Hi All,

After another week of waiting I finally picked up the Paso on Saturday! Rode it home from Sydney (about 280 km of mostly freeway) without any dramas. As most of you already told me, it is a big difference with the Suzuki (thanks to McTool for warning me about the noise, I would have worried all the way home).

While riding it this weekend a few questions came up. I sure that all of this is second nature to Ducati riders, but as I said before I'm new in the Italian camp. OK, here goes:

-The bike has been converted to twin Dell'Ortos. However, it sometimes still stalls when idling, which it does at just below 1000 rpm. If I give it just a little throttle when standing at the lights it is fine. Should the tickover be a bit higher?

-The throttle action is very heavy, is there any way of improving this? If not, I'll probably develop an extremely large and powerful right hand.

-The previous owner has installed a 906 or 7 gearbox (I have been told it uses better bearings?). At low rpm the bike pulls like a train, but it seems to run out of steam a little at higher revs. The highest gear almost seems like an overdrive, or am I just riding it wrong? I go up to the next gear at around 5-6000 rpm. I know it does not have the 100 HP of the GSX (and I am not a svelte Italian, more of a 6'7" North European) but at 140 kph it didn't feel like it would easily power to the theoretical top of 200 something. Or was that last number wishful thinking, even when new in the showroom?

-What sort of revs can it safely pull?I know the redline is at 9000, but at 6000 the bike is making a lot of noise and there is a fair bit of vibration. Or is that where you get to say: Welcome to the world of Ducati!

-I tend to use disc locks for my bikes. They're nice and compact, and any thief would at least have to bring an angle grinder. However, the discs on the Duc don't seem to have a lot of space to stick anything through them. Does anyone have a suggestion of a make or type that would fit? Or are you pretty much limited to cables or chains through the wheel?

Again, I'm a total novice Duc rider so I'm more than happy to take advice from more experienced owners. After all is said and done though, the bike is fantastic fun to ride. The noise out of the 2-1 makes your hair stand on end (try the tunnels in Sydney!), steering is nice and direct and I just love the shape of the bike. I think I'll go and ride it some more tomorrow.

Cheers,

Mike

Gerhard,

You were spot on again! Bought a disc lock for a scooter today (actually, I bought two) which fits perfectly through the drilled holes in the discs.

Thanks,

Mike

Should be able to rev 9k but since it runs out of breath/power declines
at 7500, no use f revving more.

Mike,

Tuning the carbs may help quite a bit. They are a bit finicky tho so check out the threads on tuning in the 750 FAQ.

You need a "Cramp Buster" or "Throttle Rocker" for cruising on the highway. The throttle will kill ya. Try lighter springs. They're not expensive .

That gearbox has me intrigued . Far is I know the 906 had bigger berrings ( 62 mm od as opposed to 52mm on the 750 ) which means you would also need the cases ,and the 906 was a 6 speed box with wider gears than the 750 . The 750 is based on the 750 F1 with the rear head reversed , where as the 906 is based on the 851 , so they aint really all that similar
What sort of delorto's pfh or vbh ? and ( as said by ducapaso ) 1100 1200 rpm idle is better . Cleaning and lubing (and check the routing ) of the throttle cables and twist grip can make a big difference . When all the funny noises finally got the better of me , after checking valves ,belts etc I stuck it in neutral and gave it the death rev ( bounced off the rev limiter a couple of times ) and the noises didnt get louder and nothing flew out the side so I figured it was ok and forgot about them ( mostly )
Pleased to hear you both made it home , and long may your hair stand on end

Is there a rev limiter built into the computer?
I certainly have not found it, but the power band tells you shift before you get there.

I have heard of people taking a 6 speed tranny and stuffing it into a 5 speed case. There are some tricks to it, and a seasoned Duck mechanic can help you out with that. I know it can be done, but I can't tell you how.

Cheers,

Thank you all for the advice!
It has certainly put my mind at rest on a few things. I am planning to take the fairings off the bike and have a bit of a closer look. At that stage I should be able to tell which type of Dell'Ortos the bike has, increase the idling revs and check the cables. I would like to master Skins' 'Ducati Cuddle' to try and get the carbs working as well as they can.

Tom, you mentioned the carb slides being snapped back against the idling screw. Is this the cause of the dent in the sliders that people are talking about filing back to a smooth surface?

However, the investigation will have to wait til after this weekend. Monday is a public holiday in Canberra and Massimo (yes, we are those tragic people that name our bikes and cars) gets to go to the coast for the long weekend. The ride to Merimbula is great with plenty of twisty stuff and I can't wait to get to know the red Italian better. I'll start lifting some weights with my right arm in preparation.

Cheers,

Mike

Now who would name their bike ? we may even drink the same beer !
This is a reasult of persistant , and sometimes intermitant noises . The only thing I found was a loose cam pulley on the rear pot .
I fixed my carb slides ( on the guzzi ) by grinding to size , a peice of feeler gauge and glueing it onto the slide ( good prep and devcon liquid steel ) where the idle screw touches the slide This also helped to maintain a constant idle

Think I would have gone with alumalloy in this situation McTool. I have not had a lot of luck with Devcon in high friction uses
And Heh, I've taken bikes down and apart just for something interesting to do for a weekend, Guess I got it real bad............

Yeah , I probly should have used something else but I had the devcon ( 60 bucks for a piece of silver cat shit !) but I figured that as the feeler gauge was doing the friction thing , the devcon was really just being an adhesive . I actually bought it to hot up a 5 horse briggs & stratton motor,crudly supercharged , but it kept melting pistons and bending con rods .( you can only swiss cheese a flywheel so much before centrifical force shows itself in a rather obvious way........... never did find all the bits ! ) and yes , pulling things to bits for no good reason is very theraputic