My name is Jon and I live in warm and sunny Minnesota. i'm new to riding, in fact I've yet to ride anything more than a Buell Blast to the end of a friends street and back!
so my first Ducati is also my very first bike. I think i've always been a Ducatisti at heart. The only other bike i've ever actually wanted was a Ninja, but what 12 year old didn't, rite? Enyways, that aside, i've always had pretty good taste and an instinct for recognizing the best.....which means I usually find myself wanting things I can't afford and often other more viable alternatives are taken for granted go completely unoticed.
Case in point: I was convinced that I would indeed own a Ducati some day. I've always liked the Monster. I've seen 'em around, like outside the cafes or whatever, and was attracted to their brutal simplicity long before I knew there even was such a thing. But it wasn't the BEST. I wanted a frigging SUPERbike! How would I ever get that new 996...998....1098? They kept changing them. and they kept being too expensive.i could maybe afford something used, but some part of me began to recognize that an old Superbike is rilly just that tho, unless maybe someone important sat on it at some point in it's life. but the Monster kept staying pretty much the same. And staying cool. Then I was watching Superbikes and suddenly the scales fell from my eyes and I was able to see the Ducati Monster in a new way and recognized it on its own merits. I fell in love with it. I envied those of you who counted yourselves among the vast community of owners, customizers, and enthusiants and longed to be part of it. Hense the enthusiasm I am attempting to express with at least some degree of success in my writing
Ultimately, the bike I settled on was a 2001 Ducati Monster 900sie.
At the price paid, it may not have been a steel with 18k miles on it, a bit of grit and grime, but nonetheless, I was sold. It's a matter of personal taste, but there's actually a few things about the Monster I don't like (read: hate).
1. high handlebars = upright riding position
2. the low hanging exhaust and the ugly stock mufflers
3. that ridiculous looking operation hanging off the rear
4. reflectors and turn signal stalks
5. ginormous 1940s style headlight
the previous owner has saved me alot of trouble by performing a tailchop, installing lsl clip ons and lowering the instrument cluster, replacing the stock exhaust with high mounted GPR stainless ovals (shortened a few inches for aesthetic reasons), there's also a Vizi-Tech integrated LED tail light and a CF front fender. Some may argue that he also saved me the fun of doing it my self, but those are all things I would have prefered to change before I even rode it at all, and all or most being beyond my current finacial means or technical expertise, who knows how long it woul've been before I acheived anything remotely close to my vision. besides, i've still got the whole headlight issue to deal with and from what i've read i've got my hands plenty full with that! some other changes i'm planning are a carbon belly fairing and rear mudguard, barend turn signals and sportline grips, cleanup the wiring, airbox mod, and a few other things, but first things first....that frkn headlight has GOT to go!
I want to go with some kind of a dual side by side projection setup but I need help!!! that's a whole nother topic tho.
...cuz she's got a GREAT ass! (u gotta say it like Pachino in the movie Heat)
