When a rearset swap ended with my Panigale V4S brake line on fire

I like doing my own work on my bikes. Most of the time it goes fine. This Panigale V4S job was the exception, and it ended with my rear brake line on fire on a bridge.

Where it started

It started with a rearset swap. I pulled the stock rearsets off the Panigale V4S and put on a new set. Somewhere in that job the rear brake line gave out. So a simple upgrade turned into a repair, and I had a parts list to work through before the bike could move again.

One part turned into many

Replacing one thing turned into replacing a few. By the time I was done I had put in a new speedo sensor, a new rear brake line, and new plastics to replace what got damaged along the way.

I bled the brakes, went over everything, and spun the rear wheel. It spun free. No drag, no binding, nothing catching. As far as I could tell, the bike was ready to ride.

The fire on the bridge

Then I took it out. I was partway across the West Seattle Bridge when the rear brake started to lock up. Not all at once, but enough that I could feel it fighting me.

If you know that bridge, you know there is nowhere to stop on it. No shoulder, no exit, nothing. I had to ride it all the way to the far end with the brake dragging the whole way. By the time I got off the bike, the rear brake line was engulfed in flames.

That is a bad feeling. Standing over a bike you just rebuilt, watching the brake line burn, knowing how much worse it could have gone out there.

Back to Ducati Redmond

That was the end of me wrenching on it for this round. I had the bike towed to Ducati Redmond. They went through it and replaced the same parts I had already replaced. The brake line, the speedo sensor, the plastics. All of it again.

So the bike is back to where I thought it was before the fire, just with a large bill.

What I keep coming back to

Here is what gets me. I have a 2016 Triumph Speed Triple R, and I have never had anything close to this happen with it. Not once. The Triumph just runs.

The Panigale is the hardest bike I have ever worked on. It is a beautiful machine and it is brutal to live with when something goes sideways. A small job turned into a parts list, then a fire, then a tow, then a dealer doing the exact work I had already done.

The bike is back together and running now. I am glad it is sorted. On to the exhuast next, wish me luck.