Wondering what some of the mileages have been before shims needed to be changed. Have there been some high milers? Thanks, tried the search.
l used to have a 900 carby that was used everyday 400 to 500 miles a week never went very far out used to replace the half rings every 15_20k to bring it back into tolerance Steve
+1 I do pretty much the same on the multi Had mine reshimmed at 35,000 miles by CJS when he replaced the valve guides comes back in to limits if you replace the wire collets before checking the clearances
Ah, that makes sense. Checked mine twice in 16k with no change. The half ring wear is great info, as my lifting clearance is probably over a mil, but the opening clearance is still stock. Now I understand how this condition can exist. I'm amazed how solid this desmo system really is. Where did all the fear originate?
It's interesting how a belt, almost large enough to drive the bike itself, driving a camshaft that you can turn with two fingers, can have such a short life. It looks like it has been engineered to lead a tortured life, with 2 tensioners, fairly tight radius pulleys, all in an unvented oven. God help them, I say.
Toothed belts work just fine for high mileages provided they: * are kept cool * are not run too fast * are wide * have large diameter pulleys. Unfortunately Ducati cam belts: * are kept too hot * are run too fast * are narrow * have small diameter pulleys. Hence the need to change them often.
