Please help me with my purchase

[breakaway]

Compression test not needed. Engine will likely be fine. Extremely unlikely to suffer catastrophic failure I'd say. However there's no way I would pay 4k for a bike I'd outgrow inside of 6 months, especially one that OP is likely to drop and scratch.

At 18000 rpm the pistons rise and fall 600 times a second. 60000km's on such a small engine is a shitload.

Ship engines run at <100 RPM. By your logic I guess they never need any maintenance, ever aye?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Ship engines run at <100 RPM. By your logic I guess they never need any maintenance, ever aye?

Twist and distort things as much as you like. But I'll guarantee the ship engine will do many more hours than a CBR250.

[tigertim20]

seems to be a bunch of nanas in here who are so old, they've forgotten what it is to be young, and to want what you want at that age.

Bud, if youre keen on it, get an inspection done on it - NOT an AA inspection, get it taken to a bike shop.

assuming the inspection doesnt lit anything major, go get the thing.

It does't matter what bike you buy new, old, low km, high km, - when buying second hand bikes privately there is ALWAYS an associated risk you decide to accept when you buy. if you like the thing, and you can accept the risk, then just go get it. Youre only young once, and theres a shitload of bikes that later turned out to be 'awful bikes' in terms of reliability etc that I wished Id just bought when I had the chance.

[James Deuce]

seems to be a bunch of nanas in here who are so old, they've forgotten what it is to be young, and to want what you want at that age.

Just trying to provide advice to make an informed decision so he doesn't piss money up the wall. I wish I'd listened to the old guys who were trying to provide gentle advice about things I shouldn't have bought.

So sorry to have bothered.

[James Deuce]

Written by someone who has never owned one perhaps? Just like religion, the 'holier than thou' approach is rife with a lot of Riders claiming that their particular Brand of Bike is 'Best'. After 42 Years of Riding, Racing and Bike ownership I can assure you that there is no such thing as a perfect Bike.
Ducatis in general are owned by an older, more mature Rider, who is generally more fastidious about maintenance than the average Owner. The other myth is that of 'Expensive to service' which is absolute Bollocks. CamBelts and Valve Clearances, Oil & Filters, just like any Japanese Bike, except for the Cambelts. Camchain replacement on an average second-hand Japanese Bike usually costs more than the Bikes total value. Do you drive a Car? Chances are, that it also requires CamBelt replacement avery 20,000Km or so, do you slag off your 'Brand' of car to everyone?
Any semi-competent Owner would be quite capable of servicing a 2-Valve Ducati in His/Her Home Workshop without specialist Tools. Can't be said for most Japanese Multis though.

No. Just tired of exercising the trailer (when I had one) to pick up yet another air cooled Ducati with valves welded to pistons or "cambelts that were replaced last year" snapped clean in two. I know of two former KB oweners who bought a 400SS in the hopes of buying into Italian mystique only to find a direly unreliable, wheezy, poorly finished almost hand-built Japanese market special that cost a fortune to keep mobile. Both of them bought SV650s. One loved the SV650. The other hated it and bought a 999 and loved it.

If you don't have full service documentation and aren't prepared to strip it down and check everything, don't buy a pre-TPG Ducati. THey were teetering along a shoestring at the time and did cut corners, no matter how much the faithful want us to believe otherwise.

[Vinz0r]

Camchain replacement on an average second-hand Japanese Bike usually costs more than the Bikes total value.

Wow. Remind me to never go to your mechanic then. :P

[Crasherfromwayback]

Ducatis in general are owned by an older, more mature Rider, who is generally more fastidious about maintenance than the average Owner. The other myth is that of 'Expensive to service' which is absolute Bollocks. CamBelts and Valve Clearances, Oil & Filters, just like any Japanese Bike, except for the Cambelts. Camchain replacement on an average second-hand Japanese Bike usually costs more than the Bikes total value. Do you drive a Car? Chances are, that it also requires CamBelt replacement avery 20,000Km or so, do you slag off your 'Brand' of car to everyone?
Any semi-competent Owner would be quite capable of servicing a 2-Valve Ducati in His/Her Home Workshop without specialist Tools. Can't be said for most Japanese Multis though.

Total and utter bollocks. All of it.

[BuzzardNZ]

Written by someone who has never owned one perhaps? Just like religion, the 'holier than thou' approach is rife with a lot of Riders claiming that their particular Brand of Bike is 'Best'. After 42 Years of Riding, Racing and Bike ownership I can assure you that there is no such thing as a perfect Bike.
Ducatis in general are owned by an older, more mature Rider, who is generally more fastidious about maintenance than the average Owner. The other myth is that of 'Expensive to service' which is absolute Bollocks. CamBelts and Valve Clearances, Oil & Filters, just like any Japanese Bike, except for the Cambelts. Camchain replacement on an average second-hand Japanese Bike usually costs more than the Bikes total value. Do you drive a Car? Chances are, that it also requires CamBelt replacement avery 20,000Km or so, do you slag off your 'Brand' of car to everyone?
Any semi-competent Owner would be quite capable of servicing a 2-Valve Ducati in His/Her Home Workshop without specialist Tools. Can't be said for most Japanese Multis though.

Total and utter bollocks. All of it.

The only part I agree with is the older rider bit.

Only people I've really seen riding them are old farts.

[Crasherfromwayback]

The only part I agree with is the older rider bit.

Only people I've really seen riding them are old farts.

Plenty of overpaid yuppies on 'em too.

[Luckylegs]

And we had to drink it out of a shoe.

Funny old world. 23 years before that people didn't even have shoes for their feet. I know cos the old cnuts keep telling me how they used to have to walk to school barefoot (In the snow, uphill)

[Imagineering]

Wow. Remind me to never go to your mechanic then. :P

To replace the CamChain PROPERLY on a Japanese Multi, (no Snap Links or Rivets), the CrankCases need to be split, which isn't cheap.

[local]

Funny old world. 23 years before that people didn't even have shoes for their feet. I know cos the old cnuts keep telling me how they used to have to walk to school barefoot (In the snow, uphill)

And it was uphill both ways.

[Crasherfromwayback]

To replace the CamChain PROPERLY on a Japanese Multi, (no Snap Links or Rivets), the CrankCases need to be split, which isn't cheap.

Not if it's a cam chain on the end of the crank jobbie that Kawasaki first did with the GPZ900.

[mossy1200]

seems to be a bunch of nanas in here who are so old, they've forgotten what it is to be young, and to want what you want at that age.

That's the reason I wouldn't buy that generation 250.
I remember what I was like on a bike 25years ago. I was riding with no respect for machinery. I didn't have enough money to service anything properly. Even buying a new chain was a struggle.

23years old bike likely had someone like me own it or several owners like me. Surprises me any of them still go at all.

[RDJ]

seems to be a bunch of nanas in here who are so old, they've forgotten what it is to be young, and to want what you want at that age.

True dis. A huge part of the fun of being young is making emotionally-driven decisions without regard to sense, logic or context.

A crimson-red RV90. A sunset-bronze Yamaha RD250. A sea-blue Suzuki GT750. A starlight-blue-with-gold-pinstripe Kawasaki KZ1300. Pure Adolescent Satisfaction Gold.

If you want the bike, go for it says I.