The first time the number plate got destroyed I supposed I'd bent the bracket chaining the rear wheel to my workbench post. The second time, that the temporary bracket I made was springy, so deflected back towards the wheel when I hit a bump or pothole or something. The third time was with an identical part to the first, but definitely not backed into anything whatsoever. So now I wonder if the original part was incomplete and that was why the plate hit the tyre? That is, maybe the Terblanche styling is so radical, which is why it looks unlike the number plate holder of any other model - but it also seems unlike that on US market versions. It seems - I gather from responses I've had on Ducati Forum - that 999 parts advertised online are very unrepresentative of what is actually available. Is it likely that if I drop in on the outlets favoured here, that they'll have something like 999 number plate mounts in stock? I mean, it's easy to believe, when most parts one has bought were for Triumph twins/BSAs/Honda fours that sold in very large quantities, that there is nothing like the spares inventory for the short-lived, niche, Ducati 999. Cheers.
Thanks, Sev, That is not the part that came with the bike - and that an identical replacement of which went the same way yesterday. Now, I can't for the life of me think why it should be different on a Biposto - or, given how many have them, a Termignoni. The massive sense of relief I'm feeling right now is only marginally offset by the anger at being put in this position in the first place! Again, thank you!
Kind of hard to see how it could possibly replace the above! Just to be clear about it, the lugs with the screws bolt to the underside of the silencer, and the number plate to the other end.
I've ordered both components - and a couple of the brass mirror bolts while I was at it! Trying to figure where to get no. plate no. 3 made as I'm embarrassed to go back to Spa (although not as much as I would be if it said 'Halfords' at the bottom).
and therein lies your problem. Compare with @Sev photo above of how it was designed. Someone in the past has fitted a shite tail tidy and each time your suspension goes on full compression the tyre will trash the number plate - or vice versa.
Yeah, sure, but bear in mind that bracket is bent from the plate hitting the tyre; it looked like it would clear the tyre - before it didn't. That's why I say - in the original thread - which I need to update re assumed provenance - the bracket isn't broken but 'won't last long now': I'd have to bend it back and then it would snap - not having the means to heat it sufficiently. But at the time I still thought it was the genuine bracket. The fact this one had 'gone' without having been bent as I'd supposed the first one had is what made me suspect that the bracket was part of an incomplete assembly, if not completely wrong. If it had pointed down as per your illustration I would have seen immediately that it couldn't be right. And looking back - like yer do - I've done close to 3000 miles, at least 2000 of which with the no. plate in situ, which reinforces the belief that both the bracket and it's position, and that of my bodged-up replacement, are correct. Christ this is a pain typing on a mobile!
It appears that your bracket allows the plate to be hit by the tyre when compressed, resulting in a broken/missing plate. My advice to you would be to fit a bracket that does not allow this to happen. This may be the current shite bracket, reprofiled to a suitable angle to ensure no further tyre-plate interface, or, a genuine bracket that also does not allow this to happen. If your plate still hits the tyre after either of these solutions are applied, you have done it wrong.
And, I'll tell y'all what belatedly occurs to me now (whether after more than 15 years out of the game, or losing IQ points with age): That 'aftermarket' bracket - looks like a tail light mount.
Well, that was acceptably fast. Unfortunately a day or so later I realized I didn't have the seven bolts required. So, another day or two: says he looking at a sunny evening through his wide open windows.
Okay, so here's another question. I can't tell from the exploded diagrams: does the 999 silencer have studs beneath, for mounting the number plate brackets to? By which I mean the bracket brackets. The bracket in the above post didn't fit and I found, looking at the silencer diagram rather than the number plate assembly one, that there are a pair of breathtakingly-expensive brackets (38) that go between the silencer and the above bracket - with four associated self-locking nuts (40). That implies studs. My Termi just has threaded holes. In-Moto sent one bracket, the other 'to follow'. I've been off the road nearly a month awaiting these various parts. So if there should be studs in the silencer, I'm presuming I can find stainless bolts locally to do the job. I suppose the point of studs would be to negate risk of stripping threads in the really expensive part when affixing the number plate assembly. I'm dreading finding out the reason for the bodge that started all this is not that, say, when whoever swapped silencers, they sheered a stud, but that they stripped a thread in the Termi.
Ah! Thanks, Sev. I had been thinking of using loctite. But perhaps copper grease and spring washers would be a better idea?
