Want Hlep Purchasing a 748 98-02

748 pricing

Hey- I'll chime here. I have an older ('98) 748. I picked up about a year ago. I was on the fence between financing something and scrounging enough disposable cash to buy one outright. I decided to go the second route and "revive" a so-so example. This thing was advertised at $5300 firm with about 8,500 on the clock.

It was sketchy from the get-go. One of those typically strange deals where the seller was a boat dealer and had taken it on a trade from a friend toward a new boat purchase. The title was in the previous owner's name. The seller knew nothing about the history of the thing or Ducati's in general. It of course came with no records whatsoever.

Within a week the pressurized coolant reservoir failed, which is common on those due to poor quality HDPE. Repair is nearly impossible, so I found a nice used replacement for about $60 on ebay.

The farings were very lightly rashed in two spots and the color on the lowers doesn't quite match the mid's- probably just a cheap replacement job, then someone went and decided that spray painting the airbox and chin fairing black would be a good idea??? I guess to give it that SPS look. Fortunately both pieces are so commonly replaced with carbon I was able to find them for next to nothing. I even won a perfect airbox for $15(!!!) on ebay, the chin fairing $8(!!!!!) but I guess due to a subtle change in later bikes it doesn't quite line up.

I'm at 12k now and its been running strong since I got it. I'm pulling the heads tomorrow, so we'll see how those rockers look (cross your fingers for me). It also came with Marchesini 5-spokes- which I love. For a total of about $300 in odds and ends since I got its been a fairly presentable completely reliable example.

I've been slowly working toward returning it tip-top shape. Its about to get a kick in the butt with an 853 kit. Fairings are going to paint soon as well. If you're somewhat mechanical and patient you can ride a Ducati without being a millionaire! But be ready- it ain't no Honda.

Good luck.

No, it would be completely independent of any sort of leak. The rocker arms that ride on the cam lobes are chromed in the contact area to prevent premature wear. The chrome plating QC apparently left a good bit to be desired and as a result a substantial portion of the bikes have had issues with the rockers flaking in that critical area. The result can be anything between valve clearances being outside of acceptable to the marred surface gouging the cam lobe.

The only certain way to check them is to remove the valve covers and release the rocker retainers to visually inspect them. This would take place as part of the valve adjustment and can make a $400 valve job into a $1400+ valve job- depending on the extent of the damage. Lots of folks who experience A bad rocker will opt for a complete set to (hopefully) prevent any further issues of that nature. I haven't had any personal experience with this as of yet- like I said keep your fingers crossed, however it seems that Megacycle holds the market share in rocker arm replacement for Ducati SBK owners.

One other alternative might be to have the engine oil analized for contamination. I'm no expert on it, but I used to work in a shop and I seem to recall that being a common practice on the shop team's race bikes after an engine break-in to assure there was nothing abnormal about the assembly. Its a heck of a lot less intrusive, but at 10k you'd might as well just pony up for the 12k service and make sure. Plus if those timing belts are more than two years old they should really be replaced anyway. Having that engine skip time in the middle of a turn could ruin your whole afternoon or whatever.

$6500 seems very reasonable, but you may try to make a little room for negotiation before you see it to a) find out how receptive the seller is to the idea that maybe since your going to have to drop at least $1K on an upcomming service interval and b) keep yourself from just caving in and giving the asking price once you hear that sweet rumble of an idling L-twin.

For more educated and perhaps correct info on the rocker issue just type in "rocker flaking" to the search field on this sight and you'll get the whole rundown. Because as I mentioned I'm no expert and I'm also somewhat hammered right now!

Good luck.