'00 M750 afraid of SF hills - bogging under throttle

[connman]

As I discovered last night, it's sort of hard to get anywhere in San Francisco without being able to climb hills.

This is my first bike - a 2000 M750 Dark with 2800 miles on the clock that I bought private party a couple months ago. I believe the most recent tune-up was sometime last fall, and I'm pretty sure most of its time since then was spent sitting in a garage. Unfortunately, that hasn't changed much since I hadn't had time to ride it until this weekend.

Everything was going well until I started to go up a pretty steep hill - had to get on the throttle a bit and it immediately bogged down and started struggling in a big way. I was basically going about 25mph in 1st and, regardless of throttle input, the bike wouldn't go any faster. The exhaust tone got lower and sounded like it the cylinders were firing much slower. This morning I checked, and it does the same on flat ground - give it more than ~1/3 of the throttle and it falls on its face.

I can only assume it was like this when I bought it and I just hadn't noticed, as this is the first time I've had a chance to take it for more than a spin around the block, and I've been easy on the throttle while I learn to ride.

So, where to start? Carbureted engines are new to me, but I've been reading up and it seems like one of the jets could be gunked up? I'm planning on picking up a Haynes manual tomorrow, and possibly new plugs and some sea foam/carb cleaner. Should I replace the fuel filter? Drain the gas tank?

This is probably a long shot, but if any Ducati riders in SF are feeling generous and would like to help a bike newbie out with the troubleshooting sometime this week, that would be amazing.

[rmm]

I surely doesn't hurt to start by changing the plugs (which are readily available at autoparts stores, i've found). Plus this will give you a chance to examine the plugs for any unhealthy engine stuff going on (refer to the chart at the back of the haynes manual...).

When I get a bogging problem (on car or bike) I usually suspect the ignition system and fuel delivery first. After the plugs, the rest of the ignition system on the monster seems to be fairly bullet proof (no distributor...) but you might follow up by checking the spark delivery (procedure in haynes...) Does the bike idle normally and rev freely, only bogging under load? If it is responsive to throttle in neutral and revs well, i would suspect the fuel filter. If it bogs the minute you open the throttle, i'd still change the filter, but also start to suspect that it is running rich. Dumb question, but is the choke off? If you are new to carbs you can either read all the info here and at ductaitech/ducatisuite, or if you want the bike back on the road asap, consider having them tuned at a reputable local shop....

[connman]

So I can just go to one of the big auto-parts stores, and they'll be able to look up my bike in the computer and tell me parts numbers for plugs/filters/etc?

As for the revving in neutral, I haven't specifically tested that, but from what I remember it didn't seem to have any problems - it was only bogging under load. As for accidentally leaving the choke on - definitely not a dumb question since I'm admittedly new to bikes. That actually crossed my mind as well but, unfortunately, bike is warmed up and choke is off.

I took it for another spin last night and it seems to be stumbling pretty quickly off of idle; probably more like 1/4 throttle and above. I'll check neutral tonight, but are there any other things I could try that might give some clues to the problem? Hell, even determine if it's running lean or rich?

I'm sure if I dropped it off at Desmoto they'd have it up and going in about two hours, but I don't think I can afford the price tag that comes with that at the moment.