This is pretty typical of Ducati owners, despite the huge wedge involved. The 888 is a beast of a motorcycle. Though it doesn't actually vibrate as such, it's a raw old thing that communicates the nuances of the combustion process directly to the rider in a way that a straight four could never emulate. A brief ride left me astonished at the fluidity of its vee-twin motor and wondering just what I'd let myself in for. I practically had to force the money on to the vendor, who clocking my shining mug must've relived the highs of his own ownership and become suddenly reluctant to part with the 888.
Reality is a harsh bedfellow.
The next day I found that the watercooled motor was reluctant to rev beyond 6000rpm. There followed several visits to people who reckoned they were Ducati dealers but didn't appear to have much of an idea of what was going down in the complex array of electronics and high tech metal that the 888 represented. The bike would rumble along nicely enough at low revs but lacked the kicks I'd experienced on the test ride. I eventually found a Ducati expert who deduced that the previous owner had bodged the exhaust's baffles with some GRP that had soon been eaten up by the heat. He sat me gently down in a seat before revealing how much a new exhaust system would cost - a few taps with his hammer revealed that the old one was so far gone that there was no easy reclamation.