Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 999 / 749 > service time

[moto748]

Well if people are chipping in with servicing recommndations, then I ought to include louigimoto, near Bristol, who does a superb job of keeping my bike (and quite a few other DSC members bikes too, most of them much tidier than mine ) on the road and in fine fettle.

And I'll give my two-penn'orth again on this shims business.

1. Shims shouldn't need changing often. If they do, it indicates some other problem with your bike.

2. It shouldn't be necessary to check then every five minutes. Many mechanics just do a compression test initially, and leave it at that if the results are within spec. If they appear a bit dodgy, the shimming is checked. There's nothing wrong with this approach.

3. On my last two Ducatis I've done (thus far) about 95,000 miles. That's ninety-five thousand! In that times, shims have checked 4 times (I think), twice on each bike. Of those four times, shims were actually changed only once.

4. The labour time spent checking shims that were only looked at a few thousand miles previously could be better spent on things that aren't part of the official service schedule, but still are well worth doing, such as stripping and thoroughly cleaning brake calipers, doing the same to clutches, and so on.