Buying used Paso

[Harry]

Hello everyone. I am new to the Forum so please bear with me. I am looking at purchasing a used 1989 906 Paso hopefully this coming weekend. As a general question what should i look or look out for when making an inspection. The ad for the bike says it only has 25000 Kilometers on it and it looks to be in a well kept condition. I have not heard the Bike run yet.
Thanks Harry

[persempre907]

Welcome on the forum.
You have to see at the same things you'd see on any bike.
Frame, fork and rims bent etc.
The timing belts have to be changed every 2 years or 20.000 Kms. This is the most important thing about any Ducati engine. If the belts go broken.... and
Ask if there are papers about the maintenance.
The Pasos are strong bikes even if they need a good and frequent maintenance.
Let us know about your purchase
Ciao

[Harry]

Hey thanks a lot mate. Yeh i will make sure that i ask about the timing belt. And yes if the deal goes well i will post pictures for all to se.

Cheers Harry

[paso750]

welcome on board
http://forums.ducatipaso.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4092

G.

[redpaso]

Mate make sure she has decent rubber on it if it is still running 16" rims. I have been told I recently (December 09) fitted the last 'new' 16" front Michelin in the country. As you will be aware from these forums it is a bit of an issue, but there are options.

Good luck with the purchase. Paso's are so much fun & they have an essence of the old world Ducati where you can tinker & need to gently caress her to get the best from her. Buy it & love it!

[Harry]

Hey thanks Troy. Yeh it does have a new front tire. Just another newbie question is what Petrol do the lik to run 96 or 98 Octane.

[Harry]

Well lads the 906 is sitting in my shed. When i layed eyes on it for real the pictures i had seen did not do her justice. The Bike is in very good condition and between me contacting the seller and rolling up today he did find the original owners manual with service periods and the 25,000 kms are genuine. So my first bike ride in sevens years was up the freeway and what a blast.She does have one glitch and that is sometimes when you turn the Head Light on it makes the Bike miss just the once when you trigger the switch, so obviously i am going to have to look into the electrics but she will be going in for a full service soon so yeh i am rapt.Hopefully i will get some pictures up soon.

[higgy]

Just another newbie question is what Petrol do the lik to run 96 or 98 Octane.

Run the lowest grade which allows you to run with the minimum ping Its an individual choice as everyone's local conditions can vary widely. I generally run a mid grade in both the 906 and the 907. Not afraid to use regular
( slight roll on ping in the warmer weather) and as I have stock compression( well under 11:1) don't waste my money on premium

[paso750]

The user manual says 94-96.
Regular has 91 octane, right ? That doesn`t even exist here anymore.

G.

[higgy]

The user manual says 94-96.
Regular has 91 octane, right ? That doesn`t even exist here anymore.

Depends on where you live The reality is Octane is a meaningless number only good for comparison between grades,as a guide and only relates to the fuels "ability to resist preignition.", composition varies widely these days from station to station and season to season . Modern Fuel injected engines have made octane ratings even more meaningless. With the advent of direct injection and knock sensor controlled ignitions octane really does not matter.
In the Paso, If your engine pings "excessively" under heavy load,step up a grade or try a different brand or station assuming your jetting and overall engine function is normal, properly functioning cooling system, either oil or water.

Regional variations in octane ratings and availability:

The selection of octane ratings available at the pump can vary greatly from region to region.

* Australia, "regular" unleaded fuel is 91 RON, "premium" unleaded with 95 RON is widely available, and 98 RON fuel is also reasonably common. Shell used to sell 100 RON petrol (5% exthanol content) from a small number of service stations, most of which are located in capital cities (stopped in August 2008). [13] United petrol currently sell 100 RON unleaded fuel (10% exthanol content) at a small number of its service stations (orginally only 2, however it has now expanded to 19 outlets). [14] [15]

* Germany, "Normal" 91 RON, "Super" 95 RON and "Super Plus" 98 RON is practically available everywhere. Big suppliers like Shell or Aral offer 100 RON gasoline (Shell V-Power, Aral Ultimate) at almost every fuel station. "Normal" 91 RON is more and more disappearing, because lower production amounts make it more expensive than "Super" 95 RON, so it is often not offered any more.

* Hong Kong, only 98 RON and 99 RON are available in the market. There have been calls to re-introduced 95 RON, but the calls have been rejected by all petrol station chains, citing that 95 RON was phased out because of market forces.

* Italy, 95 RON is the only compulsory gasoline offered (verde), only few fuel stations (Agip, IP, IES, OMV) offer 98 RON as the premium type, many Shell and Tamoil stations close to the cities offer also V-Power Gasoline rated at 100 RON

* India India's Ordinary And Premium Petrols are of 89-91 RON. The premium petrols are generally ordinary fuels with additives, that do not really change the octane value. Two variants, "Speed 93" and "Speed 97" were launched, with RON values of 93 and 97, but Speed 97 was discontinued. India's vehicles usually have compression ratios under 10:1, thus enabling them to use lower quality petrols without engine knocking.[citation needed]

* Indonesia Indonesia's "Premium" petrol rated at 88 RON and being subsidized it cost only about US$ 0.50/liter. Other options are "Pertamax" rated at 92 RON and the "Pertamax Plus" rated at RON 95, which is the highest octane available for automotive gasoline in Indonesia.

