Allan,
I had exactly the same problem with my ST2. At first I thought it was due to being a bit too forceful replacing the fairing by a previous owner (it has to be removed to replace the battery, and it’s a sod to put back.) I then spoke to a Ducati agent who told me what you are thinking, that the heat from the exhaust affects the plastic and makes it brittle. They see a lot of them.
All in all that fairing is a lousy bit of design work, that rarely goes back as neatly as before. Looks good new though.
Jeff Lindsay
From: st2_owners@yahoogroups.com [mailto:st2_owners@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Allan Stern
Sent: 23 April 2013 15:34
To: st2_owners@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DucatiST] Crack in lower right fairing at bottom
On a different topic:
I've noticed for a few years there's been a two-inch crack in the lowest right fairing piece, right down at the very bottom near the wellnuts. It hasn't gotten any worse, but when I had the whole fairing off, I took the piece to a nearby body shop. The guy said the plastic was so dried out that trying to re-glue it with more fiberglass would not hold. No sense in trying one of those fiberglass repair kits, either.
He ended up putting a steel plate over the crack (on the inside) and putting in rivets from the outside to hold it together. It doesn't look that good, with silver rivets on the outside, but it's on the bottom of the bike so unless I'm leaned WAY over -- something not likely to happen with me riding -- nobody will ever see it. And at least the fairing piece will not fall apart on me.
As I was putting the bike back together, though, I looked at the left fairing underneath and noticed there was no crack at all. Then it hit me: the right side is right up next to the exhaust pipe, and all that heat must be drying out the plastic down there and allowing the crack to happen with all the vibrations.
This surely is a design flaw, to have the hot pipe so close to the plastic, so I'm wondering if others of you have had this same problem? If not, this is a warning to keep an eye out for cracks down there.
Haven't ever seen this topic addressed in all the years of reading this list.
Best,
Allan
'01 ST2
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