It will sound very noisy if you are more used to water cooled Jap bikes. As has been mentioned, a good service with particular regard to the valve clearances may well quieten it down a bit. A check on the ignition timing wouldn't do any harm, but only after the belts have been done. The more dialled in you can get it the more efficiently it will run, and it will be slightly quieter. My M900 ran a lot better, and quieter, after I changed the belts and moved the ignition pick-up plate to where it should be, not where Ducati or a previous owner had put it, which was several degrees out. The only way to do this properly is to establish where TDC is using a degree disc etc, not the centre punch mark on the flywheel. Nasher
Started the bike tonight when I got home from work the noise I've been hearing returned and having now listened to other ducati's I think it's definetly piston slap however once the bike is warm it quietens down so maybe not as bad as I first thought.
You should not really pay much attention to engine noises when they are cold. If they persist when it's up to working temperature then you can start to worry. Some components are designed to have clearance when cold e.g. tappets, pistons etc. to allow for heat expansion when the engine is running at working temperature. To prove definitively that you have piston slap, then you need to do a compression test. However this will only be meaningful if the bike is fully serviced including the valves and carbs being balanced. Having the carbs even slightly out of balance and/or the timing, will cause a much noisier and more lumpy engine than normal, especially true of a v-twin.
