Hi guys. Seen a 1100s that I like the look of. Seems the owner has no idea of the last service. Bike has done 14,000 miles. If I was to purchase the bike I would give it some fresh oil & filter. What I’m concerned about is the belt? What mileage are these due to be changed?
If the current owner has no idea of last service that's not a good starting point! I'd say belts need doing about 5 minutes after you buy it...
Should of worded it differently in hindsight lol. Yes I make you right. Rings alarm bells. What I should of asked is.....what’s your opinions on buying a bike like this if it’s for the right price? Never owned one of these before but looking at the maintenance side and personally owning lots of bikes in the past and being very mechanically minded I can do all the belts etc. suppose the penultimate question is. Has it been looked after in the past. Viewing the bike and checking if the oil is in general good shape as well as the rest of the bike should show this? Or is there dark underlying issues you wouldn’t possibly see?
Paint peels on the engine cases, if its bad, its probably not had much care and maintence over the years. That said it will happen regardless, so make a judgement on what you see. I would change the belts if it has no history then at least you know when the cycle for the future will start. Every two years.
Cool - got you. I'm not familiar with the 1100 service intervals - worth you getting hold of an owners manual to check - so can't advise. Hyper is going to have probably been slightly more abused (in a joyous way!) than other Ducs, but 14,000 miles isn't that much as long as the oil's been changed regularly (guess that's not known though). Will the owner let you look at: the clutch - to check for levels of abuse; the oil strainer - for impending bad news; the belts - if they're intact!! and so on.... For the right price anything's ok if you're good with the spanners.....I There are a few 'experienced' 1100 Hyper owners on here. I expect someone like @comfysofa may be able to chime in...
The owner has ( I think ) been as honest as he can. He’s sent me up close videos of the bike all round. I’m sure if there’s anything needs checking he will allow it. The bike is actually a cat n ( non structural ) To be honest it’s one I like the look of over the few that’s in my price range.
With the air cooled 2 valve engines I am happy with 4 year/10k mile changes but I do check the belts annually anyway. As others have said, if you dont know when it was done change them.
sounds like you're going to buy it anyway... I'd say when you see it make sure you view a proper from-cold start, so you can judge rings & top-end issues + starter/battery stuff too. Good luck...
Is it easy to view the belts on these? If I took the required tools could I buzz the casings off quickly to have a look? My dad was a mechanic for 50 years. If I brought a car second hand the first thing we had to do was change the belt so this would be done regardless
Interweb images such as this one should help a bit of you can't get better info. Horizontal one certainly looks easy...
Lol. So would I be listening out for piston slap, valve tick etc? No offence but a good one has always sounded like a bag of nails. It’s just the Ducati trait I guess
Yes, ears open for all & sundry. Stopping the clutch rattling around (may be enough to just bung it in gear?) would help a bit. Again, at 14,000 miles it should be good...
Even if you do remove the belt covers and take a look it’s not going to tell you anything (unless they’re shredding which is extremely unlikely), they’ll just look normal & dusty. If the clutch is really noisy when I’m neutral then it’s likely you’ll need a new basket. The rattle/noise IME comes mainly from slap between the friction plate tang and the slot in the drum it sits in. However, clutch changes are easy on these and at 14k miles I’d say you’ve got a fair bit life left in it yet (depending how it’s been used/abused). You’ll probably find a workshop manual at carlsalter.com General wear & tear, it’s history and wether you believe the seller is trustworthy or not would be my main considerations. If you’ve not seen it Lamb Chop Rides on YouTube is currently stripping down and refurbishing one, worth watching.
Guys. Much appreciated. The heads up made a difference when I went to view. And yes I brought it home. Apart from a little flakey pant on engine casing it’s pretty clean and all checked out good from advice. There is documentation of a service less than 300 miles ago but it only says an oil service. There’s no belt change proof so that’s the first thing on the list. May do it myself.
Bit of a long shot but does the number plate have a dealers phone number on it? If so it may be worth calling them and asking if they did any work on it and request invoice copies.
