851 888 916 uses the clio belt the worst thing is belts sitting around for months on end not being used regards Steve B
Could some of this also not be with belts sitting in dealers for a while or even as spares at home. Sitting around can't help and sometimes you don't know how long a dealer has had a set of belts, especially if they come by post etc. I've had ones sent and I have no idea how old they actually are.
I recently had my 999 belts changed by a trusted mechanic, and he showed me the old ones. I couldn't believe how knackered they were, and we suspect they were the original ones. The bike is 10 years old, with 8000 miles, and a full service history. I have the invoice for the last big service prior to me buying the bike, and it lists the belts being changed, but there is no way that the removed ones were only 2 years/2000 miles old. My mechanic had never seen any showing so much wear! It's disgusting that previous owners have been charged for work that hasn't been done, but reassuring how far beyond the 2 years they can go!
Me! Well didn't break but shat itself enough that it ate one head. Belts had been replaced 18 months previously and shims done 6 months back. Could have been that the mech didn't tension them properly after the shims as the remaining belt was quite loose. Remaining belt also looked like it was a hundred years old although I know it wasn't. They only had about 4000 kms on them. Will be changing them every season and running without covers to keep an eye on them from now on.
I was told belts need changing every 2 years because many Ducati's sit around for long periods most of the year with the belts in the same position, and because of the nature of the V twin they are at quite steep angles which weakens them and makes them prone to kinking and skipping a tooth.
I'd be interested to see this question asked with a couple of provisos. How many belts have failed with standard belt covers and with the belts inside their service intervals...I'll wager very very few.
Had 6 Ducati sports bikes, over the last 10 years ... 748, 996, 749, 999 Always swapped belts every 2 years, always been done at recognised dealer or service workshop. Touch wood, never had a belt go.
I'm not sure if this belt thing is just a scare tactic cooked up by Ducati but In general belts snapping are almost unheard of and maybe this is why, and for the sake of a couple of hundred quid every other year I'm not going to take the chance of knackering an engine worth thousands!.
I was told by a ducati specialist near me that using the kill switch when parking up helps to distribute the wear on the belts. Using the key causes the engine and thus the belts to stop in the same position time after time.
Eh? I'd be interested to hear a technical reason as to how the kill switch would stop the engine at a different position...
Likewise. This is just what I was told. If its not true then I will rethink going there and having work done.
I'd say it's bollocks, it is compression overcoming momentum that stops an engine in the same places all the time.
Well, at the time I had no reason to doubt him. If you know why its bollocks then prey tell. I'm all ears.
