The Red Baron’s Ultimate Ducati Desmo Manual

User friendly explanations, written from the D-I-Y mechanic’s point of view
• Fully practical book
• Difficulty rating for each of the operations to be performed
• Modular engine logic: common crankshaft + different head configuration
• Money-saving home-made special tools and commercial alternatives
• Covering a wide model range
• Lots of neat & clear schematic drawings
• 1220 full color step-by-step photos and other illustrations
• Lots of useful practical tips & hints
• Free EMS diagnostic software and alternative software explained

If you’re passionate about your Ducati, wish to know your motorcycle in real depth, and keep it in perfect shape with the loving care she’ll only receive from you, The Red Baron’s Ultimate Ducati Desmo Manual is your book.

This comprehensive service manual for you and your Ducati will help you to perform all maintenance and repair operations in your own home workshop. From basic servicing to the most complex repair and adjustment operations, everything is covered.

The bikes covered in this book range from the first 1980 ‘Pantah’ to the ‘Testastretta Evoluzione’ models, and it spans 30 years of Ducati models. Within these pages you will discover the secrets of your pride and joy, and be enabled to enjoy making repairs or carrying out maintenance in your workshop or garage.

With the rhythm of their mechanical soul, and powerful twin heartbeat, Ducatis are motorcycles for true lovers of voluptuous Italian style and character. The author, Eduardo Cabrera, is better know in the Spanish ducatisti community as Baron Rojo (Red Baron), a lifelong Ducati owner and enthusiast, and a regular contributor to the Spanish Ducati online forum.

From the Publisher

The secrets of Ducati L-twins with belt-driven cams finally explained in a single DIY-mechanic-friendly manual. This book is the incredibly comprehensive practical manual you have been waiting for!

The workshop

The workshop is the most important element when carrying out work on a motorcycle. It is perhaps quite a task to set up, given that its cost, whether owned or rented, is generally quite high, although it does depend on where you live. If you don’t have a suitable space at your home and are able to purchase, at least acquiring premises also has the advantage of being an investment. Fortunately for us, motorcycles don’t require much space to work on them, and a relatively small space is enough for the general needs of any amateur.

The Red Baron’s Ultimate Ducati Desmo Manual

Airbox On the one hand, there’s the 748R, which has a deeper airbox, as its houses the whole throttle body within it. On the other, the 998, which has injectors of a ‘shower’ type, mounted on the velocity stacks, which means we have to release the quick‑release clamp on fuel supply hose to disconnect the hose, then the fuel injector electrical connectors, and remove the wires through the bottom of the airbox. The airbox is connected to the intake ducts by the two clips on each side. We remove them, being careful to hold on to the rubber sealing joints placed between the two parts.	Fuel tank Now, we lift the fuel tank slightly from behind to provide access to the connections on the pump’s inspection cover. Due to the location of the ignition lock on the tank, we have to lift the tank from behind while we also pull it back a little. This will allow us to bring it to an angle where we can lean the rear of the tank on a wooden wedge. This way, we can release all of the hose connections from the tank. Then we’re ready to remove the tank, lifting it at the rear and pulling back on it to release it from the lug in the airbox that holds the front of the tank in place.	Bodywork side panels As with the previous superbikes, we need to remove the side panels with the motorcycle supported on a rear paddock stand, as the side stand goes through an opening in the side panel. We start by separating the two halves of the fairing from one another, removing the two screws from the ‘keel’ (belly pan) of the fairing. We then remove the two screws (one on each side) that attach the back end of the side panels just in front of the back wheel, and finally the three upper screws: two on the frame and one at the front.

About the Author

Born in Madrid in 1972, Eduardo Cabrera, better known in Ducatista circles as the ‘Barón Rojo’ (Red Baron), has been in love with motorcycles since he was capable of thought. He bought his first bike in the year 2000: a Ducati SS 750. Since then he hasn’t ridden any other marque. After a long career in the construction sector, and following the publication of the first edition of this book in his native Spanish, he decided to make an important change in his life by establishing ‘MECCANICA’, his own specialist Ducati workshop in San Sebastián, desmomeccanica.es. This book became a classic on the subject as soon it was launched in Spanish, and has since attracted are markable interest outside of Spain. And now at long last, the first foreign language edition has finally appeared.