Cheap Ducati 748, what could possibly go wrong
Discussion
After recent talks of 748/916/996/998 Ducati's i have found myself searching the net for a cheap 748 as i have been dreaming of getting one of these bikes since i was a kid, and now i can just about afford one i am getting very excited and impatient 
After emailing around a few cheeky offers I have had a positive reply on a very low milage early bike that is in need of a bit of paint to the fairing lowers but apart from that it looks good.
I have emailed a few questions and providing the answers are satisfactory and i go to view the bike what should i look out for specifically? I hear the generator wiring can melt and the rockers are a weak point (which i can't really check until the bike is in bits) but are there any hints and tips anyone can give me?
The offer I have been given is roughly the price i can expect from my 750ss + £600, is it worth a punt?
Go on, talk me into it
After emailing around a few cheeky offers I have had a positive reply on a very low milage early bike that is in need of a bit of paint to the fairing lowers but apart from that it looks good.
I have emailed a few questions and providing the answers are satisfactory and i go to view the bike what should i look out for specifically? I hear the generator wiring can melt and the rockers are a weak point (which i can't really check until the bike is in bits) but are there any hints and tips anyone can give me?
The offer I have been given is roughly the price i can expect from my 750ss + £600, is it worth a punt?
Go on, talk me into it
I can 'just' justify the money to buy the bike, but maintenance cost is not so much of an issue as i do all maintenance work myself and don't mind spending the money on parts as mucking about with cars and bikes is a hobby of mine, I am just really trying to make sure I don't buy an absolute dog of a bike in the first place to make things harder than they need to be.
If I do buy one the first thing I will do is replace the belts and check valve clearances (as part of a full service) just to know that it has been done and also to help get to know the bike. I just need to get a good background on the bikes and owners experiences before i start looking around them.
If I do buy one the first thing I will do is replace the belts and check valve clearances (as part of a full service) just to know that it has been done and also to help get to know the bike. I just need to get a good background on the bikes and owners experiences before i start looking around them.
the above advice from your fellow PH'ers is absolutely sound - self-maintaining is all well and good - but when you need a box full of shims to choose from and the right tools to change shagged rockers, how wil you manage/afford that.
My advice, buy a rice-burner and enjoy the ride + real-world maintenance issues/effort/cost.
khushy
My advice, buy a rice-burner and enjoy the ride + real-world maintenance issues/effort/cost.
khushy
I've had 2 748BP and 748S, I didn't really find the running costs that bad oil and filter annually (which you could do yourself). The belts again are every 2 years but if you re keeping the bike and are capable you keep again do it yourself.
As for valve clearances I would expect to buy the bike with full service history and would also ring the servicing establishment to check the history, no matter how much the bike is worth. To be honest I wouldn't buy a jap bike without full service history no reason to miss a service.
Ownership itself well I loved them, I got rid of them as I needed more power, sold a Blade to get a 748 and I didn't miss it on the twisties but long runs Beds to Plymouth I needed more power, but had great fun on my 748 the noise the feeling the staring i'd have a mint yellow 748 tomorrow.
As for valve clearances I would expect to buy the bike with full service history and would also ring the servicing establishment to check the history, no matter how much the bike is worth. To be honest I wouldn't buy a jap bike without full service history no reason to miss a service.
Ownership itself well I loved them, I got rid of them as I needed more power, sold a Blade to get a 748 and I didn't miss it on the twisties but long runs Beds to Plymouth I needed more power, but had great fun on my 748 the noise the feeling the staring i'd have a mint yellow 748 tomorrow.
996 sps said:
Purely out of interest mate have you owned one?
No but I've lived for a couple of years with someone who did, and I did all the maintainance, helped buy it and sold it for him.Still have the for sale video on my youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foMRb-ECeDw
Oh and here is what a clutch past it's prime sounds and looks like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnqFeYs8c24
I also owned a 900ss which was a piece of cake to keep/maintain in comparison!
Thanks for the input guys
Monthly costs for maintenance bits are not really a problem, its mainly the fact that I don't have a lot saved at the moment after recently buying my first house (and I want one now
)
Ideally i would want to get a new bike before winter, so I can get it in the dining room and get everything sorted for spring. At the moment i am erring on the side of the Ducati as a heart led decision. I have a terrible habit of buying on the practical side and end up changing vehicles every 6 months because I get bored.
Also would the riding experience really be that much better than my current 750ss? The main reason for me wanting to change is because I love the looks and I want something a bit faster / better to ride.
Monthly costs for maintenance bits are not really a problem, its mainly the fact that I don't have a lot saved at the moment after recently buying my first house (and I want one now
)Ideally i would want to get a new bike before winter, so I can get it in the dining room and get everything sorted for spring. At the moment i am erring on the side of the Ducati as a heart led decision. I have a terrible habit of buying on the practical side and end up changing vehicles every 6 months because I get bored.
