My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

K guys most of you read my post about my rear axle. We'll I pulled it into the shop a day ago and came today, he wanted to show me the damage.

the bearing was shredded to bits, it was obvioiusly run without grease for a long time. I'm paying for the repairs and should get it back mid-week. bike might need a new rear wheel if he can't salvage this one. :(


anyways, while I was pushing it to the shop in the first place, a man in a van saw me and asked if I needed help, I said sure and he helped me push it to the shop (3 blocks away from the point we met) and gave me a ride back, otherwise I would have had to walk 2 miles home.

We got to talking, and he saw the custom mopeds/motorized bicycles I build, and wants to find a way to market them, get more people riding, get me building more, make money off it.

point is, he told me he had an old bike sitting in his garage, and if i could get it running again, hell give it to me.

It is a 1995 Ducati Monster 900. Far as I can tell, everythings holding up well, new tires, its straight, chains good, nothings loose. We replaced the battery and put fresh gas with seafoam into it, started it up. he revved it really high (set off a few alarms a few blocks down) and it was good except he let the throttle off and it came to idle, then he revved it again and blue flames shot out the exhuast pipe and it backfired once, a enormous BOOM. and died. it didnt idle so great either, we had to hold it around 25k 3k to run.

you guys think its running really rich or lean? I check for airleaks and all the connections are tight, in fact the bike looks brand new.

The choke cable is missing, so im guessing its stuck out and running flooded, when I pulled the air filter off and looked into the carbs, and twisted the throttle, a thick visible stream of gas shot from the jet into the cylinder. I'm guessing that would flood any engine quick

not asking you guys "how to fix a ducati", but what do the blue flames and backfire mean? im pretty sure the flames happened while accelerating the engine, not on decel. and there was no abnormal popping

if i get it running, i get to take it home. he already has the title ready to sign over, bike is current in registration. he is 65 and says he doesnt need a sportbike and thinks I would get a kick out of it


man first i get my harley for free and now this

anyways any help is appreciated, thanks guys

by the way check out my custom mopeds in SoCal, these are street legal and a great way to get a friend into motorcycling, or a fuel efficient transportation to work and back. Kill your car! these run about $600ish depending on what you want, IE offroad dirt racer or full fledged street bike with lights.
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RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

almost forgot the pic

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

omg....a duc ss
You lucky bastard [:@]

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

Man that Duc looks brand new! Sounds likegood luck falls your way.Don't know much about Ducati's, but have owned quite a few japbikes.Does thisbike have carbs or fuel injected?

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

1995, its carbed. Yeah It's in brand new shape everywhere. but in general what does blue flames and backfire mean? running rich? I need to get this running by tomorrow.

good luck only falls my way after weeks or months of bad luck, but I graciously accept it all the time, would be stupid not to.

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

Blue flames usually mean lean.

When you twist the throttle, you should see a good sized stream of gas spray directly into the carb opening. This is the accelerator pump working like it is suppose to.

Edited to add: If you think the problem is fuel related, it is well worth the cost of a carb rebuild kit (about $25) to get a free duc. I don't know anything about the ducs, but if the timing is off that will cause rich or lean problems, as well as screw with the idle.

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

Nice lookin bike Joe. Remember 2 or more carbs are harder to tune than just one. Not only must they be tuned to run well but they must be in sync as well. Good luck with that man. I recall something about having to use mercury sticks to sync em.

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

Yep. Good point. I totally forgot that it would have dual carbs... In alot of cases, v-twins with multi carbs usually have a carb timing linkage and different jetting. In that case, you should look to see if the blue flame is coming from one pipe or the other (assuming it is not a 2 into 1, may be on that bike?). Take off the exhaust up to the seperation if you have to so you can tell if one cylinder or both are lean. If both are running the same, I would go back to figuring out the ignition timing if possible.

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

flame clearly came out of both pipes. its a 2 into 2 with both comings stright out on opposite sides of the bike. carbs are in sync. I'm starting to think it was just running rich, at high RPMs it cleared up some and that makes sense, more spark, compression, you can actually burn that extra fuel.

Also, I did some research on the internet (like 60+ sites) about rich and lean symptoms and the majority say a properly tuned engine pops/crackles on decel a little. a slightly rich engine eliminates the popping and still runs ok. a overly rich engine will stall at low rpms, and send unburned fuel into the exhuast ignition and cuasing a backfire. which is just what the bike did

I guess I'll pull off the fairing and look at the carbs. I have to find where the choke cable used to be connected and see if I can adjust it by hand. I'm guessing its stuck out or at least out enough to make the engine run weird.

the guy ran it 2 weeks ago and it started good but stalled easy after warm up and backfired once in awhile as well. supporting the choke stuck idea.

RE: My new/loaner Bike and some updates
 

You gonna let me take that duc for a ride, joe? :D