My bike is an 02 M750 with 11K miles on it. I have no idea if the belts have ever been replaced or not.  The 6K service was supposedly done by the previous owner, i dont think the belts is included on that.

You guys think it will make it through another season without replacing the belts? How do you check if they are old? Are they a pain to replace? Everyone keeps yellin about belts, belts change your belts!!! ahhhh! so now im worried.  Im taking it in to chesire for the 12K service at the end of this season, figure ill only go a couple thousand miles past the 12K so ill have him change the belts then but if they are bad ill do it now. what youall think bout that hmmmmm?

The manual says every so many miles or years.  Don't have it with me to remember.

I hit the mileage way sooner than the years and changed mine even though they were "fine" - no visible wear, etc.

Not sure what you should do.

After your tank, I wouldn't trust anything the previous owner said.  Belts for you will cost $130 at Moto Corsa (just bought mine), $88 plus shipping from California Cycle Works, $108 plus shipping from Desmo Times.  Easy to install yourself, I'll help if you need it.

Usual Ducati change interval is 12k miles or 2 years, whichever comes first.  If you don't change them and they break you'll probably mash at least one valve and need to take your cylinder head off to see how bad the damage is.

Lots of people run them longer and get away with it.  Even at $130 I look at it as cheap insurance to change them on schedule.

Scott

Quote from: scott_araujo on April 14, 2009, 05:02:47 PM
After your tank, I wouldn't trust anything the previous owner said.  Belts for you will cost $130 at Moto Corsa (just bought mine), $88 plus shipping from California Cycle Works, $108 plus shipping from Desmo Times.  Easy to install yourself, I'll help if you need it.

Usual Ducati change interval is 12k miles or 2 years, whichever comes first.  If you don't change them and they break you'll probably mash at least one valve and need to take your cylinder head off to see how bad the damage is.

Lots of people run them longer and get away with it.  Even at $130 I look at it as cheap insurance to change them on schedule.

Scott

i hear that. Lying cheating bastard that he was!

reminds me can i just call motocorsa and see what they did exactly with the 6K service that was done? Or do they require some sort of bullshit like paying money to get a printout.

i just had mine replaced about a month ago with my 7,750k service.  Moto Corsa said they are to be replaced every two years which is why i did them.  I don't see why they wouldn't look up the service history of your bike if they have the capability to do so.

I'm sure they'd look up the history if it was serviced there.

Scott

I'll probably be doing mine this weekend.  I'll let you know exactly when once I figure a few things out.  You're welcome to drop by.

Scott

I'll be doing mine as well, as soon as they arrive (hopefully before the weekend!).  Ordered the OEMs from ca-cycleworks last week, and they e-mailed me saying they were out of stock, would be in this week.

Mine is an '01 with ~12300 miles on it.  As stated earlier, my manual agrees the interval is 2 yrs or 12k miles, whichever comes first.  I've been risking it on old belts for a while now... it's time to change 'em.  The upshot is... the seller on mine was honest, and I saw his shop (it was spotless and perfectly organized).  He was meticulous about maintenance on all his motorcycles, so when he says he inspected the belts and checked tension at 6k, I think I can trust him.  Doesn't hurt he kept a maintenance logbook with dates, mileage, and service performed.  I've continued with the maintenance log.  Figure it can't hurt the bike's resale value.   The previous owner also printed off and included in the logbook a bunch of procedures from DucatiSuite for maintenance items like oil changes, belt replacement & tensioning, etc.

The instructions on DucatiSuite are excellent.  Check it out:

http://www.ducatisuite.com/beltchange.html
http://www.ducatisuite.com/belttension.html

Granted, he gives a disclaimer that if you doubt your ability at all, do not attempt at home.  My personal opinion is the mechanically-inclined shade-tree type should be able to follow these instructions + common sense and wind up with a properly running motorcycle.  If in doubt on the tension, you could always do to belt swap yourself then have a shop just double-check the tension for you.  Remember that too tight is as bad, and often worse, than too loose.

I'll be doing mine myself.  I've replaced the camshaft, lifters, and timing belt in my car.  The bike needs to be a little more precise, but otherwise it's not any more complicated.  The valve check and adjustment is the one that'll actually test my patience and skillz.

I did mine just fine.

Well . . . I didn't have the tool to keep the cogs from spinning and had a little issue getting everything back in place properly but it all worked out.


Well . . . I did strip the head out of a hex head bolt . . .\

But yah.  I did it just fine.  Patience and don't let the cogs spin!