[gthang]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

I would be wrong if I said I don't care about the Scrambler and Ducati in general. I would still remain a fan. (throat is a bit lumpy as I type these words)

Hi there.

Sorry to hear what happened.

Believe you me, I have been through worse to get a Ducati.

Don't let people take the beauty out of the machine.

I can't tell you what to do. It's a tough spot you are in. But I can assure you the bike will be worth it and more.

I think it is more destiny and fate that Ducati has this kind of relationship in India. Even though it is a completely new management, it seems like they are just different in name. Ethics and professionalism looks optional.

It's a pity that Ducati also has some of the best bikes around.

I would also suggest opening a new thread to highlight your incident and ensure proper visibility is given in the interest of better future performance by Ducati Corse India

Cheers

Ride Safe.

[sammyboy]

Feel very sorry for the way things have gone bro, but sadly that's the way things work in our country. Sad to say but it's the truth.
No one stands in line, red lights can jump signals, make us stand for hours, and there isn't much that happens even after fighting. I have seen showrooms face a similar predicament, if they don't bow down to pressures they face raids, police visits, and are harassed quite a bit. It's possible that similar thing could have happened to them as well. I am not siding with anyone, it's not your fault, it's just the way our things happen here. Yes, we should change it, yes we should fight but until it changes, it's going to continue.

Rant over.feel sad for what you had to go through, I really hope they are able to give you the bike you booked and soon. All the best.

[voyageur]

Originally Posted by Sojogator

Do I need to continuously play with the clutch to keep it running ? Do I need to shift to the 1st and probably keep it there throughout my city ride (like most supers and hypers do) ? Can I just brake from a higher speed for a hump, reduce speed and again speed away without shifting too many times ?

I thought the Bonnie could do all of that when I test rode it so a major win over the Scrambler from my point of view.

The review says the showroom guy asked them to keep the rpms high and hence my observations.

The torque curve there shows what I was saying. The Triumph will give you the flat top torque at whatever low RPM you are but the Scrambler will ask you to push her higher to make everything seem normal. Again, comparative !

We couldn't give it a try in the city limits but definitely it would start knocking anywhere below 3000 rpm. I felt one of the times when I tried to pick it up after a speed breaker at the 3rd gear and the rpm was low, quite low. Finally I ended up dropping the gear. Usually I always take any speed breakers at slower speed, and hence in the 2nd gear or 1st gear sometimes. But I don't think you will be able to reduce speed, take a hump and again take off at a higher gear. I maybe wrong, but this is from my very little experience with that motorbike.

Originally Posted by outofthebox

Update on my Scrambler situation: it turned out to be not a case of a 'paint scratch on tank by a visitor' but that of a rotten organisational culture. They have sold my Red Icon out of turn to someone else, I'm presuming a 'VIP customer' and their entire team, one person after other kept making really creative excuses to convince me to wait till the next batch of Red arrives.

I sensed something was amiss because my request to view the bike before I decide the next steps was a simple one and I could not figure out why they were trying to wriggle out of it. So in the afternoon I landed up at the showroom and demanded that I be allowed to see the 'damage', 'lack of proper documentation', 'technical issues', 'n number of other problems with it' (all the bull I was fed today) before I decide on next steps. Was made to wait for three hours till the Sales staff called back & forth. After the fourth 'iterative' call a senior manager finally admitted the real reason and asked if it would be okay for me to accept a written apology from him and wait for the next batch of Red.

As things stand now, I have asked them to do any one of the following per their convenience:
a) Deliver my original Red Icon by tomorrow to me
or
b)Deliver me a Yellow Icon by tomorrow and foot the bill for additional charges for the Yellow version plus cost of all three parts required to make it red again.

Failing which, I'm going to cancel my order tomorrow itself and never bother with Ducati India ever again!

So sorry to hear that. Like sammy said before, this is how things work in India. It must be some politician or someone influential like that. They would rather part away with a customer than parting away with the whole dealership. This is my best guess. Otherwise they have no reason to do that to a customer.

