| I concur with Dibs - you are likely to have to replace some at some point. I replaced 8 and had a cam lobe polished because I didn't find this club until AFTER I bought the bike. Still, it was a great bike!
If you're desperately keen to avoid it - get a 749 is my suggestion. You'll need a bit more cash than your £5k but I've heard suggestions on this board recently that you can get a 749 for around £5.5k - £6k.
This issue affected all desmoquattro engines so includes those fitted to the ST4; ST4s; S4; S4R; all 748 variants; all 916 variants, all 996 variants apart from the 996R. The 996R has the testastretta engine as does all the superbike range built from then on.
Or you could buy anything with a DesmoDue engine - such as the entire SS range, the Monster range excluding the S4 and S4R.
Still plenty of good bikes to choose from. I would still buy a bike with a desmoquattro engine though - they have a character that you don't find in the testastretta engine IMO. And I have a testastretta engine ....  |