Ducati Monster Forum

My new comute is over a hundred miles total a day 6 days a week and I dont know or have the funds to keeping doing valve jobs and I dont wanna put that many miles on my bike.  Im thinking of picking up a jap bike like a 600 or so, does anyone know about their maintanence cost or is their another bike that would be more suitable, and looks do matter and im not ready to make the jump to a touring bike so please only sport bikes.

check out a sv650... you can find them dirt cheap, they last forever, parts are also cheap... and they can be easily upgraded to track toy with a few suspension upgrades.  and all you really need to do is to make sure you change the oil on a reg basis.  and on top of that, insurance rates for it are a joke... some of the lowest you'll find.

the other great thing about them is that whatever you think about doing to it... someone else has already thought of it, did the work, and did a write up about it too.

check out www.svrider.com (http://) and you'll see what i mean.

Budget?

Comfort?

Tires?

Valves?

Chain & Sprockets?

From a pure saving money perspective, a motorcycle will always be more expensive to operate than a small economy car like a Fiesta, Fit, Yaris, etc.

The Ducati will get expensive in a hurry.

But, even a Ninja 600 will eat you up quicker than you might think.

If you can put your ego aside and ride a "practical bike", something like a Ninja 250, Kawasaki Versys, Suzuki V-Strom 650, will be reliable and relatively cheap to run and fun to ride.

What's your budget?

A used first Gen Kawasaki Concours has a full fairing, shaft drive, and long valve intervals.

For  a bike with sport bike looks, long range comfort, and ease of ownership, try a Suzuki Bandit 600, Yamaha FZ6, type of machine.

Good luck.

Here's a great, cheap candidate:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=671908 (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=671908)

EMSDUC.COM

buy his shims and redesigned keepers . his parts are made of tooling steel and half the price as OE ducati ones except the keepers. i just bought 4 openers and 4 closers $77 shipped priority.

he told me he did 2 years of track miles on his 4v was still in valve clearance spec.

i'm a believer. i would buy the keepers myself, but i plan on going with a different engine.

^^ i have a few thousand miles + 3 TDs on my keepers i havent checked them yet, but im sure they are within spec. if you look at the design and how they keep the valves then it  makes sense. bike still runs tip top. but after riding a 1098, it feels seriously underpowered.  [laugh]


no doubt, I saw the new yamaha FZ8. that is defintely my next bike.

Look for around for a used Kawasaki Ninja EX500R.

i say go oldschool.
cb750!

I just saw a new FZ8 at the local dealer. I'm not a fan of Japanese bikes but WOW. That one is really nice. I could see myself on it. Definitely.

Though not exactly for the same reasons, I recently purchased a Bandit 1200.  Valve adjustments are DIY simple.  Same for the 600, and they can be found cheap (and cheaper to insure).

Regards the FZ8...I thought I wanted a Ninja 1000 until I saw this beauty. 

My previous bike was a 2008 Ninja 250, and they are very cost effective, lots of mods out there, cheap price/insurance, little maintenance, ~60-55 mpg, stylish, and they hit ~110 mph, but they are small.

I second this post. [thumbsup] I'm riding my Jap sbks right now because I can't afford the services on my Monster and 999. Hopefully I'll find the money soon. I miss riding them. But you can't beat the cost per mile of a solid Jap scooter. [moto] [beer]

A couple thousand dollars will by an awful lot of shims, people!

I understand your logic, but, what's the reason for not putting miles on the Duc?

I figure the more you ride it, the cheaper it gets.

Doing your own maintenance is a must.

That's a good point.  Valve adjustments on a 2 valve monster are rather easy.  Still it will take you about 3 hours give or take a few to do every 5 to 6K miles.  A couple hundred into a valve kit and you are set there.  If you can handle the valve work yourself there isn't much reason to go to a Jap sport bike.  However I do think you could save much more by going to something that has shaft or belt drive, cheap tires, gets 50 mpg, and screw and lock nut type valve adjustments. 

You don't really need to adjust the valves every 6k, once everything is settled in, they don't really move much anymore. Just ride the Ducati and enjoy it.  It'll be tons cheaper to have ONE bike that you take good care of.

too many miles?  You bought the bike to ride it.  So ride the shit out of it.  Life is short.

geez

I'd probably ride the ducati if you like it.  I was commuting about 100 miles a day on my TLS, which I loved (and is rather ducati-like in terms of riding experience) and tried a more practical bike for a short while and hated it.  I switched back to the TL and was happy :)

One thing when considering most japanese bikes is that the valves pretty much never move if you aren't on the rev limiter constantly.  The OEM maintenance intervals are extremely conservative.  My TLS has large, rather sensitive valves by japanese standards and, at 60k miles, is just starting to get to the tight end of the spec.  An adjustment is quite easy as the cams are gear driven, lift out with little fuss and you just stick in a different shim. A complete set of shims is $75. Generally, after the first adjustment the valves really don't move as they get settled in and just stay there.

I demoed a Versys and was pretty impressed.  It probably accelerates and turns at least as well as my wife's 620 and is very comfortable.  Downsides are being a parallel rather than v twin it doesn't have have the uneven, visceral feel to the motor and is a bit bland overall.  Still its sporty enough to be fun on a commute and very practical.  It has smallish valves and doesn't rev really high so my guess is the valves will probably never need adjusting.  SVs are great too, though not as comfy.

See my post about how owning a Ducati is like dating a stripper...

Yeah I think im gonna just up grade my shims EMSDUC.com . I gave my buddy the video on how to it and he has it under control.  He is actually a great vintage mechanic ill post up pics of his garage, the only bad part is its all BMW the good is they are all vintage.

Best bang for the bucks SV650

tons cheaper no not at all

actually cheaper to tons cheaper running 2 bikes depending on how you do it

having 1 ducati that does everything

fuel, registration, tyres, insurance , maintenance , depreciation

having 2 bikes

you can cut down a lot of the above in a big way

having smaller cheaper bike for the commute that is far cheaper on all of the above so it becomes an equal or cheaper
way to go along with having a backup bike

now the smart ones that do a lot of miles buy a cheapie on ebay , do the maintenance themselves and repairs and offload it again after a shortwhile
and by doing this it costs you nothing or makes you money on the commute so you are well in front

aside another benefit is when you go and ride the monster you will enjoy it instead of commuting all the time :(

I commute on my Monster, and don't feel any worse for it. That doesn't prevent me fron enjoying it!
As a matter of fact, it gives me a reason to get out of bed every day!