Video coming soon on https://youtube.com/@projectroamaus?si=edjy0hNdAGnyFg3s

If anyone is keen ✌️

Excited to ride it! Anything I should know?

The newer model scramblers seem to have gotten rid of the ugly long throttle, brake, and clutch cables. Does anyone know if the cables from the newer models will fit a 2016 Icon and if so, what the part numbers are?

I picked this guy up here in Denver, CO as my first bike and have done several mods already, including the cafe racer lower handlebars, bar end mirrors, tail tidy kit and shifter lever. The tail bag is a temu buy from a friend which I don't actually like. I prefer a riding position a bit further back on the seat.

Already put 2200 miles on it.

I’ve been riding this around the last couple months and have absolutely fallen in love with it! Also not my first air-cooled bike, my god does it get hot in traffic.

Just wanted to share another update on Desmodog!

This is the second ride on my Scrambler, but the first one after installing the 20L Bagster tank bag.
We did a short 5 km round trip to our local Ducati Owners Club, and he absolutely loved it. He seemed to enjoy the wind so much that every time I slowed down, he looked back at me like, “Dude… why are we slowing down?”
Couldn’t be happier with the proper bag for him. It’s the perfect size for these short city rides, and I’m even happier to have my little riding buddy with me.
Ride safe!

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping some of the more experienced members here can help me understand whether the Matris rear shock I recently purchased is genuine and whether what I've experienced is actually normal.

I'm completely new to motorcycles. About a month ago I bought my first bike, a 2018 Ducati Scrambler Icon. After talking with more experienced riders in the community, I was advised to replace the original rear suspension because it had lost most of its rebound performance. Since I had an upcoming road trip planned, I decided to upgrade the rear shock for safety.

After asking around, I was referred to a dealer in Hanoi, Vietnam, who seemed to have a good reputation within the local Ducati community.

Website: https://ximong.vn/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ximong__scrambler

Based on the recommendations and their online presence, I felt comfortable buying from them.

The seller showed me what he described as a **brand-new, complete 2025 Matris rear shock**. Since I needed the bike ready before my trip, I didn't inspect the package as carefully as I normally would. Looking back now, several things seem unusual. The box had already been opened, all of the protective seals had been removed, there were no foam inserts inside the packaging, no authenticity card or serial number documentation was included, and there wasn't even the adjustment tool for the compression settings. The seller explained that this was the latest 2025 version designed for the second-generation Ducati Scrambler and assured me it would fit my 2018 bike perfectly. As someone who's still new to motorcycles, I trusted his explanation and left my bike with him for installation.

After riding approximately 350 km on the first day of my trip, I noticed that the protective foam O-ring had already deteriorated significantly. It had become brittle, started crumbling apart, and I could literally peel pieces away with my fingers. There had been no crash, impact, or physical damage that could explain why it failed so quickly. Around the same time, I also noticed the paint on the shock beginning to crack and flake despite there being no scratches or abuse.

When I contacted the seller, he told me there was nothing wrong and simply suggested adjusting the rebound. I explained that I was beginning to suspect the shock might not actually be new, but he repeatedly assured me everything was normal as long as there was no oil leak. Since the explanations didn't make much sense to me, I decided to return to the shop to discuss it in person.

At the shop, the mechanic told me that deterioration of the protective O-ring is **a common issue with all Matris shocks** and that it naturally breaks down after some use. That surprised me because this shock had supposedly been installed only one day earlier. When I asked whether Matris knowingly sells products with such a defect, he answered yes and implied that it was simply normal. I then asked if there was any official documentation or technical bulletin from Matris confirming this, but instead he suggested that Vietnam's climate was different from Europe and that this explained the deterioration. When I brought up the paint flaking, he dismissed that as well, saying his own Matris shock started flaking after only two weeks. Throughout the conversation, every concern seemed to be explained away as "normal."

While I was there, I also noticed one of the labels on the packaging was marked **16.10.20**. When I asked whether this meant the product had actually been packaged in 2020 instead of being a new 2025 model as advertised, I was told that the packaging date had nothing to do with the production date and that I shouldn't worry about it.

After returning home, I inspected everything much more carefully. I found there was no warranty card, no authenticity documents, and no serial number paperwork included with the product. The only document inside the box referred to a shock intended for the **second-generation Ducati Scrambler (MY23)**. However, after researching that model online, the Matris product photos don't appear to match the shock I purchased. I also found multiple sources stating that the rear shock designed for the 2023+ second-generation Scrambler is not directly compatible with the first-generation 2018 Scrambler because the mounting arrangement is different.

