Total Motorcycle Community Forums

A few years back I had rode a Ninja250 off and on for about two years straight. Off and on meaning weather permitting, heh. Living in South Texas the weather typically is perfectly fine for riding to and from work the majority of the time, but every once in a while a crazy rain storm would appear or it would be too cold for just one or two days, haha.

Anyway, I sold that bike last year, and only ended up $175 short from what I spent on it I might add! Recently I've been craving to get back on a bike for a few reasons. 1) I MISS IT SO MUCH!, 2) The gas mileage would help out a ton, 3) I MISS RIDING!

The bike(s) I have been looking at are older Ducati Monsters. I really like the 800, though the 600 would be enough, IMO. I'm thinking like a 2000, or 1999....maybe a little newer if the price is right.

So what do you guys think of Ducati's? Anything I should know about before getting one? Such as...getting one serviced by a dealer will cost a fortune?? Anything like that? Haha.

Oh yeah this is my first post too, HI!

~Mike

Howdy Mike and welcome to the forum. I think Ducati's are very fast, handle really good, and are very expensive. Buy yourself a set of Italian wrenches and have a go at it.




Sigs for sale cheap. PM me.

a friend of mine has a ducati and loves it... i think it's his second one...

as far as service, he has done at the dealership... it's expensive - i forget exactly what he said, but as i recall it was in the $800-$1000 range. it was his first scheduled service at 6500 miles.

if you're handy with tools, you may want to try servicing on your own...

A friend of mine Brian, rides a Ducati. Actually he owns a couple of them for street riding and a 93, 750 Ducati Super-sport that he races at the local track. He does his own mechanical work on them and says the valves require adjustment about every 5000 or so miles. I do understand that the newer 2006 and above Ducati have extended their service intervals.

Welcome to the forums.

DucatiDreamer wrote:So what do you guys think of Ducati's? Anything I should know about before getting one? Such as...getting one serviced by a dealer will cost a fortune?? Anything like that? Haha.

I personally know 2 Ducati owners.

There are 2 big rumors about Ducatis:

#1 - SERVICE IS EXPENSIVE: Apparently this rumor is true. The dealerships rip you off for service on these bikes.

#2 - THEY NEED MORE SERVICE THAN OTHER BIKES: Apparently this rumor is NOT true. You take decent care of the bike and it doesn't need a lot more attention than anything else.

So, I'd say if you want one, get one. BUT learn to work on it yourself as much as possible.

Hmm, the idea of getting ripped every service interval isn't too appealing, even though I do like the bikes a lot. I'm handy with tools, I would just rather let a dealer that knows the bike better than I do work on it...just my personal preference, that's all.

Today I picked up a Cycle Trader and saw some Yamaha V-Stars and similar bikes from Honda and Suzuki...what is the word on those?

I found a V-Star with 12k miles that a guy was getting rid of for $3700...not a bad price. The ad says new tires, battery, and all caught up on service "runs and rides great!". Thoughts?

Thanks for the replies and thanks for the welcome! I can't wait to get back on the road again.

~Mike

Those Desmodronic valves are a pain in the "O Ring" to adjust.

Welcome to the forum ¡

Whoah! Baja, I'm loving that Boulevard bro. Wow...I think that's the one!

*15 minutes later*

Ok, so I've been surfing the Suzuki site checking out all of the Boulevard models, which is a ton by the way, and I'm just loving the M50. Looks killer, and the specs look great as well. For some reason they just jump out at me like "here I am!". I honestly think these are the bikes I've been looking for, heh.

Baja, on the Suzuki site it offers a $49/month payment on a new Boulevard M50, the first two years at like 17% APR and then after that it's 20% or something...really high interest. However, I'd be paying well over the minimum payment. Sound like a good idea? Or should I make a pit stop at my bank and see what they can do for a motorcycle loan for about $7k? I honestly don't want to get in that deep (I was thinking more like a used V-Star for $3k, haha) however, the Boulevard is definitely the bike I want. Even on eBay for 2005/2006 models with like 3,000 miles on them, they are asking $5399, etc.

Should I just get the brand new one for $49/month and pay twice as much on my payments? Or get a bank loan and end up paying $100 as a minimum payment to start off with? Damn tricksters with their $49 payments!! I know if I don't keep up with the payments (as in, paying more than the minimum) I'll be paying nothing but interest. I think I'll be capable of keeping up with them...

Grrrr.

~Mike

I had a couple Dukes many years ago. I know two guys who ride them now. Dealer service and repair was and is VERY expensive, even if they could get the parts. Dukes seemed to be fine for tinkerers, and that's why some people love them. One couldn't then and can't now ignore ll the minor things Dukes constantly need. In exchange for TLC, Dukes will reward you with a wonderful riding experience with few compromises for mass appeal.