I've cancelled my order for the NGKs and I'm going to order the original champion oem plugs, but at £8 each off fleebay instead of.....£20 each at ducati. As for the timing belts, everything was marked, double & triple checked before and after they were carried out. She fired to life straight off the button and ran up to temperature fine with no leaks so far Brake pads were ebc on the rear :Finger: and standard on the front but I've ordered some Brembo sinter pads for front and rear as it's been sitting so long. Had the last pair of Metzeler M7RR 190/55 120/70 kept back for me to have put on hopefully Tuesday. MOT is booked in for Saturday at a legit motorcycle centre, so I'm concerned about the termignoni pipes failing the test. Anyone had any problems? Might just have to go to the local mot tester who will pass it even if it had bald tyres
I use NGK iridium in my 916, runs great. That said I can't really say it's any better than with non-iridium (NGK) but definitely not a problem, never tried Champion (except maybe in the lawnmower). IIRC I paid around £7-£8 each from some ebay seller in the Channel Islands, non-iridium cost around £3.
Noise issues will be down the the individual tester and/or MOT station. Ask them beforehand what their stance is on noisey pipes.Chcek to make sure there are no 'Not for Road use' narkings still on the cans. There is one at both ends on each can. You can just cover these up with tape as the tester is not allowed to remove them. Mine passes with the Termis with an advisory for the noise.
I also use NGK iridium in my SPS - no issues. I don't agree that the oil filter needs to be torqued to a high torque - I do mine to "hand tight" and have never had an issue in 16 years of ownership.
On my R1 I just sanded off the "NOT" so it read "FOR ROAD USE". Ive been lucky really in that most MOT testers ive had have been very relaxed and not given me any hassle for anything on my bikes over the years. However, one 996 I was looking at last year, on every years MOT it had an advisory for "exhausts excessively loud" which I thought was funny! Guess you might be lucky. I know Ducati recommend 13ft/lb torque on the filter and mine was still leaking from around the filter until i torqued it up to that amount. It was lucky I checked about 10mins down the road else id have not noticed. Guess the OP can try hand tight first and see how he gets on.
Finally finished servicing her and getting everything ready for the MOT tomorrow, even cleaned and polished her! Rode her down the bottom of the road to check everything out, my first ducati, and what a riding position! Excited to properly take her out tomorrow, followed by the longest ever way back from the MOT station pass or fail. Here she is.. My only moan would be that the bike seems to lean over way too far. My old RSV used to lean over way too far as well and that ended up falling over. Is there any straight swap interchangeable side stands from another bike that will fit the 996 and sort this "issue"?
Just to join in, my 996s 7856 miles cost £4211 (ebay) then a full service including belts £470! Done by Tony at motorcycle workshop in Bolney nr Brighton. He's a proper old school mechanic & him & his son do spannering for someone in the 848 challenge or whatever its called now. They do all the work on mine and my other halfs bikes. Seriously good
Its great when you find someone like that. I used to use a company called BSB in Peterborough way back "in the day" when they first started off. They were the only people id ever trust working on any of my stuff as ive had so many bad experiences in the past. Unfortunately I moved away from that area and live elsewhere, so these days though the only person I trust on my cars/bikes is myself. Sure, you have the initial expense of buying the tools, but at least you know exactly what bits you are putting on your bike. Problem I have now though is that all my friends/family end up bringing their bikes/cars to me for their services and repairs!
Tht's an absolutely beautiful example mate, well done for doing the work on it yourself and hope you enjoyed the ride when you finally got out on it! Ref oil filter comments, I tend to make sure I oil the o-ring and then tighten up really as far as I can hand tight, then when I have warmed the bike fully and let it cool I check it again and I've not had one loosen.
Ive been on the phone to BSD today! Mark is a top bloke, in fact they all seem very nice and helpful there. I think performance bikes did one of their 360degree garage reviews on BSD Performance last month.
Yep Mark is one of the original guys who set it all up in his dad's shed. He's a ducati expert too. It's all changed loads since the early days when you could just walk into their workshop and have a chat. They used to do loads of work for performance bikes mag back in the day as they are based just down the road.
Just noticed - the steering damper fitting looks a bit odd. Is it the wrong way around? The alloy clamp looks too far to the left of the damper body.
Cant remember what my 996BP damper bracket looked like on my old bike but this is the position of the one on my current sps.Ps I have found engine runs much sweeter with noticeably crisper throttle response running Champion QA55V plugs than standard or iridium ones.
I had a 996 of the last 5 years but recently sold her and got a 1098s. That said I was sort of sad to let her go but beware, as mentioned already costs of servicing...a major service cost me £1200 with no major work required and done by a very well liked and respected dealer....I did a few changes to her and regret not keeping the original stuff ....put PVM wheels , renthal sprockets, paso levers, PCIII, Kais suspension upgrades front and rear ...plus lots of carbon, arrow rear sets and I let her go for just under 4k.....someone got a bargain me feels....but as much as I lived her I wanted something with a bit more umph...something a bit more 'modern' but not bang up to date oh it had 27000. Miles on the clock and never once let me down Still one of the prettiest bikes ducati ever made....am sure you would love it but like all ducati....prepare to empty your pockets
