I work in the service department at the local Hon/Kaw/Suz/Yam dealer, and very few european bikes come in for service. Last month I had 5 Ducs come in for service within a 3 week span and I became concerned about the amount of mechanical noise coming from these engines, primarily the clutch. The rattle and metal-on-metal noises were alarming at first, but the owners all assured me the bikes had been operating fine, and in one case, the bike had just been at the Ducati dealer for service, where the techs told the owner everything was okay.
Even a for-sale 2000 Cagiva Gran Canyon that I took for a test ride had an amazingly loud clutch rattle.
All the other bikes were fairly new (95' 900SS, a 1098, a Multistrada, a 996 and a 620Monster) and operated fine when I rode them, but I cannot get over the fact my Paso's clutch rattle is non-existent and is virtually silent. The 95' 900SS was the worst; it had an anodized clutch basket, vented clutch cover and a lot of nice alloy bits, but the whine and noise, although commanding, and beautiful in a mechanical sense, left me wondering if any of those noises are necessary.
Could there be something wrong with MY clutch instead?!?!

RickC

Nah your paso is fine. My 906 has a quiet clutch, in fact as it was my first duke I never gave it a thought ...... but then I bought a 97 900SS ... it was embarrising sometimes , the racket was ( to me then , unbeleivable ) and if you have a good look at the overall plot its not hard to see why they do it . There is a cure ( search under " quiet clutch ") which works well if done right.
Funny thing is that a lot of older bike people didnt seem to find the noise totally unfamilliar

I bet your Paso has got the stock clutch cover.
When the cover is vented (as the 900SS you have seen) the clutch goes very noisy.
However, it's not bad to have the opened clutch cover, so that the dust is thrown out of the clutch.
On the other end, the clutch is much more prone to have rust somewhere...
Don't worry about yours
Ciao

My 906 clutch , while being similar to the SS , is different and that dif makes the diff . The SS plates are all retained by the hub/pressure plate assy and are "free" to float about in the outer basket , while the paso plates are retained between the hub assy and the large circlip fitted into the outer basket. The tension ( pressure , whatever ) between the hub and the basket is enough to dampen any backlash between basket and the friction plates .

For those who share my sense of humour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcIr75i_ ... re=related