Ducati Monster Forum

So my girl and I have been talking about going to the track a LOT lately (we're having custom leathers made in a few weeks) and I've been thinking about how my little (695) Monster will be on the track. I was imagining that with the low rev's of this little twin I'll be doing a heck of a lot more shifting than other people and should probably expect to be passed in most of the straights. But then I got thinking about how a load of people use sv650's out there and highly recommend them. Does anyone have some first-hand experience to share about this or similar Monsters on the track? Thanks.

I think you'd enjoy it for your first several outings at the track.  After your first few days, if you decided that you wanted to continue with lots of track riding, you would likely want to move to a different bike -- not necessarily for more power, but different suspension/better ground clearance.

That is my thinking exactly. I feel that it's overkill to get a dedicated track machine having never even done it yet, but I know my personality and my drive to do well at things, so a track bike is will definitely come after a couple of times out on the Monster. I do, however, plan to use my Monster at least a few times and that's why I was curious on what to expect.
Also, a lot of people seem to stick with their sv's on the track for a while. Is that purely because they're cheap or do they have better clearance as well? I KNOW their shocks are garbage, like mine.

SV's are cheap, infinitely and easily upgradeable, easy to modify to get better ground clearance, and cheap.  Did I mention they're relatively inexpensive, as well?

I took my Monster out to the track the first few times I went to the track.  Had no idea if I'd like riding track and didn't want to get another bike quite yet.  I had a blast and it wasn't long before I decided that I didn't want to use my daily commuter as a track machine.  I got a little I-4 and I suddenly realized that the big engine and all the torque on my M900 was hiding a lot of my bad riding habits.  At my skill level I could easily cruise around Infineon on my Monster and not bother shifting once!   [laugh]  The FZR isn't so forgiving. 

Ride your little bike and enjoy it.  Don't worry about getting passed--at least with the little bike you'll have a reason.  You'll find that there are plenty of liter bikes getting passed out there too.  Even if you decide to buy a track-specific bike later on, you'll have ridden your street bike to its limits in a safe environment and that'll help your street riding. 

Isn't that some kind of Keith Code drill?  Even when I rode my buddy's 180hp R1, I still had to shift occasionally.

It was a Keith Code drill, but without the use of brakes and in 4th gear.   

Fast Elvis was the one who made a joke about it (long before my Keith Code trackdays) and told both Enzo and myself to give it a go.  We did, and he was right.   [laugh]  It's not the fastest way around, but at a C group pace you find that without having to worry about shifting you can spend more time on lines and technique.  I'm not saying it's the best way to do it, just that shifting shouldn't be his primary focus out there on his first day. 

My g/f and I will be doing a novice school, so we'll have plenty to think about on our first time out.

Thanks for the helpful information so far.

Couple of us are heading up to RFR in July for some sweet sweet Novice Action... http://ducatimonsterworldwide.org/index.php?topic=3889.0

Sounds fun. My girl and I are putting in an order for custom suits on the 20th I believe. It takes maybe 4 to 7 weeks or so before we get them so we'll have to miss this date :(
As soon as we get a proper estimate on a delivery date we'll be scheduling a day to do the novice school and I'll post it up. Thanks for the info, though.

I've ridden my 695 at the track (Zoom Zoom and Keigwin's) and the advice you have gotten here is spot on. [thumbsup]