Hey there guys! I've got some things I'd love to ask the collective! I'm an American living in south korea and I've got a friend who is in business, and he's got a 2013 1200S Touring that he had put away in storage since 2015... It's got literally 8500 km on the odo. And he's trying to get rid of it along with all his other bikes as he's now got to settle down in Singapore for the mid-long term... I'm not exactly sure if it's been properly winterized or emptied or anything, but I was just wondering - since this is my first Ducati I've ever considered buying... would this even be a good buy? He's willing to let me have it for pennies on the dollar. It hasn't even had it's first desmo service done which I'm sure will cost a fortune But I'm wondering if there's anything else I need to look out for... It's obviously not under warranty any more. There are Ducati dealerships and service centers scattered about the country, so I'm not exactly worried about part scarcity... but I am worried about the head cam issue I've been reading about. Something about the coolant causing the head cam cover to crack? But from what I've gathered so far: 2013 model specific head crack issue with a certain batch of this MY Gear lever spring breaking sky hook(wire damage) being a pain in the arse Throttle recall(?) Would this bike be worth it to take in? or should I just look for other MTS models with 20-40k on the odo? appreciate any and all insight ya'll are willing to give! Cheers!
Depends on where you are living in South Korea. You'll need an authorised dealer or (if there is one in SK) a good independent specialist to recommission the bike. As far as I can see, you have 5 authorised dealers and if one isn’t nearby, ownership will be a PITA. FWIW, much as it pains me, if you are looking for a bike, I’d suggest you buy something local made. Andy
The nearest dealership is about a 2 hour ride from me, so it's not TOO bad heh, at the very least I would have the option to ride it up to a service center one weekend, and pick it up the next and ride it down. Korean bikes are quite shit, so I'm not even open to that option in the least. Japanese bikes are pretty common on the roads as we're literally a 40 min ferry ride from mainland Japan heh. So, most repairshops will have the tools and knowledge to fix Jap bikes, but yeah i'm treading in new water with a Ducati. Appreciate the input though!
Pretty much what he said you don’t need to worry about the desmo service as it’s mileage related and your no where near that yet but the timing belts will need replacing as they should have been done 4 years ago and probably weren’t (and if they were then they’d be due next year anyway) but seeing as it’s been laid up I’d suggest getting them replaced anyhow. depends what you want it for, if it’s to be a daily commuter and your going to need to rely on it then maybe not if you don’t have the dealer/parts back up to support it (you don’t want to be weeks waiting on parts) But if it’s a leisure hack then maybe? Maybe speak to that dealer and ask them what part availability is like and what sort of timescale for those.
There are plenty of Duc dealership/service centers throughout the country, so I reckon parts availability won't be TOO bad, granted they might not have everything in stock all the time.. but I don't think sourcing parts will be too difficult on my end.. It'll probably be a weekend leisure ride, as gas here is quite expensive. I commute on my scooter or car if it rains anyway haha. but yeah Thanks for the input! belts will definitely have to be changed!
Looks in new condition from the pictures. With regards to parts, dealers here in the UK stock very few parts, I have to wait a week for delivery from Italy, I'd imagine it's the same in most countries. The belts will need changing but the valve clearance check is mileage based, not time based so that will not need doing until 15k miles. I've had two of the common problems you highlighted, gear lever return spring breaking seems to happen around 25k to 30k miles, mine went at 27k, very cheap part but you need a few special tools, and the best part of a day to fix it. Skyhook wiring problems again tends to happen with use, I've replaced 4 of the wires, first went around the 30k mile mark, costs nothing to fix if you have a soldering iron and can be repaired in an hour. My 13 is on 38000 miles now and rides like a dream.
On mine (same year/spec 12k miles) the fuel/air sensor went on the front cylinder, easy fix, fiddly to get to. The exhaust butterfly valve commonly get stuck so keep that lubricated regularly or remove it (if you disconnect you’ll get an error on the dash but there are plug in things that override that. A good idea is also to get a lead to read the ECU and the free JPdiag software so you can diagnose system faults I also had an intermittent skyhook error which I nor the dealer got to the bottom of, happened occasionally and turning the bike off and on sliced it until the next time, then someone pulled out in front of me in traffic and snapped the forks off so that was the end of that
The issue with the heads leaking was on the early bikes, the coolant corroded the aluminium casting. There was a recall to change it, so you might be able to check. If you start the bike up from cold and see lots of smoke then you know you have the problem, this is what it looks like after being left overnight. (Of course if the bike hasn’t been started for a long time it might still smoke!)
Thanks!! would a 2013 MY MTS fall under that category? I'm a bit out of the loop in terms of what is and isn't an early MY but yeah now i know what to look for! appreciate it!
If it’s a 2013 model then it should be the 2nd gen Twin Spark engine, don’t think it affected this model. Quick way to tell, has it got LED headlights (1st Gen were halogen) the main beam are still halogen but the dip beam and running lights should be LED if it’s a Gen 2.
