750GT head gaskets
I gave up on my local Italian bike dealers, years ago. The owner of both local dealers is familiar with older 1979-2002 bikes like mine from experience, but he can’t be bothered to help and leaves his brainless parts department staff to their own devices, as long as they meet his
daily revenue targets (really). And forget the service department, the mechanics are apes. I knew something was changing when I first saw a Ducati sticker on the back of a kid’s pickup truck in the early 90s sometime, I’d never seen anything like that, but little did I know where it would go in the end. VW owning and managing Ducati!?! I think the peak was in the late 90s.
It’s interesting how bevel Ducatis still get attention in what were once described as commonwealth countries, and still a bit in continental Europe too, whereas in my area they are long forgotten by anybody except collectors who rarely ride them. In an area of intense gear head activity you'll see a bevel Ducati on the road once every two years or more, unless it’s between your legs. Sometime about 15 years ago I tried to organize a bevel drive ride, and no one was interested.
Collecting and riding are for sure two different things, but I’ve done both almost my whole life. My Le Mans is worn out and could really use a mechanical overhaul. My BMW in Europe has 115,000 miles, mostly in the Alps. I’m happy with my little collection too and they are ridden quite quickly even while some don’t do a lot of miles.
I’ve never seen an MV four being ridden, only at shows and auctions. The last one I heard of being ridden locally was maybe 20 years ago.
