[lilacsplash]

Huit,
How many times have I split the cases on my bike?.....
I've lost count as I've done it soooo many times!
I've run lightened cranks, plain bearing cranks and now I'm running a standard weight ballanced crank fitted with Carillo rods, INS needle rollers and extra thick HD thrust washers, these needed the crankshaft half's machining to fit.
I also run a lightened/smaller flywheel with narrow straight cut primary gears and a dry clutch.
The rest of the motor is quite heavily modified, but I recently reduced the capacity and comp' ratio from 950cc 11.2-1 down to 882cc 10-1 along with some other mods, in the interest of longevity.
The 950cc balls out motor wouldn't run on pump fuel here in the UK anymore, despite using twin plug heads with the ignition set at 28 degrees fully advanced. I reshaped the combustion chambers to suit the bigger bores and 4mm oversized inlet/exhaust valves.
I had to use a mix of AV GAS and pump fuel! To avoid detonation.
The 882cc motor now runs pump fuel +2.5% pro boost, (alcohol based octane booster) 35 degrees advance with no detonation.
It's not as fast but hopefully it will last a bit longer.
My bike doesn't look anywhere near as trick as yours, but it's won best Ducati here in the UK more times than any other Ducati. I took it to the WDW 2000 event and it was featured in the Italian Cafe Racer Magazine as "The Sprit Of The Desmo", she's known here as 'Beverly'.

Steve