[Darren69]

I think there may have been a recall for the rear base cylinder gasket leak on the S4. I read somewhere it was a common issue for early bikes. The rear coil stick on mine failed/intermittently misfire and cost £125 from Ducati but I have since found that there are cheaper alternatives from some UJM's (They're a Japanese sourced Denso part afterall). I agree about the wires and pipes everything is a bit tight when they tried to squeeze a 916 engine into a monster frame. I disagree about the ride being sanitised though I think it's everybit as engaging and very similar to a 916 (in fact it is slightly more powerful (torque and power) than a standard 916. And I have owned a ridden 750SS/900SS/M900/900SSie/748/916 and carb icing is a pain, injection much better suited for these engines.

Maybe more can go wrong with injection but they seem pretty robust. One fault that affects most inj or carb from that era is charging/reg-rec issues and alternator coming off). The earlier the bike the more likely to be a potential problem. Later 3 phase bikes are better but can still have alternator come loose.