Also would the riding experience really be that much better than my current 750ss? The main reason for me wanting to change is because I love the looks and I want something a bit faster / better to ride.
AceOfHearts said:
Thanks for the input guys
Monthly costs for maintenance bits are not really a problem, its mainly the fact that I don't have a lot saved at the moment after recently buying my first house (and I want one now)
Ideally i would want to get a new bike before winter, so I can get it in the dining room and get everything sorted for spring. At the moment i am erring on the side of the Ducati as a heart led decision. I have a terrible habit of buying on the practical side and end up changing vehicles every 6 months because I get bored.
Also would the riding experience really be that much better than my current 750ss? The main reason for me wanting to change is because I love the looks and I want something a bit faster / better to ride.
It will be a lot faster than your 750ss and the riding position is a lot more extreme. The engine will feel a lot more urgent like a bigger sense of occasion every time you are on it. It will also urge you all the time to be much much naughtier than your 750ss.Monthly costs for maintenance bits are not really a problem, its mainly the fact that I don't have a lot saved at the moment after recently buying my first house (and I want one now
)Ideally i would want to get a new bike before winter, so I can get it in the dining room and get everything sorted for spring. At the moment i am erring on the side of the Ducati as a heart led decision. I have a terrible habit of buying on the practical side and end up changing vehicles every 6 months because I get bored.
Also would the riding experience really be that much better than my current 750ss? The main reason for me wanting to change is because I love the looks and I want something a bit faster / better to ride.
If you want something that sits in the dining room over winter while you tinker with it a lot and don't plan paying for any work to be done then perhaps it would be a good buy for you. The only reason I don't have one myself is I hate the thought that I'll probably spend more time fixing and keeping up with maintaining it than actually riding it.
Also if you want a nice task todo over the winter and it hasn't already had it done, replace all the rockers with whatever uprated ones the ducati forums currently recommend. As if they haven't been done already it's probably a matter of when, not if, they will need doing.
therealsnazbaz said:
It will be a lot faster than your 750ss and the riding position is a lot more extreme. The engine will feel a lot more urgent like a bigger sense of occasion every time you are on it. It will also urge you all the time to be much much naughtier than your 750ss.
If you want something that sits in the dining room over winter while you tinker with it a lot and don't plan paying for any work to be done then perhaps it would be a good buy for you. The only reason I don't have one myself is I hate the thought that I'll probably spend more time fixing and keeping up with maintaining it than actually riding it.
Also if you want a nice task todo over the winter and it hasn't already had it done, replace all the rockers with whatever uprated ones the ducati forums currently recommend. As if they haven't been done already it's probably a matter of when, not if, they will need doing.
Thats another thing I was wondering about the rockers, after a quick search online all of the Ducati forums that are talking about these seem to be in America, but how much would a full set of uprated rockers cost over here? I know some good precision engineering contacts through work so I could even get the old ones out and have something really special done If you want something that sits in the dining room over winter while you tinker with it a lot and don't plan paying for any work to be done then perhaps it would be a good buy for you. The only reason I don't have one myself is I hate the thought that I'll probably spend more time fixing and keeping up with maintaining it than actually riding it.
Also if you want a nice task todo over the winter and it hasn't already had it done, replace all the rockers with whatever uprated ones the ducati forums currently recommend. As if they haven't been done already it's probably a matter of when, not if, they will need doing.
I think i just need to go in with my eyes wide open really and expect the worst, and if the main issue that plagues the range is the rockers flaking and needing replacing and general electrical gremlins I am confident i could get it sorted over a winter 
therealsnazbaz said:
No but I've lived for a couple of years with someone who did
I also owned a 900ss which was a piece of cake to keep/maintain in comparison!
That really sums it up, no offence meant but I knew you'd say that, OP if you want one buy the bloody thing, buy with your head not your heart, as long as it has full service history I.e. my old Dukes and my 996 has only ever been serviced by Baines Racing or Forza Italia, if I ever sold mine which I never would I'd just get the potential buyer to ring them.I also owned a 900ss which was a piece of cake to keep/maintain in comparison!
Put it this way my last South of France trip it was a 58 plate Fireblade which broke down, don't listen to much to scare mongering, people come out with the same s
te when buying cars. Get a facelifted E39 M5 was all I ever heard when I was looking at those ended up load of ollox. Just be sensible and fussy.I say go for it, as you say you've no way of knowing for sure if the rockers are good until you strip the heads but that's the same for an expensive bike.
It's unlikely that many would be faulty if it's low mileage and Newman cams refurb is cheaper than new replacement anyway - usually only the openers flake. I just swapped all my openers for Newman after having replaced 10 openers (in 42k miles).
If you need any rockers and don't want to do the Newman route then used ones can be had at a reasonable price (I might have a few spares if you need them
).
