Joined
·
722 Posts
I picked up my buddy's brand new '05 Monster620 dark last night. I put the first 13 miles on it for him and wow, what an interesting experience. I don't get it. Right now, there is an 05 SV for less than $5300 at a shop down the road. This monster was at least $6300. Neither are good first bikes IMHO, and I told him that, but all I had to say about bikes and first bikes was heard like the parents in a Charlie Brown cartoon.
The levers are so far out (and non adjustable!!) that my average hands had trouble grabbing the brake comfortably. The clutch sucks. It disengages right at the very bitter end of the far away lever's travel. When it does finally start working, the gearing is so high it feels as if it has no bite at all. That and a far (esp compared to my naked '99) reach to the bars conspires to make the bike less than easy to ride. The suspension feels quite nice however, much better than a stock SV. But will a newb ever know the difference? How do you break-in a Ducati? 5K is "redline" and anything under 3K and it shudders like you are bogging it?
On the plus side, it is a Ducati :
But it sure sounds nice going through the gears
The levers are so far out (and non adjustable!!) that my average hands had trouble grabbing the brake comfortably. The clutch sucks. It disengages right at the very bitter end of the far away lever's travel. When it does finally start working, the gearing is so high it feels as if it has no bite at all. That and a far (esp compared to my naked '99) reach to the bars conspires to make the bike less than easy to ride. The suspension feels quite nice however, much better than a stock SV. But will a newb ever know the difference? How do you break-in a Ducati? 5K is "redline" and anything under 3K and it shudders like you are bogging it?
On the plus side, it is a Ducati :
But it sure sounds nice going through the gears