[r80rt]

The head pipe should have a tab, is it bent down and closed?

[2bikebill]

The tab on the front pipe snaps off very easily. What remains looks like a flat hoop arrangement. It's not critical for keeping the heatshield on, but may help prevent the heatshield lifting at speed. When I lost my heatshield, they fitted a new front pipe because the tab was gone.
Change the muffler and have done with it....

[Ducati Scotty]

Yes, there is a small tab on the hoop on the pipe facing the rear.  I don't see any jagged edges where something could have snapped off but I'll check.  The tab was bent down and touching the pipe which is why I figured there would be a tab on the shield to slide in from the front.  I raised the pipe tab to try to get it to mate with the the small tab on the shield but they don't line up.  I think I'd have to move the muffler back about 1/4" to get them to connect, I tried and I don't have that kind of wiggle room.  The placement of the hoop piece on the new and old shields is the same, I compared them.

How are these two pieces supposed to mate?  What next?

Thanks,
Scott

[gashousegorilla]

 Scott, are you using a new stock heat shield?

[Ducati Scotty]

Yup.

[r80rt]

sounds like the tab on your pipe is bent over backwards, I'll have a pic for you in a few minutes of the tab on mine.

[r80rt]

.

[gashousegorilla]

 Scotty, post a pic of what you got. So we can compare with ours.

[r80rt]

.

[r80rt]

This is what the tab on your head pipe should look like.

[Ducati Scotty]

Ah!  I ain't got that so I guess that's a problem.

Scott

[r80rt]

With three screws holding it in place it shouldn't be a problem.

[Ducati Scotty]

It is.  I never lost the screws but lost both the clip on the shield and the one on the pipe.  With it like that it rattled back and forth making noise and starting two cracks where the narrow part meets the wider part.

I'm not inclined to replace the head pipe for a clip that may fail again.  I'll see.  Maybe I can safety wire or clamp it together, maybe just get the short heat shield to cover the broken clip and pipe behind the foot peg.  Maybe I can get some sheet metal and bend it into a Z shape to replace the original broken clip and use the hoop that's left.

Regardless, it seems wasteful to chuck the whole pipe and I don't want to do that.  Hmmm.... Maybe I can parlay this to my advantage...  "Oh yeah sweetie, they can replace it under warranty but it'll just break again.  I think it's a better idea to just get the aftermarket short muffler."    I'm kidding, she lets be buy whatever I want.  I married the right woman.

Scott

[Ducati Scotty]

A little update:

I finally got some time to fool with the bike.  I bought a stainless steel hose clamp and used the metal band as material to fashion a new clip.  I fished it through the hoop that was left from the original and bent it to stay in place, then installed the new shield on it.  While I was at it I tossed those allen head screws and replaced them with standard 6 point 10 mm head bolts.  They don't look as pretty but the heads don't strip as easily.

We'll see how it holds up tomorrow.

Scott

[Ducati Scotty]

It works!