| I am a recent owner of a 2000 SPS and have owned many other Ducatis before.
So far I have not run the SPS enough to judge about reliability. I have heard quite a few complaints about this model however. I used to run a 748 before and never had a problem with it but was doing very low mileage because I was running an ST2 for everyday. That one would have a problem every other week but the ST2 is known for that (some people have no problem though so it is a bit of a lottery as well).
I don't and won't run my SPS everyday because there is no point in taking such a bike around town in the traffic. The power is pretty brutal and you find yourself holding the clutch all the time. I don't even comment how scary it is when the road is wet and greasy. I have a crappy Bandit that does the commuting job very well. The Ducati is for playing only and this is were the real fun starts.
Road grim doesn't go well with Ducatis. Over winter I used to clean thouroughly the ST2 every weekend, that's what it takes to keep it pristine... and it would be a shame not keeping an SPS that way. You get a bit fedup with the cleaning job after a while...
As for maintenance, surely never buy without full service history and probably have a service when you get it too (needs servicing every year no matter the mileage). The SPS can be pretty steep if you go by the book as well (a spark plug is about £60 although you could run cheaper ones like Denzo apparently).
I don't regret buying the SPS because it is a hell of a bike and I love the grunt of the long stroke engine. But this is an exceptional bike and as such I reserve it for exceptional fun and not everyday dull riding. Oh and in my decision was also the concern about keeping my licence because an SPS just doesn't run at 30mph!
Cheers
philippe  |