Hi all

hi all, after a number of years of wanting a ducati monster have finally got one, many an hour spent looking and dreaming at the few grand monsters but with a family etc never finding that spare cash to buy one. my 19 year old son really keen to get into bikes and desperately wanted an aprilia rs125. his birthday recently so had a little browse on ebay only to find the same guy selling a aprilia rs125 and a 2000 ducati monster 600 dark he wanted close on 2k for the pair offered him £1500 and he took it,got delivered the other day and must say over the moon the monster has done 7000 miles and although been garaged since 09 put some new spark plugs in and fired up instantly sounds great, the seller seemed completely genuine and infact bikes were better than described, monster needs new fork oil seals and front break pads, apart from that seems fine and pretty chuffed. Did have to call him on arrival though having never owned a ducati monster the stand switch and not starting through me. anyway got the haynes manual but any tips on changing fork seals and handy hints if any on break pads very welcome. think i will spend the winter getting my new pride and joy in tip top condition.
hopefully photos have added ok included aprilia just to show the pair at what i thought was a reasonable price.

[singletrack]

Hi Magic
It looks like a lovely bike.
If it has been standing that long I would be tempted to change the belts too.
Welcome to

[BigOz]

Hello and welcome,

I hope you enjoy your Monster. It might be worth getting the belts changed before you run it much, they should be changed every 2 years regardless of mileage, sitting for 3 years won't have done them any favours.

Andy

thanks not having owned one before did a bit of a search on changing belts think looks like its a fairly straight forward job?? , having just forked out for these aim is to do as much myself as poss

[gary tompkins]

Belts are about an hour to an hour 1/2 work. Some times the hardest bit is getting the covers on/off... especially the rear cylinder which is a real pain. Make sure you use a good quality, tight fitting allen adapter for the tensioner adjusters. Original bolts are made of cheese and round off real easy - I replaced mine with short S/S hex bolts. A worksop manual will come in very useful and there's some good belt swap videos on youtube.

[utopia]

At that price, thats an absolute steal.
I'd have thought that the monster alone would be worth close to that figure....its even a low mileage example.
In fact either of them must be worth that sort of money on their own, unless there are hidden problems.
I hope its a genuine seller. I would advise some sort of check (hpi ?) just to be sure.
But assuming that all is well, don't just think about changing the belts. They're way over their age limit, and standing in one position for ages is the worst possible thing for them. I'd change them before I started the motor again. Don't believe the Haynes manual....it'll spook you with its tales of specialist tensioning devices. Instead, check the ducatitech video. Its actually easy peasy.
As Gary says, removing the central section of the cover is actually the hardest part.
Another point to watch are the outermost cover screws, which go into a brass insert in the rubbery-plastic inner section of the cover. What seems to happen is that when the cover screws are first tightened, the torque is transferred through the brass insert and the rubbery-plastic stuff is left in tension, which causes it to develop little cracks over time. Either that or the material just perishes. Either way, you want to give them a good spray of wd40 or gt85 before undoing them and thereafter keep them well greased. Its also worth just relieving the tension by twisting your allen key gently backwards after retightening them.....if you look closely you'll see the cracks close.
I have a 750 of the same vintage as yours, and mine have been like that since I got it, 6yrs ago.

Incidently, I think there may have been a very small batch of duff belt pulleys around that time. Mine suffered, and I've heard of one other....causes wear to the outer belt. It seems to be rare though and its an easy fix with a file. Left alone, the horizontal belt subsequently wears a groove in the case. In the unlikely event that you find such a groove, in the area of the inspection cover, I'll provide further details.

re. the fork seals...someone posted on here recently about a simple plastic tool called "seal mate" which cleans the seals and may restore their function. It has to be worth a try before stripping the forks.

Thanks a lot had a bit of a look online and agree not going to start it until I've done belts for the sake of £50 or so, the guy I bought from did seem very genuine and very much into bikes as with any buy you take your chances I suppose but the seller has given me both bikes hpi Certs carried out just before they went on sale think all in all a pretty good buy but we shall see how many help posts I put up over next few months :-) thanks for replies

[J.P]

Welcome to the club and hope you get all the maintenance done soon so you can get out and about on it.

Welcome , hope you both enjoy your new bikes ... yup and get those beltd done .

That must be the bargain of the year mate, you virtually got the Aprillia for nothing, I,m sure you are going to enjoy the Duke.

Cheers am a bit like a kid at the moment at xmas desperate to play with my new toy ordered belts today

[boris]

Welcome, and good luck to you for the journey ahead that Im sure will be full of mixed emotions. A big +1 for Gary, if you've succeeded in getting it (whatever) off, replace it. As for belts, once you've put your 1st ones on, each to his own. Do you bin the kitchen fridge when it's X-years old because the warranty's run out? Use it, check it, make the call and you'll soon become more attuned to the way your Italian Mistress will demand your attention. And if in doubt, there's countless years of free advice here that is waiting for you just to ask...

[gary tompkins]

Originally Posted by utopia

As Gary says, removing the central section of the cover is actually the hardest part.

You should try it on the early 600 solid metal belt covers

I battled with the rear cover on mine for ages when tackling my 1st belt change. Feckin laugh a minute.. not

Ducati also managed to route the oil cooler hose on a M900 in the worst place possible for easy access to the front belt cover

Belts change no problem thanks all please see my latest post in technical