? maybe the clip?) and thus allowed the sprocket to get closer to the eccentric and started eating it.

Now I have to start searching for a new carrier (or flange, if you prefer it that way).

According to speedzilla forums, ducati changed the design and got rid of the retaining clip..

Check out for example this thread.

pics from the above thread, new and old:

EXACTLY like mine!

Here’s a pic of the new lightweight rear sprocket, made by PBR. Excellent finish. The busted carrier is also in the middle. NOTE: Compare the width of the retaining clip and the groove on the carrier. Shouldn’t they be the same??! WTF!

A nice little addition to the jacket.

No, I didn’t do it myself.

Seems that I am stuck with ducati with these leathers?

While riding on a track, I noticed (ok, at the paddock..) that there was some aluminium ‘powder’ on the rear wheel. After a closer inspection, I noticed that the rear sprocket was touching the LH side face of the rear eccentric. Also, the rear wheel seemed to have some loose play, maybe it was the bearings. By this time I had EUROs rolling all over my eyes, I couldn’t even start to think about the price of a new eccentric. I know they only sell it as a one-piece-item and it is not recommended to repair.

After a brief inspection, it was agreed that riding home was no problem (80km).

Time for some disassembly.

In the picture, you can see the markings what the sprocket made. Axle is in good shape, bearings seemed ok too. The LH side nut was _loose_ and only the securing clip was holding it in place. WTF? Keep in mind, this is the original chain-sprocket set and I haven’t opened the nut at all. I have no clue to why it was loose.

Anyway, cleaned the parts, greased them, put the thing back together and all was well. Here’s the part that comes handy: After tightening the LH side nut to the specified torque of 137 Nm, loosen it and tighten so that all of the loose play is gone. Refit the retaining clip and you’re done. At least we found that when tightened to the full torque, it was too tight. Funny that the maintenance manual has no mention of this, or, maybe my parts are so loose, that this is the only way to do it? so, check the spinning of the axle after tightening. Adjust if necessary.

Also, during this maintenance, changed the rear brake’s fluid. Now I have a rear brake again!

All af the above maintenance was done with the assistance of my chief mechanic, Juha Maybe I should get Honda too, and just ride?

september