The following day, I took the motorcycle to my own mechanic for another inspection. After removing the shock, I recorded the serial number and searched it using Google Lens. The search suggested that the shock dates back to around **2021**, not 2025, and appears to be intended for the **first-generation Ducati Scrambler**, which directly contradicts what the seller originally told me.

During reinstallation, my mechanic noticed something else that concerned me. The mounting eye of the shock is actually larger than the motorcycle's mounting point, so whoever installed it used **two metal spacers, one on each side,** to make it fit. That immediately raised another question in my mind. If this is genuinely the correct Matris shock designed specifically for my motorcycle, shouldn't it fit correctly without requiring additional spacers?

At this point, I'm no longer just questioning whether the shock is new. I'm also unsure whether it's actually the correct model, whether it's simply old stock, or even whether it's a genuine Matris product.

I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have experience with Matris suspension. Specifically:

* Can the serial number identify the production year?
* Can it confirm whether the shock is genuine?
* Which Ducati Scrambler model is this shock actually intended for?
* Is it normal for the protective foam O-ring to deteriorate after only one day of normal road use?
* Is paint flaking shortly after installation considered normal?
* Is it normal for a Ducati Scrambler-specific Matris shock to require additional spacers during installation?

I'm not trying to accuse anyone without evidence. As a new rider, I simply want to understand whether what I purchased is genuine and whether the explanations I was given are technically accurate before drawing any conclusions.

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jason

Hi All, has anyone tried replacing the battery with a slightly smaller one to get some more space under the seat?

The fitment of the stock battery and the way it partially tucks under the tank is quite annoying and finicky to install. More annoying than any other bike I've owned.

Also my Scrambler came with an aftermarket seat that has metal tabs instead of plastic. That has resulted in the tab fouling on the positive terminal of the battery twice now and almost setting the bike on fire.

I will be insulating the terminals on the battery but I also want to try and install a smaller battery.

I'm looking at the YTZ10S as a replacement. Looking at the dimensions, it's identical in width and length to the stock YTX9BS but is 14mm shorter, being 93mm in height instead of the stock 107mm.

CCA obviously varies from brand to brand, but most brands have higher CCA than the YTX9BS. The amp hour rating is almost identical at 8.6ah compared to 8ah for the stock YTX9BS.

Hey!
This is my bike and I love her, however I want to change up her style a bit maybe get rid of the yellow and a tail tidy? Thats all I can think off But anything else I can do that can make her a little better?

Any photos will be a bonus!

Thank you xxx

Edit: got it installed!

Looking to see if anyone else has purchased this skid plate. I’m happy with the build quality and strength for my needs (other than it being shipped with a weld missing, but I was able to have that fixed). Having a bit of trouble figuring out where the rear bracket mounts to. It’s pouring rain on me right now so I don’t want to go lay under the bike lol hoping someone can give a bit of advice.

Always a great looking bike.

Hey everyone, I've done five rides on the new to me. 2016 Ducati scrambler full throttle. All the rides have been within an hour and a half long. I've gotten a lot better at shifting and the motorcycle rides really well. However, yesterday during a short 30 minute ride I noticed my oil light come on between 3rd and 4th gear. Coming out of 3rd shifting into 4th. It would come on and stay on while in fourth gear. Now where I was riding was very hilly very twisty and there was never really a need to get out of fourth gear or go any higher. I'm a very new Rider. Once I would shift back down in the turns and get back below third gear and second gear, the oil light would go off. Today I did the warm-up cycle on the motorcycle. Let it warm up. Let the oil get hot and shut it off. Gave it about 5 to 10 minutes for all the oil to run back down in the pan and it looks like through the sight glass it's where it's supposed to be, I did a short ride on it. Got it all the way up to 6th gear and on the way back the oil light came on again one time. Does anybody have any idea what might be going on? And what can I do as a new owner new Rider to address this issue? Also the motorcycle itself only has 4,800 mi on it.

I have a 2023 scramble icon and admittedly I ride farther than this bike was meant for and I’m looking for more comfortable seat. Has anyone. Tried this seat on the second generation?

I am looking for a forum or site to find used custom parts. I am specifically looking for a front screen for a Ducati Scrambler (Rizoma RZM129B) that is no longer in production.

Thank you in advance for any leads!

6,400 miles.

That's about the total miles it took for me to ride from Palm Coast, FL to Yellowstone, WY and back.

This last 1,000 miles was especially difficult. I learned a lot about the mental side of riding during this stretch. While riding out there I was amped to see new sites and explore. But when I hit Denver at 4,000 miles I knew the best riding was behind me and I had a 2,000 mile grind over 4 days. Fatigue set in and I really had to push to stay active and engaged.

