Yeah I second the MBP collets, have them in my heavily modified 996 motor. I still check the valves very often but only have to adjust them about half as often.
The 2 valve motors are much lower maintenance than the 4 valvers.
If you can do the maintenence yourself it's great...but again be warned about part availability...simple o-rings and gaskets can be a nightmare sometimes.
Even when my bike was only 2 or 3 years old I had a VERY hard time. Bike bandit wouldn't even be able to get a lot of them(when they still had the option of ordering Ducati parts) Now I usually deal with Ducati Seattle...they have been great and quicker than my local dealer even though they ship to NY from there lol.
only thing I'll add is that once the motor gets some miles on it even the stock collets settle down and require little adjustment.
Though once you do it once it's no biggie. I'm in the process of doing mine after 7k run and finding everything in specs. Though I may tighten up the horizontal exhaust valves a bit. However, as I said earlier MBP collets for those that stay at redline is recommended.
I just make occasional runs up to redline with no problems even on my 45,000 mile motor.
most after market bike parts sources deal with jap bikes so getting parts from them has never been something I've had any success at.
But, I've found plenty of sources through folks who are dedicated to Ducati bikes. Ducati Omaha has a great parts listing service and you can find your parts numbers on line through them if you do your own maintenance.
My advice is get the Duck and let us hear about it when you do.