These steps are the extra mile you need to go when servicing a Ducati as opposed to Japanese bikes. Your mechanic needs to have this attention to detail.

• Clean the oil screen For some cost-saving reason, most dealers don't clean your oil screen. If you do it, you get to see the early warning signs of transmission damage (small chunks of steel) or if your oil galley plug in the crank is backing out (long slivers of aluminum). Clean off the screen the best you can and slap it back in there.

• Check your clutch throwout bearing every 5,000 miles or 6 months. Replacement Clutch Throwout Bearing It's best to remove the pressure plate (and the 6 screws and springs holding it on) and FEEL the bearing for smooth operation. While you're there, clean up the end of the pushrod and the cup that it rests in. Neglecting to do this can lead to damage to your clutch slave cylinder and cost you over $200. While you're in there, blow out the clutch with compressed air to get all the dust out. I retorque my clutch screws to 96 in-lbs, or 8 ft-lbs. This lesson was recently relearned... Zina's `95 CR with 26k miles had the seal at the clutch end of the push rod fail. The needle bearings inside failed and machined grooves in the pushrod itself. That's about $100 for parts, thanks. So when checking the throwout bearing, also clean out all of the clutch dust in that area.

• Service your belts Change them every 10,000 miles and whenever you're fiddling about on the right side of the motor, check your belt tension. I had a customer who just got new belts installed elsewhere and they were hopelessly loose. If you're bored, clean out all the small rocks behind the belt covers in the Vee of the motor and look to make sure none are imbedded in your belts. On the 4V models, never reuse the locknut that secures the tensioner pulley. Buy new ones every time. Also, as indicated in the picture, check that nothing untoward is happening behind the belts. The image linked to by the thumbnail at the right shows a cracked inner belt cover on the vertical head on a 900SS. I've also seen large portions of the same cover already firmly rubbing on the belt and ready to fall off. On one such bike, I used a chisel and with one light tap, the entire lower section of the inner cover fell off! One small strip of plastic 1mm wide by 4mm long is all that prevented that large piece from getting sucked into the belt!

• Install o-rings in the shock pivots (Supersports) There is a gap between the shock pivot collars and the frame and swingarm. Ensure that when your shock is removed for your valve adjustment that the pivots are cleaned and greased, then the o-rings are installed to keep out dirt and tiny rocks. Apparently, some SSs came from the factory with these o-rings.

• Fix wobbly mufflers When they're shakey, they're about to fall off. Hasn't happened to me, but two friends of mine (with Supersports)!

• Use "old world" valve specs The 2V motors should get their closing shims set to <= .001" and the intake openers to .003", exhaust to .004". The 4V motors should never exceed .15mm (.006") on any clearance and the rocker arms must be inspected for wear every service interval. Run the closers at or below .002", ensuring that they're not tight and set the openers to .004". 4V bikes with SPS or other wild cams should run closer to .004" on all clearances.

  For owners of 4V "desmo quattro" bike, tell your dealer that they must pull the cams and inspect the rocker arms for wear! I did a valve adjust on a `99 996 with 6000 miles... it had previously had a valve adjustment at 3000 miles. If one were to follow factory specs, this bike would not have needed any shims to be changed - nor would a dealer have pulled the cams to check the rockers. Why? Because the valves are good to go - why do all that extra work for the same labor charges?