Ducati 'newer' servicing schedules - miss understood

Not having bought a new Ducati for many years, I can't really comment. But, I do know that there is the same problem in the car world.

Number of people who have extended service intervals, can go 20,000 mile between services etc etc they miss that it's the mileage, or, time period. Which ever is reached first.

I have heard salesman quote the 20,000 mile between services, but, not add the time element as well. This is misleading and very naughty.

20,000 mile to some drivers could be 3 or 4 years.

 

I was made fully aware of the time/service intervals when I bought the multi although one of the selling points is the extended service intervals and it would be quite easy to gloss over the time dependent part of servicing.

 

Speaking as a long time Ducati owner, 6 months short of 30 years, but as someone mechanically a bit crap, I`d just like to give my experiences.
Only 2 major problems in 29.5 years, the last in 1991. In both cases the bikes were less than 1 year old. Ducatis generally are reasonably reliable. I have never bothered with the annual service unless the mileage made it worthwhile.Every 2 years seems plenty to me on the mileage I do, what happens on the 366th day after the last service that makes it necessary? Surely this isnt just to keep their mechanics busy? All I do is top up or change the oil, clean the air filter, tighten and lube the chain and maybe change plugs. Oh, and put petrol in.
I have only had the air cooled bikes so cant speak for the water cooled 4 valvers but I I get the belts changed every 4 years and never had one go. I`m probably asking for trouble just saying that but belts on both my bikes were changed in the last 18 months so I`m officially covered till February, woohoo!
Like I said, this is just my experience and not a recommendation to anyone. If a few other people have the same experience as me then maybe its ok, if loads of you write in listing your belt disasters then maybe I`ll consider changing my routine. Thats loads not 1 or 2.
I tend to by my bikes secondhand , at least a year old if not more and I keep them a long time.

 

My mts1200 belts are every 4 years or 15,000 miles I've all ways checked before buying, service every year or at 7500 miles whichever comes first that's as good as it comes on a ducati

 

MTS and Diavel are 5 years on the belts Stu, or the 15k, whichever comes up first.
The new schedules have caused some confusion but that should be sorted now. They started back in 2007 with the M695.......
Rule of thumb is that the bike is serviced annually. Mileage is then considered as to whether or not it needs one of the "Desmo" services. "Simples..........":wink:

 

With even the older air cooled bikes I think 2 years on the belts is very conservative - after all, there is no reason why the belts on a new monster should suddenly last longer, other than improvements in belt technology, which ends up retrofitted to older bikes anyway. The flip side of the coin is that pantah belts are so cheap and easy to change, why delay? It will be every two years, along with new plugs for me (as you make life so much easier removing the plugs anyway) the annual will be oil and filter, spanner check, clean any sticky chain lube from clutch slave cylinder, blow out clutch and general check over and lube.

Seems to be working well so far.

 

You should be doing more than 7,500 miles a year anyway on the new ones!

I service my Multi 1000 every 6,000 miles, with belts at 12,000. It lets you catch things, and the reliability issues I've had generally have nothing to do with how long it's been between services...

 

Aren't the longer service intervals just a result of a chnage in the valve collets, after an aftermarket design concept, that means that the valve clearances remain more stable for longer?

There has been no major changes to the design of the belts or pulleys and so, the valves notwithstanding, any Ducati running kevlar betls will happily do 15k miles on a set.

Certainly from what I've read, that was my understanding of it.

A

 

This two year belt thing, what about a brand new bike made in say 2011 and still sitting in a dealership until it's sold next year, do the dealership fess up and say it's a new bike but thems old belts we'll change them sir free of charge, or ahh well off you go my little beauty see you back for belts in two years .
Yeah right what do we all think here.
Their going to wave goodbye to that bike knowing full well it will be fine for two years . If belts are that fragile why are they still using them, what with the compensation culture rife at the moment.
A correctly tensioned belt is far more important than a belt past it's so called use by date.

 

The newer bikes are running thicker belts, around bigger pulleys to give them an easier time. The 5 year change relates on to the 11 degree timed engines so maybe mechanically there's less stress on the belt thru valve actuation?? Not sure, but seems likely.....The later belts, i'm pretty sure, will have moved on. There were three "evolutions" of the things during the 916/996 life cycle.
To be fair Peter, there's a fewer bikes get caught up in showrooms now than used to happen. The factory doesn't have 4 year old 749's lying around either. Ordering/production is much tighter now. Yes, it'll still happen in isolated incidents especially on imports, but these are out of the network so to speak so may not get picked up.
I'm with you on the correct belt and correct tensioning though. I'd say, in my experience, 95% of belt failures happen after they've been replaced once at least.

 

Service mts1200

 

Service mts1200.

 

Service mts 1200..

 

I'd vouch for them too as when we originally looked at purchasing a 748 from them they went through the servicing etc.