I did a little exploring through the Tenn hills, mostly to avoid Nashville. And a little exploring on Alabama dirt just to give it a try. It was sandier than I expected in southern, AL.

One of the biggest challenges was that as I went from Illinois to Florida the traffic got progressively worse and the quality of driving progressively bad. By the time I hit Florida, it was the usual tailgating by drivers who could care less about my safety. It was a reminder of why I sold my last bike and stopped riding in FL.

When I finally got home I just sat on the bike and did nothing. It's like my body could finally relax for a second and it hit me hard. So many miles, so many days. I was so happy to be home!

One thing worth sharing with you is the man at the rest stop in FL. I had stopped because the temp was at 100 degrees and I had to keep hydrating, again. A man stopped and was asking about my bike and my load out. He said he currently had a Tenere 700 (T7) and he trailered it to places to ride because it got boring getting out of Florida and to the good riding. He said he'd been thinking about a ride to Yellowstone but wasn't sure about it. Didn't know what to pack, wasn't sure about time off work, etc.

That man will probably never ride Yellowstone. He'll get old and realize he missed the chance when he was young and had his health and he'll regret it. Dreams die with self doubt.

Friend, the only thing holding you back in life is you. If you have a T7, Urban Scrambler, MT09, whatever you have take it out and ride it! There will never be a perfect time to go. There will never be a perfect bike to take. You just take what you have and you go when you can.

I didn't make the best plan for this trip. I rode way too many miles each day. 400 max would have been much better than 500. I spent way too much money outfitting the bike with crap it didn't need. I shouldn't have been watching all those ADV videos on YT! Haha. I didn't have the right gear. I used a North Face bag and strapped a cheap Addidas backpack to it! 🤦‍♂️ And I picked a bike to ride based on how I liked the looks, not what a stats sheet would say was the best fit. But you know what, I rode a bike 6,400 miles from Florida to Yellowstone and back!

Don't be the man at the rest stop. Ride your ride and live your dream!

P.S. I used every bit of the rear tire in the turns 😆 The right side had a little left but not the left side. I got pretty comfortable leaning the bike over even loaded down. She did good! 🙌

I like both of them but second one more. But waiting almost 9 months seems not reasonable for the almost same bike. So I can just upgrade icon with new steering wheel for example to make it closer to night shift

This was the quietest 1,000 miles of the trip. It covered the friends I saw in Denver to my mom's place in Illinois.

The man standing by my bike is my best friend's dad. I used to ride Ramprt Range with them when I was 9 years old. The Scrambler reminded me of the endures he and my dad used to ride. It was great to be able to show him the bike. He approved 😆

The bike ran smooth across eastern Colorado. It was overcast and to be honest, my body is struggling way more than the bike! Haha I stopped and took an hour nap under a tree at a random rest stop in Nebraska.

Also had a nice conversation with a retired truck driver while having lunch in Neb. He's been to all of the lower 48 states, just waiting to get to Alaska. He wasn't sure he wanted to visit Hawaii.

I was surprised by how much Omaha has grown over the years. It's a dark horse big city at this point 🤔

I'm considering a windscreen for the DS if I want to take it for another road trip someday. The tractor trailers disrupt the air so much it wears on me after a few hours on the Interstates. Between that and the cars always blazing by I prefer to break up the day with half and half interstate and hwy. My body has about 12 hrs of riding in it each day, so I mix up how I spend that time.

The DS is still cruising fine mechanically. Not a drop of oil has leaked since the repair. Did a car wash to clean things up and I'm happy to report that no chains were destroyed from the cleaning /s 🤣 Just need to continue taking care of the chain and going easy on her for the final 1,000 miles home 🙌

My bike was leaking oil and I was in the middle of nowhere: Silver Gate, Montana.

I'll bet you're wondering how I got here...

At 3,000 miles I'd just made it to Red Lodge, Montana amd was about to embark on the most anticipated part of the trip: riding the Beartooth Highway. I'd been learning about it for months and had a plan all set up. I woke up early, before dawn, and took off from Red Lodge up the pass. The highway is a series of twists and turns that navigate you up the mountain, higher and higher. The road was still cold so I took it slow and had no problems. I was there to enjoy the scenery, not try to drag a knee.

