Ducati Desmosedici Stradale V-4 Engine to Be Unveiled Sept. 7

You raise an excellent point. What if, in the future, especially with electric bikes becoming more common, manufacturers decided to adopt the business model of desktop printers? Sell the bike at a deep discount, even at loss, but not cheap enough that the customer will walk away from it. Then program it to need service every 3000 miles or 6 months, whichever comes first. You then charge an arm and a leg for every service. You can track your customer, update software as you see fit, immobilize the bike at a distance, if customer hasn't paid for the updates, etc... There are other, more vicious business models that one can think of.. Of course, the current one, where your bike loses 30% of its value right out the door is a pretty good one too.

Very astute observations, and I see them coming as I'm in the industry.

Some motorbike companies are already engaged in this horrifying direction. Try turning off your "Service" warning on a KTM's instruments without their proprietary tablet. Soon a mechanic might not be able to work on a bike because "Training modules have not been completed!".

I don't like this trend in the least. Far too much factory control over YOUR bike. Hopefully hackers and the aftermarket can keep pace with this Big Brother/Corporate Overlord nonsense.

Hackers won't be able to do much. Consider my phone: I paid for it, I own it, but I have no control as to what software I can run on it. The manufacturer can update/change it when they want; if I don't give permission the phone becomes useless. Etc.

Thanks for the heads up on the KTM 'service' light. Now I know that I'll never own one.

How come MO never discloses this type of information in their reviews?

John Deere has already made it impossible for some of their products to be repaired by the "non-authorized". Hackers in Eastern Europe have made it possible to circumvent the system.

I'm not the brightest here. I started with carbs and points and now must deal with Can bus wizardry and multiple ECUs. I love the seamlessness of new motorbikes, but when they're troubled it's often brutal to repair them. One of our KTM reps couldn't fix a glitch in a customer's bike. We're expected to spend ENDLESS time troubleshooting with no real warranty compensation. We often only get paid to replace the faulty component, not for all the time it took to pin down the problem.

If I didn't love motorbikes so very much I would've been out of this thankless industry long ago.

Dealer only tools for resetting maintenance lights is not a new phenomenon. Especially in motorcycles. I've been riding around with the little wrench showing on my multistrada for 20k+ miles. Thankfully Ducati was kind enough to program it to stop flashing after 2-300 miles.

I am extremely interested in learning how the maintenance is handled on the new bike. Supposedly the Panigale is a real bitch to work on and the costs reflect it. I'll stick to air cooled for my Ducati fix. That desert sled is calling my name.

In the motorcycle repair industry, how much "gravy" work is there? Is there a type of job that is your bread and butter? In automotive that kind of stuff is always brakes, suspension, fluid changes, and timing belts. It seems to me that just about everything on bikes is a relative pain in the ass.

Good question! And we use the term "gravy work" all the time where I toil.

Tire changes and minor services are the money-makers. I can swap out a pair of tires in 30 minutes on many bikes and even do a few quick freebie things. Buy the tires at our shop, and I'll go the distance to inspect, lube, and adjust needed areas. Bring in tires you purchased on the web, and I'll ignore your sticky bits and pretend I don't see problems.

Then routine carb work and ATV services are good jobs. I used to dislike ATV work, but it's all good now. Adapt or die. Carb cleaning is one of the most common areas I deal in. While fuel-injection is omnipresent, there's still an enormous number of carbureted vehicles out there. Engine work is where we get screwed. It never pays what it should. There's so many details, both minor and major. Mess one up and you're a nincompoop.

I hate installing almost any and all aftermarket crap. There's always some unintended/unseen issue that crops up. Even installing a set of grips can be headache-inducing. I like OE stuff and my motorbikes are almost all completely stock.

I'm so damn good at troubleshooting, angels weep at my amazing abilities. Years and years and years wrenching on a wide variety of bikes is the key. Disgrace and abject humiliation are excellent deterrents to failure. I'm my own harshest critic and my own cheerleader. Praise is rare. Criticism isn't.

Should've picked a more lucrative career...

MO doesn't know every little detail about a bike. When I took my KTM 1190 R in for the 18,600 mile service which includes valve check, the good mechanic had quit so we decided to postpone the valve check to the next time. It took the techs 30 minutes to figure out how to change the service mileage in the bike to the next one. Just a minor niggle. I still love my bike.

What about the ECU in your car or bike reporting your speed to the authorities all the time so you get a speeding ticket in the mail automatically? Or reporting reckless driving to your insurance company so it can raise your rates automatically? Luckily self driving cars will be coming soon so we will all be droning on the freeway at the same speed thumbing our smartphones. Except for us vagabond motorcyclists who will soon be outlawed out of existence.

Yes, but it's near the top in personal satisfaction! :-)

Love these near-intangible categories from silly surveys.

"...the good mechanic had quit..."

Probably found a better job with a brighter future cleaning portable toilets at three-day chili cookoffs.

And the issue with the techs having trouble resetting your service light? Understandable if you've ever dealt with KTM's non-user-friendly, counterintuitive program. Of course it costs the dealer big bucks just for the privilege of renting this mess.