Maintenance - schedule or whenever?

[derf]

Originally Posted by Dave

heh i told fred this when we rode saturday but after i resurrected the 450 i rode it for about six months on the 26 year old oil. No shards at change either.

You need to check the chain on that thing, I could see and hear it flapping against the swingarm or frame or something from where I was riding. There was probably 4 to 6 inches of vertical movement in it.



Gasman, 6k miles and the forks needed to be freshened up? I suspect they might not have been assembled correctly to begin with. Unless someone is using their bike way outside its design limits (stunting) I wouldn't even think to check my forks until around 20k mi or 5 years. My last bike went 26k and I never even looked in the forks, although I did check the valves at 19k because I thought I heard a ticking, which turned out to be 1 valve at the very limit of being servicable (still good), so I adjusted it back to the middle of the recommended range and closed it back up.

I also totally agree with you that the filter will break down well before the oil does.

Really what I'm trying to get at is that if something needs constant maintenance (like a chain) then I look at it alot, if something needs periodic maintenance (oil change) then I do it when it needs getting done, and if something needs very little maintenance (forks) then I look at when it tells me to look at it. Also realize the fact that when I look at my air filter I also change out my spark plugs, if they need to be looked at or not, just because I'm already in there and it only takes a few extra minutes to get to the spark plugs. Common sense really drives my maintenance.

Keep in mind though that I'm just some dude, not an expert of any kind

And lastly yes i would stretch the service interval on the ducati's way out to 150 miles, I totally understand that the manual says you should inspect and adjust them at every stop light but I think 150 miles is close enough.