| I own a 916 1998 with 25000 miles on the clock and about another 5000 which were not recorded due to speedo cable failure, during that time annual mileage has varied from 14000 down to around 2000, regardless of mileage I have always changed the belts at 6000 miles or 1 year whichever came first. The bike has been maintained by the same mechanic since new, last year I had the cams pulled and checked and they were perfect as were the tappett gaps etc, annettes 996 sps has done nearly 30000 kilometres and apart from an engine blow up early on (probabley due to sustained high revs on track days ) the only repairs on the engine were worn rockers.
From our experience bikes that are used regulaly seem to fare a lot better when it comes to engine wear than bikes only used occasionally which probabaly stems from oil draining away from high friction surfaces during long lay ups and ducatis notorious cylinder head oil feed design(Improved on testastretta engines 998 onwards).
The only week point I have discovered is front wheel bearings which only seem to last 12000 mile or so.
The trade off with higher mileage bikes is the rear shock will be worn and other chassis parts like wheel and steering head bearings may need replacing sooner.
In my opinion a higher mileage but well maintained bike is a worthwhile consideration and will not automaticaly mean higher maintanence costs.
best of luck
dave  |