Chris Kelly published a nice valve adjustment primer on his Ducatitech website, too. Go to
http://www.ducatitech.com/2v/maint/adjust/index.html for his page. It includes generic specs for all two valve motors. The greatest benefit is it's free!
I run my bikes at .004 on the openers and as close to .000 as I can get on the closers. To get close to .000, you run them tighter than a .0015 feeler gauge (the smallest one I have), but so that you can still turn the closing shim with your fingers. If you can't turn it, it's too tight.
Lots of the confusion over specs comes from all of the various specs published by Ducati over the years. The allowable tolerances have increased over the years as Ducati has struggled to shed its image as a maintenance intensive marque. However, if you're going to do your own valves you can keep them as close to "ideal" as you like. Ducati publishes specs (targets, if you like) and "service limits", the service limits being VERY loose by comparison. Basically, they're saying "We'd like you to have "X", but as long as you're not looser than "Y" or tighter than "Z" then you're OK." I personally adjust whenever there's a shim available between where I am and my intended target....and I usually lap shims to get where I want to be on the closer.
It isn't hard, it's just time consuming when you have to order shims.
