Hi guys, I've got a similar problem with my '97 600SS (12500 miles on the clock)
The rear cylinder sounds fine. But the front sounds like a bag of spanners. There's no smoke and seems to ride ok (my first Ducati so can't really make any comparison).
It sounds exactly the same as the one in this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E022n8Z1JeY I've done a compression test and the results are as follows:
From cold-
Front cylinder 120psi
Rear cylinder 115psi
After warming up on tick over for 5-6 minutes-
Front cylinder 75psi
Rear cylinder 80psi
Should I be worried? I'd like to loose the rattle, but don't really want to spend money on a rebuild if it'll still sound the same afterwards.
Any help and advice is very much appreciated.