I'll be doing mine as well, as soon as they arrive (hopefully before the weekend!). Ordered the OEMs from ca-cycleworks last week, and they e-mailed me saying they were out of stock, would be in this week.
Mine is an '01 with ~12300 miles on it. As stated earlier, my manual agrees the interval is 2 yrs or 12k miles, whichever comes first. I've been risking it on old belts for a while now... it's time to change 'em. The upshot is... the seller on mine was honest, and I saw his shop (it was spotless and perfectly organized). He was meticulous about maintenance on all his motorcycles, so when he says he inspected the belts and checked tension at 6k, I think I can trust him. Doesn't hurt he kept a maintenance logbook with dates, mileage, and service performed. I've continued with the maintenance log. Figure it can't hurt the bike's resale value.
The previous owner also printed off and included in the logbook a bunch of procedures from DucatiSuite for maintenance items like oil changes, belt replacement & tensioning, etc.
The instructions on DucatiSuite are excellent. Check it out:
http://www.ducatisuite.com/beltchange.htmlhttp://www.ducatisuite.com/belttension.htmlGranted, he gives a disclaimer that if you doubt your ability at all, do not attempt at home. My personal opinion is the mechanically-inclined shade-tree type should be able to follow these instructions + common sense and wind up with a properly running motorcycle. If in doubt on the tension, you could always do to belt swap yourself then have a shop just double-check the tension for you. Remember that too tight is as bad, and often worse, than too loose.
I'll be doing mine myself. I've replaced the camshaft, lifters, and timing belt in my car. The bike needs to be a little more precise, but otherwise it's not any more complicated. The
valve check and adjustment is the one that'll actually test my patience and skillz.
