You may be asking yourself, «Why the hell is he wasting time on a page about changing an air filter? How stupid.» Well, believe it or not there are Duc owners out there who are too intimidated to even change the filter. I believe that all Ducati owners should know basic maintenance procedures, if for no other reason than to save on dealership costs. So if you are one such intimidated owner, what better way to boost your confidence and save your money than by showing in excruciating detail how easy it is to change the air filter? Let's get started.


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Hose, Wash Bucket, Wash Mitt, WD-40, Clear-Coat Safe Tar and Bug Remover (optional), Armor-All (optional), Soft Cotton Rags, Chrome Polish (optional), Aluminum Polish, Cleaner Wax (optional), Regular Wax and Wax Applicator Pads.

Detailing your bike is easy- but it takes a while. You can achieve professional results with a little bit of time and attention to detail. Plus, it's practically free!

Step 1:
The first step to any detailing job is a good wash. But, the problem with washing your bike is that there are so many 'no-zones' for water-electricals, brakes, fuel tank, etc. This is what I do: I take a bucket of soapy water and just start lightly coating the paint with it and kind of brushing it down the side so that all the dirt slides off. I avoid all areas that I don't want water, such as the engine, gauges, underseat area, etc. You also don't need to grind the paint with the soapy mitt- the wax will take care of any caked on or stubborn crud. This is just a rinse to get rid of the loose dirt. I also take a plastic baggie and place it over my K&N crankcase breather (not necessary on bikes with emissions equipment still on). Once I've attacked all the painted surfaces, wheels, and tires, I move on to the rinse.

The rinse is even harder because you have less control over the water going everywhere. I use just a little trickle and carefully wash away all the soap residue. Don't spray the water into any crevices or
the exhaust either.

Drying stage one consists of drying off the entire bike with a clean cotton towel. The key when drying is to be gentle- you
don't want to try to buff off stubborn crud with a dry towel — that is what the cleaner wax is for.




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Ruler (in mm), torque wrench, 12mm socket, 22mm socket, or 30mm for the latest Monsters.

Disclaimer: As with any mechanical adjustment, if done improperly this
procedure could be harmful to your bike and could cause severe injury in
the event of a crash. If you are at all unsure of your ability to perform this procedure correctly, PLEASE do not attempt to do so.

Maintaining your chain is very important to maintaining its life. I'm not saying that you need to adjust your chain every week, because you don't. You should, however, check it before every ride. Simply reach down and push up on the chain in the middle to see that it is not out of adjustment.


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WD-40, Chain Wax or Chain Lube, Rags, Rear Stand

Lubing the chain is one of the easiest things you can do. It's also one of the most frequent things you need to do. Every 500 or so miles, just follow these steps and your chain will live a long and healthy life.

Step 1
First go for a quick ride to heat the chain up (if you are using chain
wax- if you're not, you don't need to perform this step). Then
continue by getting the bike on a rear stand.

Then slowly turn the wheel (with the bike in neutral, of course) and wipe off all the gunk that's on there.

Then, while rotating the wheel, spray WD-40 all along it to break up the old lube and grease.

hen you can get the tire going at a pretty good clip and wipe all the WD-40 and grease off.

It may take a little bit to get it completely clean, but I'm a perfectionist so it took me about 15 minutes. Don't forget all the surrounding areas!




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Torque Wrench, 21mm socket (or 14mm allen head for later model bikes), 10mm Allen Head Socket, Channel Lock Pliers or a Filter Wrench, Oil, Filter, New Crush Washers.

Step 1
The first step is to get all the necessary equipment and tools. The 21mm and 10mm allen
need to be sockets rather than wrenches because you will need to torque them to the correct setting. A torque wrench is required for all kinds of maintenance, so now is the time to bite the bullet and get one (reasonably priced ones are available at Sears and the like). You will also need about 4 liters of your preferred oil (I use 15w50 semi-synthetic Motul, but if your engine has less than 2,000 miles I would not recommend synthetic because the motor is still in the break-in stage). You also can't forget the oil filter and a crush washer for the oil drain plug and a crush washer for the filter screen bolt. The washers are cheap at 50 cents each, the filter is about $10, and the oil runs me $20.


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Winter is slowly approaching and soon there will be a time when you will need to prepare your bike for short winter sleep. If you want to get your bike clean, shining and ready for action in spring, the following steps are for you.

First, you should find a place to keep your bike over the winter. This place should be dry. It can be your own garage or sometimes dealers offer Ducati owners use their own garages for storing purposes.

Let’s start with engine related issues. If you’re going to stop riding your bike for more than a month, you should know you cannot leave any petrol in it. If you have spare time, make a last ride on your Ducati. This way you can warm its parts and top off all petrol it has. In case you don't have enough time, just pour out all you have in your tank.


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So you plan to buy or just have bought Ducati. Great job, you've made a good choice! Now all you need to do is to keep your Ducati in a proper condition. Just as well as cars, bikes require maintenance. Usually manufacturer establishes time intervals when some routine things like changing oil or replacing filters are done. These intervals depend on a brand. Ducatis are great bikes and many say they're simply best ones, but prepare to go through maintenance more often then with most bikes.

First thing that scares almost all new Ducati owners is valves. «How do those valves perform?», «Do Ducati valves require frequent maintenance?» – these questions arise from time to time on various motorcycle forums. Many riders confess they’d like to buy Ducati bike, but are deterred by specific valves and their maintenance. Indeed, all Ducatis have an exclusive desdromonic valve system. It has been created in attempt to make 2 cylinder engines as powerful as 4 cylinder ones. The main idea is in reducing valve float. All Ducati engines don’t have any valve springs, special rockers are used to open and close the valve. With no valve spring your bike can run at tremendous 18,000 rpm and even higher! You can read detailed information about Ducati valves and their desmo system in official Ducati website. If you use your spare time to read this information, you will see what exactly requires adjustment and understand desmo is not scary at all. I bet you can even do it yourself. Certainly, there's nothing bad to pay to professional to get your valves adjusted, but prepare to pay around $250-$300 for 2 valves per cylinder and twice as much if you own a superbike with 4 valves per cylinder. If you decide to adjust valves yourself there are plenty of web sites describing how to do it. You can even watch a video showing this process. If you’re a person who wants to know everything about the bike you own, then don't hesitate and do it. Anyway, valves adjustment must be done every 4,000-6,000 miles and that is pretty often comparing to other bikes. Typical Japanese bike owner will probably make 12,000-16,000 miles before valves adjusting and certainly it is not so complicated. Ducati is a real bike of the dream, but it's not cheap in maintenance, so if you need to make frequent bike rides on a daily basis, think of buying second motorcycle with cheap adjustment costs.


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