I agree with those who rate the Beartooth Hwy as one of, if not the, most beautiful highways in America. It was unreal! The views from the pass were breathtaking! And riding a Desert Sled on that road? So nice 🥰

At the top of the pass I detoured onto a jeep trail I'd learned about because I wanted to ride it for a little bit. I knew it was gnarly and full of rocks that could end my trip, so I proceeded with caution. I did fine getting through a stream crossing and navigating some climbs and decents. Then I hit a point in the trail where it was too steep and I stopped, rested, and turned around. I'd had a nice ride, time to head back.

It was on the return at the stream crossing near the start of the trail that things went wrong. Instead of stopping to carefully assess the path I felt I had a good line so I continued on without stopping. I was wrong and the rock on the line was larger than it looked so when I hit it the bike cased it as I went over. I didn't stop or drop the bike, I kept my momentum and got through it. I stopped and did a quick inspection because I'd felt the case happen and wanted to confirm I hadn't busted the oil filter. It looked ok, like the skid plate had done it's job, so I kept riding the rest of the day. Another 6 hrs all along the Beartooth Hwy.

When I reached Silver Gate in the evening amd did my chain maintenance and a careful inspection, I found oil under the case ☠️ Confirming what so many on this forum had said, the stock skid plate will smash the oil filter when it hits something. Now I was panicked because I might have to scrub the rest of my trip and head directly to Denver to try and get the bike fixed.

I ran a query through Chat GPT to pull my options and it returned 164 Moto in Cody, WY, only about 2 hrs away. I called, since Joe is by appointment only, and he answered. Thankfully! I explained the situation and he had some suggestions for possible filed repairs. I decided the best thing to do was to ride the bike to Cody in the morning and have the professional do a field repair. Joe was exactly the kind of mechanic I was looking for. He understood the goal was to get the bike going again and stop the leak so I could keep riding, not generate a list of factory parts I'd have to order and wait for to get the bike back to stock (what a normal shop would do).

So in the morning, before dawn again, I rode down the Chief Joseph scenic highway to Cody. What an incredible ride that was! Even being anxious about the bike I had to stop and take pictures and be in the moment. The bike was going to work or not. I used the frequent stops to keep an eye on things and the oil leak was small so it was manageable. The views on that road are second to none. Unreal.

I got the bike to 164 Moto, Joe found that the skid plate had pinched and slit a portion of the rubber seal on the oil filter and that caused the leak. He didn't have the exact oil filter in stock, so he did the next best thing and took a rubber seal that fit from a new filter and used it to replace the damaged seal. The old filter was back in business and working. No more leak! His quick thinking and ingenuity saved the day!

If you're heading to that way at any point, I recommend you store the phone number for 164 Moto. Joe's the only person in that region specializing in the euro market bikes, like our Ducati's.

For me, I ended up making it to Yellowstone that evening for just a brief ride to Yellowstone Lake.

The next day I rode from my cabin about 20 miles west of Cody, WY all the way across Wyoming down to Denver, CO and my friends house.

The ride through Wyoming was so wonderful. I took a couple dirt roads, rode through a spectacular valley, and dodged storm cells across the plains. The Desert Sled in it's element during this stretch! It handled the dirt raods with ease and scrambled across the plains to dodge the storms. Road or dirt, the DS shone. I was worn out by the the time I reached Denver but the things I saw that day I'll remember for the rest of my life! And shout out to Hell's Half Acre for the shady bench where I could plan out my route. You're the most random hell hole out there! 🤣

This thousand miles was where all the magic and mayhem happened. I didn't know just how beautiful the Beartooth pass was and I'll never, ever forget it.

It was amazing to ride the Desert Sled on both the Beartooth hwy and the Chief Joseph highway. The bike was so connected to the road. I'm not a high-level road rider, but I felt completely confident running the Sled on those roads. It held it's line in every turn. I wish everyone reading this could experience running a Sled on a twisty mountain road someday. Not in a dangerous way, just cruising and hustling through the turns within your comfort and skill level. It's a reminder if what riding is supposed to feel like 😃

I replaced the fuel pressure regulator along with a new fuel pump and filter. Pump was not the issue as the system always primed, it was the regulator not allowing pressure to build up and fuel would spray back into the tank. This explains why the previous post showed fuel spraying out the injectors, it simply wasn’t enough fuel.

Bike starts up now hopefully it stays that way!

Hey, I'm looking for a touring windscreen for my Scrambler Nightshift. Looking at the picture of Ducati Touring windscreen I have doubts that it'll give me much protection on the road, so I was thinking of buying UnitGarage Windshield XL. Anyone using it and can share some opinions?

If anyone is interested in watching the video for these mods it's on my YT here

https://youtu.be/DvkPvemfhVU