Ducati ST belt replacement

[Twistit]

Hi there,
Can anyone give me the reason to replace ST series timing belts at such short intervals ie 20k?
GL1500 Honda is 90k MILES, STHonda the same - and most tin tops recommend the 100K mark also.
Is it because belts are just poor quality?
Cheers
Twistit

[OddDuck]

Been asked on this forum a few times before. Small radius pulleys and not exactly smooth loads through the belts since they're each driving only one set of valves. Ducati were presumably trying to get failures down to fractions of a percent or less and that's on the far left of the reliability vs mileage bell curve. The 20K interval is pretty much standard for all Ducatis using belts.

It's a pain. Unfortunately Ducati's engine architecture was derived from racetrack not highway. Light weight and performance instead of mega miles... kind of a problem in a sports tourer.

I take it you're up for a belt change, are you DIY'ing or looking at paying a mechanic?

[caspernz]

What the chap above me said.

Ducati ST is a neat bike, guess you're looking at buying one? Unless you're friendly with a Ducati mechanic or have deep pockets, I'd go with a less high maintenance ride, IYKWIM.

[pritch]

Ducati used to recommend the belts be changed even if the bike wasn't used. The belts could develop a 'set' they said.

More recent Ducati have longer service periods for the belts but I'd still do whatever the manual said for the ST. The consequences of a belt letting go don't bear thinking about.