Ducati Monster M600

I fell in love with this beautiful beast the minute I saw it in the showroom.  It was so smart, so sexy and so very Italian.  It also has a low seat, and I could reach the ground very easily. 

Good points: 

• Fantastic sounding engine and exhausts 
• sensational looks turns heads wherever you go - it is a beautiful piece of modern sculpture! 
• loads of grunt
• good handling
• high ground clearance from low seat height. 

Bad Points:  Oh dear!  

• Electrics work when they feel like it 
• no fuel reserve, so you have to trus either the fuel warning light or the trip meter, neither of which were reliable on mine!
• speedo and generator both failed in a bike under 5000 miles
• carb icing until kit is fitted
• THE SIDESTAND flicks up when you don't want it to, so it falls over in a strong wind, everything made of alloy and very fragile, all parts expensive 
• pillion seat a joke, nowhere to bungee luggage
• relatively underpowered for a 600 only 53bhp, both my 400 and 500 make more.
• dreadfully heavy clutch, very snatchy clutch, difficult in town because high first gear, tendency to stall during low speed manouevres, and it you try to rev it, the clutch smokes
• top heavy, difficult for a small person to push around because of large tank in the way of the bars
• almost totally absent steering lock meaning 27 point turns are a reality

.......too many bad points to make up for the good.