Ducati Monster 600

[Justforfun]

I am looking to buy the above as my first bike, I have been scratching my head on every possible bike and style out there & I am coming to believe that its a very personal thing and everyone has different tastes etc. I am not really a speed merchant & I am not really into sports bikes as they are not to practical for big town even though they would work well for me when I wanna go long distance. I know whats out there for the money as I have looked at nearly all the bikes on the market but I am interested in owners who ride this bike and maintain it. I have looked at all the Japanese bikes and I know there reliable etc but I am not really keen on there there looks and I just keep going back to my first choice which is Ducati so any sensible advise would be appreciated.

[iCraig]

Ducati, hmmm I wouldnt own one of those even if you gave it to me,
Unreliable and expensive are the 2 words that come to mind!

If you want an Italian V-Tiwn I'd go for the Raptor 650 with its nice Suzuki Engine and gorgeous Italian styling

[MarJay]

Its a good choice for a first bike as far as power and weight go really.

However Ducati's are known to be fragile and need a good service history to be worth any money.

The exhaust cans are known to ground out under 'spirited' riding and as far as I know, they have a heavy clutch and not a vast amount of steering lock.

On the upside again, they are air cooled and so cost less to service. This might be offset by the prices that Ducati dealers charge of course, but having never owned a ducati I can't really comment on that.

Have you looked at an unfaired SV650 as an alternative? Slightly more powerful and a lot more practical, with a good reliability record?

Saying that, It has to be the duke of you are looking for the pose value!

HTH
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[MarJay]

[iCraig]

MarJay, I meant the servicing etc is expensive and Ducati Parts aint cheap either.

Oh and on the 650 Raptor front my local dealer tells me that they can get them either next day or within 7 days depending on the part in question.
Btw my local dealer is Warrington Motorcycles ( https://www.warringtonmotorcycles.co.uk )

[Kickstart]

Hi

Know someone who bought one as a first bike and I rode it home (new) for them. Nice enough bike, although I didn't open it up as it still needed running in.

Steering lock is restrictive. Finish is fairly good overall, but falls down on the odd fastener. Very good on petrol. Brakes are adequate on the single disk versions, but not really brilliant. Clutch is not light but not really that heavy.

Price wise they are dirt cheap. My father bought one (a 600) privately at the end of last year. It was about 4 years old but had done less than 2000 miles and he paid £1800. I know one local bike shop that breaks decent ones for spares as they are worth more in bits than they are to sell through the showroom.

Servicing at a Ducati dealer is expensive, but then to old engine is fairly simple and there are a fair amount of specialists around.

It is not that likely you will need many parts. Cam belts are needed for services (officially I think every other year), but they are cheap. Brake / clutch levers are available from Brembo for not much, or through people like M&P for even less as pattern parts. Most servicing parts are going to cost you no more than for a Japanese bike.

Strangely Italian bike parts are often cheaper than Japanese bike parts. Think a headlight for a Monster is around £150 for example, which is pretty much what I would expect for the same type of headlight from a Japanese maker.

All the best

Keith
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[m i k e]

There's all the information that people have already told you, but really it's down to what exactly you want to hear about either the bike, or whether we might have any other suggestions of a bike to replace the monster for you? I've had a brief go on one in my work car park and I really liked it, really liked the handling as it was light but a nice power to weight ratio.

At one point after having a go on this bike, I was seriously tempted to save up for a while to get a second hand one, but like people have said, they can cost a bit for services. My dad had a 2002 Ducati 900ss for about 13months until someone knocked him off it, and wrote the bike off. As far as I think I know, Ducati's have dry clutches so can sound pretty weird compared to other bikes such as ninja's, etc on that prospective. But if you end up going for the monster, I would seriously recommend the Termignoni pipes/cans for the bike, as it sounds absolutely amazing!


Mike
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[Justforfun]

I always knew that they had issues regarding relaiblity etc but thought I could get some postive feedback from someone but alas. The Cagvia was an interesting option, my kind of bike looks wise and maybe be a lot more reliable than a Duke although I imagine parts and maintance maybe interesting to get hold of.

[m i k e]

[quote="Justforfun"although I imagine parts and maintance maybe interesting to get hold of.[/quote]

Think i'd agree with you on that, PM Mr or Mrs Hippy as they've got the 650 raptor, so they'll no doubt be able to give you some feedback on parts, etc as Mrs. Hippy's raptor is now Pink

Mike
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[iCraig]

I've ridden a Raptor 650, it uses Suzuki's SV650 Motor, so you get Italian Styling with Reliable Japanese Mechanics.

When I rode it I found it handled amazingly well, very low centre of gravity and very individualistic and very rare and looks stunning, the Suzuki Engine is great too.

Raptor's are quite rare to unlike the comman SV650.

As for parts on the Raptor there Imported by 3Cross Motorcycles down south somewhere, and I was told by my local Cagiva dealer parts can be got from them next day and engine parts come from suzuki anyway so you have no problems there.

Only thing I'd be concerned with is Italian electric's