* Malaysia, the "regular" unleaded fuel is 95 RON, "premium" fuel is rated at 97 RON(but for Shell 97 RON is V-Power), and Shell's V-Power Racing is rated at 99 RON.

* Netherlands; 95 RON "Euro" and 98 RON "Super" are sold at practically every station. Shell V-Power is a 97 RON (labelled as 95 due to the legalities of only using 95 or 98 labelling),some independent test have shown that 1 year after introduction it was downgraded to 95 RON. whereas in neighbouring Germany Shell V-Power consists of the regular 100 RON fuel.

* Spain, 95 RON "Euro" is sold in every station with 98 RON "Super" being offered in most stations. Many stations around cities and highways offer other high octane "premium" brands.

* New Zealand; 91 RON "Regular" and 95 RON "Premium" are both widely available. 98 RON is available instead of 95 RON at some service stations in larger urban areas.

* Ireland, 95 RON "unleaded" is the only petrol type available through stations, although E5 (99 RON) is becoming more commonplace.

* Russia and CIS countries, 80 RON (76 MON) is the minimum available, the standard is 92 RON and 95 RON.

* South Africa, "regular" unleaded fuel is 95 RON in coastal areas with most fuel stations optionally offering 97 RON. Inland (higher altitude) "regular" unleaded fuel is 93 RON, once again most fuel stations optionally offer 95 RON.

* Taiwan, 92 RON, 95 RON and 98 RON are widely available at gas stations in Taiwan.

* Ukraine: the standard gasoline is 95 RON, but 92 RON gasoline is also widely available and popular as a less expensive replacement for 95 RON gasoline. 80 RON gasoline is available for old cars and motorcycles.

* United Kingdom, 'regular' petrol has an octane rating of 95 RON, with 97 RON fuel being widely available as the Super Unleaded. Tesco and Shell both offer 99 RON fuel. BP is currently trialling the public selling of the super-high octane petrol BP Ultimate Unleaded 102, which as the name suggests, has an octane rating of 102 RON. Although BP Ultimate Unleaded (with an octane rating of 97 RON) and BP Ultimate Diesel are both widely available throughout the UK, BP Ultimate Unleaded 102 is (as of October 2007) only available throughout the UK in 10 filling stations, and is priced at about two and half times more than their 97 RON fuel. Also offered Shell V-Power, but in a 99 RON octane rating, and Tesco fuel stations also supply the Greenergy produced 99 RON "Tesco 99".

* United States, in the Rocky Mountain (high altitude) states, 85 AKI is the minimum octane, and 91 AKI is the maximum octane available in fuel. The reason for this is that in higher-altitude areas, a typical naturally-aspirated engine draws in less air mass per cycle due to the reduced density of the atmosphere. This directly translates to less fuel and reduced absolute compression in the cylinder, therefore deterring knock. It is safe to fill up a carbureted car that normally takes 87 AKI fuel at sea level with 85 AKI fuel in the mountains, but at sea level the fuel may cause damage to the engine. A disadvantage to this strategy is that most turbocharged vehicles are unable to produce full power, even when using the "premium" 91 AKI fuel. In some east coast states, up to 94 AKI is available [1]. In parts of the Midwest (primarily Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri) ethanol based E-85 fuel with 105 AKI is available [2]. Often, filling stations near US racing tracks will offer higher octane levels such as 100 AKI. California fuel stations will offer 87, 89, and 91 AKI octane fuels, and at some stations, 100 AKI or higher octane, sold as racing fuel. Until summer 2001 before the phase-out of methyl tert-butyl ether aka MTBE as an octane enhancer additive, 92 AKI was offered in lieu of 91.

Generally, octane ratings are higher in Europe than they are in North America and most other parts of the world. This is especially true when comparing the lowest available octane level in each country. In many parts of Europe, 95 RON (90-91 AKI) is the minimum available standard, with 97/98 RON being higher specification (being called Super Unleaded). The higher rating seen in Europe is an artifact of a different underlying measuring procedure. In most countries (including all of Europe and Australia) the "headline" octane that would be shown on the pump is the RON, but in Canada, the United States and some other countries the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, sometimes called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI), Road Octane Number (RdON), Pump Octane Number (PON), or (R+M)/2. Because of the 8 to 10 point difference noted above, this means that the octane in the United States will be about 4 to 5 points lower than the same fuel elsewhere: 87 octane fuel, the "regular" gasoline in Canada and the US, would be 91-92 in Europe. However most European pumps deliver 95 (RON) as "regular", equivalent to 90–91 US AKI=(R+M)/2, and deliver 98, 99 or 100 (RON) (93-94 AKI) labeled as Super Unleaded - thus regular petrol sold in much of Europe corresponds to premium sold in the United States.

In other countries "regular" unleaded gasoline, when available, is sometimes as low as 85 RON (still with the more regular fuel, 95, and premium, around 98, available).

[907pasonut]

congratulations on your puchase Harry you are now the owner of a fine piece of machinery
PS:this is a great forum to get your paso problems sorted out...and put up a few pics when you get the chance

[JWilliam]

This is a common problem for standard Paso's and there any number posts about the correction. Have a look at my replies to posts in the following links. Not that the answers are my invention, oh no but just carrying the word for departed Paso forum members.

http://forums.ducatipaso.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4021

http://forums.ducatipaso.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3445