Careful in the mud, safety alert

While out last weekend in Utah I ran across a problem on the bike. After this fall in the video posted earlier this week we inspected the bike and found the tire immovable. The front wheel locked up in the mud, like the Africa Twin would do, it threw me off...several times, as well as several lay downs. The stress from the bending of the fender from the impacted mud cracks it, just below the mounting bolts. You can see in the picture it is the same spot on both sides, the one side broke off at some point (this compacting happened like every 50 yards for a long stretch). Disappointing that they would not already have considered this since they are late to the game and have had a lot of time to do R&D on previous ADV bike issues. I certainly do not expect them to get everything right, I am just saying this is a common issue they did not address. I was not really inured in any of the spills, but did jam my thumb pretty good and ended the trip a day early. It could pose a significant safety issue for someone though, so I figured I would let you all know to be extra cautious when you hit the mud. Probably why Ducati had none of the media days held in the rain, this would have popped up for sure at the Colorado launch and injured a rider, that would certainly be a disaster.

I asked Ducati if they would spring for a new fender since the bike is promoted as an off road bike and the design doesn't support that in the real world where it actually rains, but of course they said no, and to call my insurance company :rofl. Kind of a disappointing generic answer actually for a potential safety issue, I can afford the fender, but why spend the $270? I cannot ride in the mud until there is an aftermarket solution available anyway, might as well just keep the broken one on there. So I will just wait for a few weeks and pick up the high fender kit from @Camel ADV once it is available. Not in a rush for the next few weeks anyway since the bike will be unavailable to me.

The bike performed excellent at everything I threw at it, video coming later from the trip. The motor is smooth as silk, shifted great, clutch feel is good to me, though the engagement is a little far out IMO, but we all adjust to the bikes we ride. Braking was really good, dare I say great up front. Suspension needs some help for sure, particularly the rear, lots of bottoming out, and some up front as well. But it is to be expected, and I am dropping it off at the suspension shop tomorrow for some R&D on what can be done to improve it; from valving and springs, to maybe just needing a drop-in? Minus Ducati customer service being so crappy in their response to my safety concerns (shouldn't that be a priority?), its a good package overall that I hope last a long time for me.

In the mean time, be aware of the mud, or you could really risk serious injury.