Picked up a very nice 748

[disco dave]

O pics yes pics


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[photoRotor]

....how spoiled i have been all those years living in San Antonio near to all those fantastic riding roads.

San Antonio spoiled you for good roads?






You gotta get out of TX Dave

[disco dave]

San Antonio spoiled you for good roads?






You gotta get out of TX Dave

Lol, yeah my bar is set pretty low.

I used to be able to leave in the am, head to Leakey, ride the Three Sisters, and be back before supper. That ride is probably not a day trip anymore.

[wthammond]

Sounds like your in my neighborhood Dave. I'm 2mi off FM1488 in Magnolia near FM2978. Drop a line if your you're around. I'll take you up Honea Eqypt and FM149. Plenty of twisties there.

Todd

[disco dave]

Sounds like your in my neighborhood Dave. I'm 2mi off FM1488 in Magnolia near FM2978. Drop a line if your you're around. I'll take you up Honea Eqypt and FM149. Plenty of twisties there.

Todd

Thanks! PM sent.

[disco dave]

So i just had a profound lesson in Ducati ownership.

Havent really had much time to play with bikes lately, so the 748 has sat on her stands in the back of the garage for about 7 or 8 weeks now. Went out to pull it off the front stand to get it out and start it up, and first thing i notice is two decent-sized puddles of oil on the ground directly beneath each of the front forks. Both forks are wet with fork oil, which has apparently leaked from the seals and all over the garage floor. Nice.

Get her down, push her out of the garage, and crank her over. Surprised that it pretty much starts right up with little hesitation. After about 20 seconds of running, notice a puddle forming under the bike, dripping from the fairing. Dipped a finger in it, gave it a sniff...gasoline. Hit the kill switch immediately and started ripping dzus fasteners off. Fuel pouring off the line (or fitting) right where it goes into the throttle body for the vertical cylinder. Great.

Man these old Ducs dont like to sit still, do they? I suppose ive been spoiled by more modern bikes.


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[millietant]

You've been spoiled by an Aprilia Dave

[disco dave]

You've been spoiled by an Aprilia Dave

Very true, Dean, ive heard all the stories about how temperamental these bikes can be, but seriously, it cant sit for a few weeks without wetting the bed?

And i will say this about my Aprilia...i know folks get a bit worried about the prospect of owning an Italian bike, but my Caponord has been absolutely stone-dead reliable. Hasnt missed a beat from day 1. Gets better with every passing mile. Aging like a fine Bordeaux and wearing in like a favorite pair of gloves. Only trouble ive had was a loose centerstand bolt. Thats it. I keep having passing thoughts about trading it in on a Tuono, but I just like it so damn much i cant imagine living without it.

The Ducati however...may be on borrowed time. Ill give it a bit of TLC first, maybe get it back out to the track once more this year, if it can hold its fluids.




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[rule62]

Change the timing belts, synch the throttle bodies, set the throttle position sensor properly, make sure the rear sprocket cush pins don't work their way out and begin to grind away the eccentric adjuster, and keep an eye on the charging system. They're great bikes. Here's a pic of my previous stable.

[rule62]

Oh yeah... be sure to replace the in-tank fuel lines with some SAE 30R10 submersible lines. The stock ones deteriorate over time and will leave you on the side of the road. Don't ask me how I know. Take the gas cap off and turn the key on to get the fuel pump to prime. If you see any gas swirling in the tank, that's a sure sign they're ready to give out.

Ducati is a tinkerer's bike. Good thing I like to tinker.

[norcolmille]

yes they marque is a real tinkerer's or mechanics bike. I left them for 6 apes and now the 1198 arrived. I lack the time or inclination as I travel now ( again) . Love the Duc's but you have to live on their forum, scrounge affordable parts and spend 2-8 hours a month working on each one.
I loved to tinker and work but now my life intrudes.

Hence the apes...

[rule62]

^^ Agreed. When my son was born in 2013 I went from two Ducs to one. Then made the Ape switch just after his second birthday. Life intrudes indeed. Glad I spent those 10 years tinkering and "living" on the forums. Made some great friends, learned some good hacks, and avoided some costly pitfalls. In comparison, the Ape seems to run more like a sewing machine than than the Ducs did jack-hammers. (That's actually a compliment to the Ape.)

[disco dave]

Thanks for the insight. Tinkerer's bike indeed. Actually, thinking about it that way has changes my opinion of the bike in the past few days. I was thinking of this bike all wrong. I do enjoy getting out in the garage and turning wrenches, just havent had anything in my stable that required a lot of that sort of thing. So its not just a vehicle, its a fixer-upper hobby thing as well.

That being said, i cracked into it for the first time in earnest to fix the fuel leak. Found it very easily. As soon as you kick the ignition on and switch to run, theres a steady drip from the fuel injection hose going into thr vertical cylinder throttle body. So pulled it all apart.




This pile of garbage was the air filter. Or what was left of it anyway. Found little chunks of it on the throttle body butterflies.



Then found the culprit hose. Notice the "not for use in fuel injection" printed on it. Had a crash internet course in the difference between SAE 30R7 hose (what was on the bike) and SAE 30R9 hose (what should be on the bike). So going to redo these hoses.

Was pleasantly surprised to find some neat metal quick disconnects had already been fitted.


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[rule62]

I you can find a good deal, just go for a few feet of 30R10. It's submersible. It'll work just fine for the leaking hose, and will also be on hand when the in-tank lines give up the ghost.

Good deal on the metal quick disconnects. Get some viton o-rings for them. They're cheap.

[disco dave]

I you can find a good deal, just go for a few feet of 30R10. It's submersible. It'll work just fine for the leaking hose, and will also be on hand when the in-tank lines give up the ghost.

Good deal on the metal quick disconnects. Get some viton o-rings for them. They're cheap.

Amazing how hard it was to find decent fuel hose today. I have a ridiculous number of auto part stores within five miles of my house. I was able to hit Advance, Napa, Autozone, and two different Oreillys without traveling more than two city blocks. And only one of them had a hose that would work. SAE 30R14. Which id done zero research on. From what i can tell, it will handle 225 psi and is compatible with all the eco friendly fuels that are out there today. Not sure if its submersible.

So hopefully that will do for now, because ive fitted them to both throttle bodies.

Now to find something for an air filter...grabbed hold of the throttle and peered through the top butterfly, saw at least one chunk of something (looked like part of the air filter) on one of the intake valves. Hopefully thats it.

I think something that fits over each individual velocity stack. Those foam ones not sure about. I saw a thread on the ducati forum about guys shooting chain lube down the intakes to catch dirt before it got in. That torn up pile of crap that came out of the airbox on my bike was covered in some kind of oil or grease. No telling what. Maybe the prev owner took that strategy. Id imagine spraying aerosols down the intake would be rather stupid, and id think the compounds in those sprays would destroy foam.


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