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I finally replaced the throw-out bearing and the bronze button on my Paso and got to ride it this weekend. I logged nearly 100 miles on Friday and over 200 miles yesterday. I was cruising around in the mountain twisties of South Carolina and the north-eastern section of Georgia. It had been a few months since I'd really ridden the Paso and forgot how light and nimble it feels. I was chasing my wife on her 2001 M900ie, yesterday, and having a blast on it.

Since putting the bike back together, I had been staying fairly local, just in case something was to happen, but yesterday, I strayed the greatest distance from the house....about 100 miles. 100 miles may not sound like much, but the tight, twisty roads would mean nearly a three hour drive with the car and trailer if I had to tow it home. The little bike did wonderfully well, but at times I really noticed the lack of power and top end speed. The Paso seemed to strain a little on some of the steeper inclines, and eventhough it will go faster, the engine appears to feel uncomfortable at speeds over 80 mph for extended periods of time with the stock gearing. It can handle some good cornering speeds, which is where "it" really counts when riding, right?

I really like the bike and plan on keeping it around for a good while. It makes for a nice addition to the collection. I just need to remind myself that it is not my 748 when I'm riding it.

This is the only decent picture I took while on the ride...

Now she have much nicer clothes!

Finnpaso wrote:Now she have much nicer clothes!

Antti,
she's not the same bike!!!

Demon has a dressed Paso and a naked Paso.
I guess we all would like to have a dressed girl and a naked girl !!!

No matter, nice bike even if she's not a 748 !

Ciao

Finnpaso wrote:Now she have much nicer clothes!

Antti....Now I know what you meant about clothes in the other thread!!! I was confused (not a difficult thing to do to me, though).

persempre907 wrote:Demon has a dressed Paso and a naked Paso.

Correct, at least for the time being. The Paso 750 is fully dressed and looks better than way, and the other Paso is the 916 "Mega Paso" project and is naked, now. I do have clothes for the Mega Paso project, but is a mix-match of parts. For bodywork, I have:

1) two red side fairings
2) two red tail sections
3) two yellow tail sections
4) red gas tank
5) yellow taillight/seat panel for seat lock
6) yellow headlight fairing

I want to paint that bike either red/white/green or a black/silver or yellow/white, but that is a long time away.

Here's a shot showing the Mega Paso on the right of the picture with the bodywork hanging off of the rolling chassis. It has the yellow headlight fairing and an FZ750 headlight on it...

persempre907 wrote:No matter, nice bike even if she's not a 748

Me and my 748...

persempre907 wrote:
Antti,
she's not the same bike!!!

I know that very well, but now Desmo-Demon have much nicer avatar! Just that i wanted to tell... It was my mistake, as i didnt tell enough clearly, that it was "avatar", what i meant...

Desmo-Demon, have You check Your 748 rocker arm surfaces??? I have changed to my ST4S already 4 arms, cause they are easy to loose that surface. its common problem to that time area 4 valvers.... Maybe Yours is enough old, that You have better quality rocker arms? Mine is 2002 modell. I have changed to my 4 valve engine softer springs (from 748R) to desmo system to avoid too much pressure between rocker arms and cams. Its very important to use very good quallity oil in 4 valve engine to keep that area well lubricated...

Finnpaso wrote:Desmo-Demon, have You check Your 748 rocker arm surfaces???

My 748 is a 2002, also. At 5600 miles, I changed four opening rockers for flaking chrome. At 12,000 miles, they all looked good. I have the engine apart and am in the middle of a valve adjustment and timing belt change with the bike at 18,000 miles, now. I was actually thinking of pulling the cams out of the horizontal head after work, today.

I think the largest issue with the rockers needing to be replaced was that the clearances where HUGE between the rockers and cams. I had to change 14 of the 16 shims at the first service, and at the second service, the cams didn't look any worse and the clearances were almost exactly where I had set them previously. With my intial readings on the horizontal head, I will need to change some shims, but hopefully the rockers haven't gotten any worse......If I have any rockers that need replacing, I'm going to get them resurfaced (Megacycle grinds the surface down, welds and shapes them, and then replates the surface with better chrome). I've been dreading pulling the cams for fear of more bad rockers, which is probably why I haven't touched the bike in the last two months.


For oil, I've been running Mobile 1 and Castrol fully synthetic oil and change it every 3000 miles.

I have heard from many sources, that those 748 engines need totally rebuild after factory, as they were build "like in hurry". I send my old arms here: http://www.ducati-kaemna.de/cms_en/kata ... rtikel=504 and i get back after few days totally very well rebuild ones. It function so, that they have rebuild ones waiting in shelves and when u send yours there, they send back fastly rebuild ones... Its pitty, that u cant know surface condition without taking cams away..

Btw, i use in all my bikes Shell Advance Ultra 15W-50. It fits better to gearbox, than my previous oil Mobil 1 fully synthetic 5W-50. Maximum 5000kms