Monster owner in waiting

Afternoon all......a little about myself before I explain the title..
Dave Jennings.....54.......Sth Wales
Now the title......on 15 September 2016 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer so as it stands I'm partway through my treatment........the bucket list was activated and a Ducati Monster was near the top of my list. Though I still have to pass my test,which is all in hand,I intent to ride a Monster in the Cardiff Distinguished Gentleman's Ride this September. Ill be ready to purchase my bike around the end of July. All advice about which bike to buy will be gratefully accepted........Cheers All.......
P.S.......I prefer the older model from the 90's..........

Hello and welcome!! Best of luck with the treatments and your upcoming test.

For which bike, I may be biased but the general consensus is that the MEvo is the greatest , but as with anything buy the one you want. Whichever monster you choose it'll be a great ride!

[smiffyraf1]

welcome Dave. good luck with the search. cant fault your choice

[buzzbomb]

Welcome to the forum Dave and hopefully the monster of your choice...

May I also wish you all the best with your on going treatment...

Could I suggest a day visit to the weekender on the last bank holiday in May, you don't have to have a monster (but it helps) and I'm sure that you'd receive a very warm welcome from those that are attending plus you could chew the fat with the guys and gals.

[slob]

Hello, welcome and best of luck

[J.P]

The UKMOC Weekender is at the Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells.
May 27th & 28th.

And Aviatore is right, buy the one you like the look of, they all have their positives and negatives, but you have to look at it and want it to be the one you dreamed of.

Good luck with the test, and treatment.

[bigredduke]

Welcome. Hope the treatment is a total success and you can get riding as soon as possible.

[Albie]

Welcome along and as others have said hope the treatment goes well. I have a classic early one restoring it slowly but other than the latest model have had aircooled and a watercooled too.. If I am honest the best one all round was the 1100s power and rideability and sold my s4 to get it. Comfort wise its ok but can be awkward on the gonads because the seat is more steep but not to the point of really annoying and may depend on build tbh. Now I sold that for a change of direction of a Ducati scrambler which is fun and able but am as I say restoring a 93 L reg m900 nut and bolt but even when I purchased it trying to get it on a trailer I thought to myself whoa this is heavy awkward and not as agile as the beast I sold. I may live to regret that come riding it but I restore things with a passion and love of the vehicle for what it is.
What im trying to say is don't just buy with a view of what I think I want. Try all and then let your heart decide as often older is good but new is lighter faster quicker brakes and sometimes more reliable hopefully. Power is not everything but a smile on your face is what your really after day after day.

[Darren69]

Welcome to the madhouse. Hope all goes well. What sort of budget do you have? Also as a lot of the 900+ bikes are group 17 and up what is your insurance budget/ I'm guessing as a newly qualified rider you'll be hit hard for a group 17 bike.

Well..!!!!!!.......what a welcome.....thank you all for your good wishes. A lot of info to process but as a start I'd say it's a M600.....900....ill be looking at.....that said if the right bike appears at the right price.!!!!!!!!!
Thanks again all....I can see I'm going to have fun here.......Llandridnod Wells you say......mmmmmm

[Albie]

Originally Posted by Jennoe

Well..!!!!!!.......what a welcome.....thank you all for your good wishes. A lot of info to process but as a start I'd say it's a M600.....900....ill be looking at.....that said if the right bike appears at the right price.!!!!!!!!!
Thanks again all....I can see I'm going to have fun here.......Llandridnod Wells you say......mmmmmm

Well worth popping along and they don't bite either.
You have lots of choice over the years carbs and ie. 400 600 620 695 696 750 796 800 900 1000 1100 s4 916 s4r 996 s4r 998 s4rs and now 797 821 1200
Choice is yours

[Flip]

Obviously best wishes for the treatment and future first of all.

As others have said you have a lot of choice out there these days when it comes to Monsters.

Definitely go with the one you 'want' although the earlier bikes are showing their age now and can be a bit harder to live with (read more expensive if you have to put it into a dealers every time for fixing and servicing) unless you like getting friendly with spanners.

Really good ones are becoming harder to find and in particular the 900's are starting to fetch a few quid these days but there are still some bargains to be had- the 620, 750's and 800's are well worth thinking about for the earlier shape with the 620 and 800 being fuel injected rather than carbs.

From an ease of living with point of view, I suspect the 696, 796 and 1100 models would make sense being newer with various rider aids (ABS etc.) and even the lower capacity bikes push out not a lot less horse power than the bigger cubed early bikes did.

As already mentioned, insurance might be a factor to consider when looking at the larger engined bikes but a well set up and ridden smaller bike will still impress on the road which you may or may not be bothered about anyway.

To be honest any will put a smile on your face- the 1997 900 that I've owned for coming up to eighteen years makes me smile more now than it ever has plus there is a lot of knowledge and ownership experiences on here to draw from so don't be afraid to ask if something takes your fancy.

Oh... and there are some water cooled ones too apparently (I actually had an S4 for a while so can get away with saying that- just, I think).

[Dirty]

Hello, good evening, welcome....

All the best for your treatemnt

Here's how good the carbys can look

[alan c]

Hi and Welcome, god luck with your treatment.

As others say it will depend on the budget, I would say good to start on a 696 as newer and a nice ride

[Uncle Bob]

Hello and welcome. Ditto the comments above, I wish you the very best of luck with your treatment.

Just thought I would add my perspective to this. I had sportsbikes all my riding life, my first bike was a ZX-6R which I bought before I'd even passed my test, and around the time I hit 45 my body decided for me that I needed to change the style of bike I was riding, or just give up riding altogther. The only bike that really 'did it' for me in terms of styling was the Monster, and although I wasn't sure which one I wanted I ended up with a little 696+. My mates thought I was a bit mad going to a bike with 'only' 80 horses, but let me tell you it's such a lot of fun to ride! Anyway, the point to all this is don't think you're missing out on anything if you don't buy the most powerful bike out there.

Personally I think the air cooled bikes look much better, and I would imagine that for a new rider the 696 is forgiving enough, although it'll be quite different to the 4pot CB500 or whatever your riding school gives\gave you . It's definitely not a handful though. Super light controls are a bonus too.

My suggestion would be to ride a few different models (if you can find them!) and I think you'll know pretty quickly which one is for you.