[Darren69]

Jeffs right of course, the S4's are more expensive to maintain and have way more power than most mere mortals need. Service costs are a bit higher than the 2v, not sure what a 2V service would cost but a 4V 916/996 is around 400-500 for a full monty, every 2 years or 6k or so miles. But if you're prepared to live with that then IMHO the rewards are worth it.

I started my Ducati ownership with a 750SS, having ridden and been underwhelmed by the 600, the 750SS was a great bike then when that got stolen, a 900SS was even more so, a proper Ducati. Both have bags of charm which I imagine is the case for the Monster versions too.

I borrowed a modified 944 Monster that had thousands spent on expensive exotic parts, which was fun and that bike was run in the BOTT race series eventually, so it was no slouch but after that I went and bought a 748, which I still have and is still awesome.

You do need to keep on top of things service wise, with any Ducati irrespective of engine type and any top end issues are not cheap to fix. The rocker arms are around £100 each and there are 16 in a 4v, so it is imperative that they are looked after by someone who knows what they are doing in order to avoid very expenisve repair bills.

Generally though the S4s are more reliable than the 748/916s having benefited from development of those earlier bikes, have more robust electric/electronics and engines so are free of a lot of the problems that plagued the 916. But they still need TLC, things like clutches wear quickly, so I would give that a good look at esp. on a high mileage bike.

Mines been fairly trouble free, I had a coil stick fail and had to replace the crankcase sensor too when that started acting up, which cost around £200 for the parts, neither of which are Italian! Go figure, but we are talking about a 15 year old bike! I have been fairly proactive with maintenance and upgrades on mine so a lot of the potential issues have been sorted.

If I were looking at one of those blue S4R's, I'd consider the one that's £1000 more with the lower mileage and some sort of warranty over the high miler. The 44k bike could be a good buy at that price, but you could spend easily over a £1000 replacing worn out parts Forks and shock will most likely be tired and need to be replaced. A decent rear shock will cost you upwards of £500. I suppose it depends on what kind of feel you get from the owner, the service history if its been well maintained with no expense spared is really what I'd be looking for. Even down to what kind of oil he's been running in it. It has been on ebay quite a while, I think I saw it listed last year.

If I were looking at a 2V monster then I'd be looking at an S2R (800/1000) or 800/1000ie, The air cooled lumps run much better with the fuel injection over the carb ones.