The world I live in right now makes much more sense in a motoring way. The Ducati dealership made us wait a bit (only a bit), but they were so happy to give away the motorbike for the td. Partly cos the guy knew Crazybiker from before I believe. They explained about the motorbike and I was pretty glad to deal with the guys there. I also saw an Indian guy taking delivery of his Monster (or was it streetfighter) there. The best thing about buying a bike here is that you get access to their riders group and then the rest is fun, fun and fun.

It's completely your choice to give them a second chance or not. But then I am sad that such a wonderful piece of engineering, being let down by people.

[AZ911]

Checked it out yesterday and wow, what a beauty to look at. Priced at 7.58 OTR Delhi And NCR.

[pratap.pratu]

Hats off to ducati for such exquisite paint job and color of choice (yellow).

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by AZ911

Checked it out yesterday and wow, what a beauty to look at.

Does it look very puny when compared to the monsters and other cousins?

[AZ911]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Does it look very puny when compared to the monsters and other cousins?

Not exactly. It's not as small as it looks. To make it clearer, let me upload a few pics with me sitting on it, and I'm 6' tall.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by AZ911

I'm 6' tall.

Not bad at all, did you get to test ride it? Or is Ducati not offering them at all?

[AZ911]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Not bad at all, did you get to test ride it? Or is Ducati not offering them at all?

Will TD it in a week or so. They are offering them currently. I turned on the ignition though. It's a sweet sounding bike.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by AZ911

It's a sweet sounding bike.

Cool, Shall be looking forward for your thoughts on the trial.

[outofthebox]

Here’s an update on my Red Icon situation:

Called for a meeting with dealer senior management yesterday to get to the bottom of it. There were no VIP buyers involved here, just sheer incompetence of the sales staff, lack of a formal order management process or management foresight between the Delhi & Gurgaon show rooms.

A very kind Team-BHP member after reading my posts brought this to the notice of Ducati India management, as did my wife! Since this was supposed to be a surprise for her, she had no clue that I had booked a Ducati. Upon finding out how the dealer had treated me and seeing my miserable condition over the weekend, she was raving mad. Being in the media industry, she had some common acquaintances and immediately contacted Ducati India management directly.

Other than bugging a lot of people about it and wasting countless man-hours of everyone involved in this issue, unfortunately nothing much productive has come out of any of our efforts. My only real option is to wait for the next shipment of Red Icons from Thailand and just hope and pray that there are no more unpleasant surprises waiting for me.

After my learning experience, my advise to anyone booking a Ducati here - respect & revere the 'Ducati' but pay real attention to the 'India' in Ducati India

[neil.jericho]

Here are some pics of the Scrambler from the Doha showroom in both green and yellow. I must say that after the Continental GT, I am starting to love yellow bikes everywhere.

[shiraz]

Dear outofthebox, I know this sounds cruel, but my suggestion would be to let it go. If this is how the journey begins, then I shudder to think what would happen at the first way point. Due to the low volumes, luxury product retailers often try to save on infra, training and a service network. Look to other reputed brands that have made this investment, otherwise you will be spending half your time fixing one problem after another. You are a weekend warrior, not a Ducati chop shop!

[ebonho]

What the government should do to protect the consumer, from fly by night import companies testing the waters, is to ensure legal liability for providing trained service manpower and parts support (within a stipulated period of wait time, at a stipulated cost+markup upper limit formula) for X number of years post purchase for any product imported into the company and sold to an Indian customer.

Short of this, most serious bikers are always going to be extremely wary of the DSKs and the Ducati Indias of the world.

[outofthebox]

shiraz, your suggestion is not at all cruel but very practical. in fact you are a mind reader! I had edited out the following from my previous post because I thought it was sounding too negative & depressing for any future Ducati fans & owners:

If I do end up going for a Ducati, one thing is very clear, I will have to make my own arrangements for ASS. I’m not 1% convinced that I will get any traction when it is time to get post sales support.