1999 M750 Cam Belt Bearing Question

[Rebel7]

Hey all,

I was recently working with a Ducati tech on my M750 this past weekend and we inspected the timing belt and belt bearings, my bike currently has 10k miles on it and I am not sure if the belts were ever changed (probably not). Once we got the covers off, he told me that the belt was in decent shape, but there was some dirt and debris on the cam belt roller bearings, he said I should probably look into replacing them. After looking at the maintenance schedule, I see where belts should be changed at the 12k mark, but nothing about the bearings. Have you heard of these bearings failing or needing to be changed at intervals? They spun smoothly and were still sealed. I'm just trying to figure out if I really need to go down that route, or if the belts just need to be changed.

Thanks in advance.

[Speeddog]

Those bearings do occasionally fail.

They should turn smoothly and easily by hand.
There should be a small amount of drag, that shows that the seals are still in good contact with the inner race.

If they feel rough while turning, or spin freely after a quick finger-spin, replace.
If they're turning blue, replace.

[Howie]

And change the belts.