it's possible that strong wind in the 'right' direction may have been the only reason the whole bike wasn't engulfed/decimated before fire was put out.
If a battery had gone off, there'd be bits of bodywork missing etc. The guy had said he'd pulled up and smelt burning, looked down and saw the flames and legged it. My first thoughts were a fuel fire... Just reading comments on the pictures elsewhere, and it was highlighted that the bike has a non standard fuel cap fitted (already). Heavy braking up to the lights, fuel washes out of the cap, over the front headers and boom... Still, supposition, but the most viable that I've read so far.
Or the cheap fuel cap was not even fitted correctly in the first place. Or it isn’t made to fit the V4 at all. I would be surprised if any decent aftermarket companies have designed or tried any of their current range to see if it’s suitable.
Didn't mean the battery going off - but cooking the reg rec as can happed on 1098 type bikes especially- very similar pictures to some early 1098 bikes going up in flames in 2007, but all speculation - you would hope the bike is capable and well tested with the Lithium battery and the Reg Rec isn't tucked adjacent to a hot exhaust like on some earlier bikes... all supposition of course, if the fuel cap (good spot Neil) then surely the warranty is a goner!
TBF, an 848 Evo went up in flames in Newbury a couple of summers ago, the guy pulled up to the lights and a relay shorted/wire melted near the rear of the plastic tank, and... well.. you know the rest, melted the road though! good effort. My thought as soon as I saw it was Lithium Ion battery, I'm a late convert, I'm really not so sure about them, can't help but think manufacturers will start putting them under the rear seat as stick type battery's given their lack of weight and to get them away from sources of heat soak.
If you look at the rear shock of the burnt bike it's the V4s, so it does have a litho battery standard. I'm wondering what aftermaket parts he put on besides the Carbon tank cover and the Fuel cap that we can see from the pictures.
The Owner confirmed that it's a V4S and has removed photo's in the US as Ducati NA have arranged a replacement. However there is a section in here :- https://www.facebook.com/groups/189...21670021¬if_t=group_r2j_approved&ref=notif V4 Owners club on Facebook