As for servicing, if you're mechanically competent then with a Haynes and Ducati manual you can do most things although you will need some specialist tools, and a bike lift is nice for front cylinder rocker work.
It's unlikely that many would be faulty if it's low mileage and Newman cams refurb is cheaper than new replacement anyway - usually only the openers flake. I just swapped all my openers for Newman after having replaced 10 openers (in 42k miles).
If you need any rockers and don't want to do the Newman route then used ones can be had at a reasonable price (I might have a few spares if you need them
).As for servicing, if you're mechanically competent then with a Haynes and Ducati manual you can do most things although you will need some specialist tools, and a bike lift is nice for front cylinder rocker work.
996 sps said:
That really sums it up,
Sums what up? Don't belittle my experience because I've not owned multiple different variations of a particular bike and loved them all blindly in every way.On all yours how many times have you had to had rockers replaced, clutch baskets replaced, reg/rect's replaced, heads skimmed, belts replaced, slave cylinders replaced. I bet you've had all of the above multiple times but you're just used to it and don't care (which is fine). When I was looking at 748's it was extremely uncommon to find one with decent milage that *hadn't* had every single common problem at some point, and if there *weren't* a couple of hefty £1k+ invoices on it's history something was probably amiss.
Look at jap bike of the same age/cost and you could never service it, never change the oil or do any maintainenance and probably get to 30k miles without any, or a fraction of the above problems without spending a penny, ever checking or adjusting a single valve clearance etc etc.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's an awful bike or that nobody should never buy one. I'd have a 996 myself if I could afford a 3rd bike. But please at least be realistic/honest about the pros and cons relative to other bikes.
AceOfHearts said:
Thats another thing I was wondering about the rockers, after a quick search online all of the Ducati forums that are talking about these seem to be in America, but how much would a full set of uprated rockers cost over here? I know some good precision engineering contacts through work so I could even get the old ones out and have something really special done I think i just need to go in with my eyes wide open really and expect the worst, and if the main issue that plagues the range is the rockers flaking and needing replacing and general electrical gremlins I am confident i could get it sorted over a winter
Not sure how much rockers are these days, but when I was working for a Duc dealer they were about £60/70 each. I think i just need to go in with my eyes wide open really and expect the worst, and if the main issue that plagues the range is the rockers flaking and needing replacing and general electrical gremlins I am confident i could get it sorted over a winter TBH, I would have thought that any issues with them would have reared its head by now as the issue was poor surface hardening .
Ducati ownership, I have discovered is an odd thing. I only passed my text in 2010, at the tender age of 42! I'd aready bought my 'big' bike, a 2002 ST4s Duc' 2 months before I took my DAS, having it completly resprayed ready.
I then used it every day to commute to london from Kent - a trip of nearly 700 miles per week.
Yes, things went wrong, the clutch was shagged and a crankshaft bearing failed, leading to a £2K full engine rebuild, yes I could have done it for less, but I replaced everything that was or could wear!
Unfortunatly I was involved in an accident 2 months back and my lovely ST4s was written off, only cosmetic damage but its now a cat D, I've bought it back and she will run again, but I have now realised I need a sensible bike to commute to London, and here comes the problem and reason for the long post...
...nothing floats my boat like a Ducati!
I've tried ZZR1200, VRF800, FJR1300, and various tourers including the Triumph Trophy 1200 and nothing is doing it, all the bikes ahve their merits but none gave me the buz of a 996 in full cry!
Scratch that itch, if you can't afford it, enjoy it for a while, then move it on. But don't neglect it.
Buy it and be damned!
Enjoy
Tim
I then used it every day to commute to london from Kent - a trip of nearly 700 miles per week.
Yes, things went wrong, the clutch was shagged and a crankshaft bearing failed, leading to a £2K full engine rebuild, yes I could have done it for less, but I replaced everything that was or could wear!
Unfortunatly I was involved in an accident 2 months back and my lovely ST4s was written off, only cosmetic damage but its now a cat D, I've bought it back and she will run again, but I have now realised I need a sensible bike to commute to London, and here comes the problem and reason for the long post...
...nothing floats my boat like a Ducati!
I've tried ZZR1200, VRF800, FJR1300, and various tourers including the Triumph Trophy 1200 and nothing is doing it, all the bikes ahve their merits but none gave me the buz of a 996 in full cry!
Scratch that itch, if you can't afford it, enjoy it for a while, then move it on. But don't neglect it.
Buy it and be damned!
Enjoy
Tim
therealsnazbaz said:
Stuff.
On my 2 748's never any services over the 500 mark, on my 996 at 40k I had an engine re build after my second trip to the South of France last year, the amount of rolling burn outs I was doing in St Tropez was ridiculous, so again unless you've owned one you can't really comment. Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff