IIRC, CrazyJeeper has had good luck with uShip. It usually ends up being half the price as well.
Ah, how did I miss the 696 convo? Yeah, I love mine because of the passion (said with an emphasis of the fists). :lol: I mean, how many times a day can a rider think, "It is time to check the valves yet?"
Nah, just playin' - I keep up on the maintenance, and lil' monstah treats me well. I'm personally amazed at how well the new Ducs are performing. It's not for everyone, but for me, it's awesome.
Spectre, you of all people should know the dangers of painting a company with a broad brush. You own a Ford and a Jaguar, both companies have a history of dubious reliability, yet, you have found two models that are reliable. Is it not fair to say that Ducati, despite a history of poor reliability and maintenance schedules that border on the abusive, may have turned a corner?
No one is trying to take anything away from the Nighthawk, but there is room in the pantheon of bikes for both it and the Monster. No one is asking for you to like the Monster, but it is a solid machine with great riding and handling characteristics that lots of people love. What started out as a design exercise has become Ducati's single best selling bike. Honestly, if the ST1300 was run over by a steam roller tomorrow, the first bike I would look at would be a Ducati.
It's interesting, most the people I ride with are on Ducatis. They do long sport-touring trips every year and none of them have complained or even mentioned reliability issues with any of their Ducatis. They spend more time cleaning them than they do wrenching on them - from Monsters to Multistradas.
Demo bikes get ridden like they were stolen, so it's not surprising that they will have problems, even with maintenance. I also wonder how much of that backlog at the dealer is for things like oil changes, some owners don't like getting dirty and will take their bike in for even the most minor maintenance plan. There are more, and much larger Honda dealers around my area - that means more mechanics and techs, more lifts, and more places to take the strain. There is *one* Ducati dealer in town and one independent shop with the know-how and tools to do Ducati service.
Yes, the Ducati is a bit more expensive, but not by a ton. MSRP for the Ducati 696 is about $9,200 while the Yamaha is right around $7,000 - a bike geared towards first-time riders.
I'm sure I can find forum posts and videos of broken Hondas and Yamahas too. With any marquee there are going to be defects, that is why these very expensive and complicated machines have warranties.
It?s versatile and reliable, though it will require expensive cam belt changes every two years or 12,000 miles , which means a bill of around ?700 a time.
Stop being a baby, and be a man. Go buy a bike. Tell the wife to go make a sandwich.
The time for that was, sadly, before you have kids.
Glad I did it now then because my time is coming in the next few years.
So the 919 doesnt need valve adjustments? Or are you taking about the CB1100?
That's if you get it done at a dealer. Belt changes on a monster are incredibly easy to do on the Monster, hell, even a nugget like me can manage it. With just a few basic hand tools you can do this at home in under an hour. Hell, I knew guys in San Francisco that would do this themselves at the curb in front of their building.