Hello everybody,

I'm the proud and happy owner of a 1990 paso 906. Its cosmetically a bit rough and mechanically needs a bit if TLC but its all there, even has the original silencers.

I picked it up 2 days ago in Birmingham and it only broke down once on the way home to London! Battery light came on about 20 miles in, but I managed to get to west London before it died. It was a 25A fuse between the RR and the battery. Replaced it but again its blown.

Any advice on what RR I should be looking to buy?
Other issues are a weep from the head gasket on the rear cylinder.
Any advice on general maintenance, belts etc

Thanks

Mark

Firsty may I say Welcome to the site Mark

Second Congratulations on your new ride.

and third Welcome to the world of Ducati Paso ownership.

You'll find us a motley crew of undesirables sometimes mocked for our choice of Ducati and often secretly envied for our commitment

That said you will find that many of us will be willing to pass on as much knowledge as we can freely but possibly not as expedient as many other sites you might visit.

Please remember to stick any queries in the search box first as there is a wealth of knowledge there now and it goes back many years.

There also is a Facebook site not directly connected but none the less active with some of us folk found there too "ducatipasoists"

I'll leave the the questions you've asked for others to answer but do first try that search mode ( please note that we have had some recent issues over photo content which means some refernces will be blank)

Couple of quick questions though
Was your bike purchased of a site member?
What is the age and colour?
Is it your first Ducati?

Have fun and also search "UK Gathereing 2017"

A " motley crew of undesirables " wtf there are some Kiwi's here too , and poms ( obviously ) , Spaniards , Italians , in fact we have a wide variety of culture and ethnicity ...........even Americans , so I don't know why you would single out the Australians for a mention
but anyhow , Mark , welcome to the mad house .
Sounds to me like your Paso is about normal .
Leaking oil at the head is most likely a leaky o ring , they don't have a head gasket as such , just a bunch of O rings to seal the oil and water passages and the head / barrel joint just sits together . If it leaks there just lap the barrel to the head , sorta like lapping in a valve ....... not a biggie . and as for the electrix , Id have a good look about here as there are a few mods that can be done there and it make sense to coordinate the whole upgrade .... again no biggie .

Hamish

Cheers guys,

Have had a search around and yes all my questions have been asked and answered before

My 906 is from 1990, its red, I don't think previous owner was a member here but maybe. I got it from eBay the auction didn't meet reserve.....

I thoroughly enjoy this bike. Its my first older ducati, I've spent time on a 2009 m1100 which was nice but a little bland? Have had a bunch of old Guzzis, Suzuki's Hondas Kawis etc.
But I seem to get on with the paso, so far....

Best

Mark

I'll try to post some pics when I get a sec to figure it out

If you are a mechanically minded person who enjoys a challenge I would offer a couple bits of advice as someone who just finished an honest and comprehensive restoration of a 906.
1: A lot of people will tell you to get rid of the Weber carb in favor of a mikuni conversion because the Weber is famously difficult to tune and people tend to give up on it easily. Don't do it, once it's tuned properly it's fantastic. the mikuni will gain some civility in traffic and tuneabilty but at the cost of some performance, the wonderfully lumpy idle and the full throated howl at full throttle. Also, it's very satisfying to do something others think can't be done.
2: do LOTS of research. The parts and info are hard to come by but they do exist.
3: Be prepared to work on it alot. If you bought a paso for reliability you probably should sell it and get an ST2/3/4. After every long ride, pull the panels and hit every nut and bolt with a wrench, twins tend to shake things loose.
4: Fix the wiring! Do some research on how to install relays and put all the main systems on their own circuit to take the load off the ignition switch. The switch is notoriously glitchy and can't handle the load, especially considering it's age.

Thank for the advice!

I'm reasonable mechanically and not scared of effort, I have a guzzi California 2 that I use to explore gravel roads in northern Ontario, bits fall off that all the time.

Electrically the previous owner has run fresh grounds for most of the circuits and its stopped blowing fuses, which is very odd!

As for the Weber it definitely needs some love the transition from pilot to main is really rough.

But overall its a great bike. The front end is wonderful, very confidence inspiring!

Previous owner also put the starter through a relay, I'm assuming this bypasses the ignition switch?

When I have a bit of time I'll trace everything and get familiar with it. If needs be I'll rewire it but I think the last guy probably knew what he was doing

Cheers

Hi
Concur there is a mountain of hard earned knowledge already in this site. I'm in London if you ever need actual physical help with her.
Not sure about the 'stick with the weber' comment. I'm just about to official give up on the f**king things and stick an old pair of dellortos I have tucked in the garage on her. I'm just a keen amateur so my skill set is way lower than a number of people on this forum. Just about to post my weber woes in a minute!
Keith MM

Hi
Concur there is a mountain of hard earned knowledge already in this site. I'm in London if you ever need actual physical help with her.
Not sure about the 'stick with the weber' comment. I'm just about to official give up on the f**king things and stick an old pair of dellortos I have tucked in the garage on her. I'm just a keen amateur so my skill set is way lower than a number of people on this forum. Just about to post my weber woes in a minute!
Keith MM