Ducati orders recall for Multistrada V4

Ducati has announced a formal recall for its 2021 Multistrada V4 adventure motorcycle due to a potential issue related to the valve guides of the Granturismo powertrain unit.

The Italian motorcycle maker is said to have found quality issues with the valve guides on the Granturismo V4 engines. This issue could lead to excessive wear of the engine components and thus the powertrain could lose power and ultimately fail. As per several reports, the company has also paused the delivery of the engines and the Multistrada V4 owners have been notified and advised not to ride the bikes until further announcement.

Albeit, Ducati is yet to describe the exact problem, the new Granturismo engine comes equipped with the latest valve spring return system instead of the Desmodromic valve system found on Ducati bikes traditionally.

The new valve return system made its debut with the Multistrada V4 which allowed Ducati to increase the maintenance intervals (valve clearance) to 60,000 km.

The issue is said to have been originated from one of two parts suppliers which are responsible for making valve guides for the company. The valve guides for Ducati are made by two suppliers - one in Germany, and the other in Japan. The bikes with powertrain issues are said to sport valve guides provided by the Japanese supplier.

In the US, the company will replace the engines on the affected units with new motors that have been built in Bologna. A total of 60 units have been affected in the North American market which includes 44 units in the US, 13 in Mexico and 3 in Canada.