How they holding up?

[2DFlyer]

A guy I work with has his eyes on this local '05 1000S Monster.



 He knows nothing about Ducs and asked what I thought about reliability, maint cost, etc, etc.  I told him I struggled with the same stuff but ended up buying an '05 ST3 in confidence after reading up and hangin out here for awhile.  I didn't have mine long enough to talk first hand about reliability/durability and am wondering how yours have held up.

  What kinda experience have you had?  Is your late model Duc holding up?

[ZED]

My Ducati is only just over a year old, so I can't say what this would be like, but I've probably got more miles on mine than this '05 monster.  I brought it in for it's 20,000km service right around it's aniversary date.  (the millage has been down a bit this year over last year   )  

What I have found in my experience and in my research of monsters is that good maintenance is key.  I've had issues with mine, but they've all been taken care of by the dealer on warranty very well.  Next August the warranty will expire, but I'm not concerned as the teething issues will have been sorted out.  That seems to be the case with many Ducati's.  Get them sorted out (if needed) and keep them well tuned and maintained and they are very rewarding.  

Maintenance costs seem to vary depending upon how much work you do yourself versus how much you let a competent and skilled dealer do for you.  I actually let the dealer do far more work on my ST3s than any other vehicle because they make it run like I want.  I purchased and exotic ST and I expect it to run as designed.  I won't settle for less.  That comes with a price.  

The monster 1000s is the one to go for.  They have many upgrades over the straight 1000.

[JoBu]

FWIW...I have a little more faith in 2-vavle, air-cooled Ducs (even though I now have a 4-valve, liquid-cooled one).  I put almost 30,000 trouble-free miles on a '99 900SS.  Other than scheduled maintenance and one new battery, I never touched the bike in regards to maintenance.  I swear it was running even better when I took it in to trade it in on my ST4s.  I felt really bad.  

But, the one piece of advice I would pass along is to be very strict in regards to scheduled maintenance.  I've been told this by a couple of Ducati mechanics and one service manager.  I heeded those words and never had an issue.

I hope your friend enjoys his Monster.

Cheers,

Joe

[2DFlyer]

Thanks guys.  I should have mentioned this one only has 4500 miles on it so there still a chance to raise it right.

Cheers

[jsanford]

What I have found in my experience and in my research of monsters is that good maintenance is key.  I've had issues with mine, but they've all been taken care of by the dealer on warranty very well.  Next August the warranty will expire, but I'm not concerned as the teething issues will have been sorted out.  That seems to be the case with many Ducati's.  Get them sorted out (if needed) and keep them well tuned and maintained and they are very rewarding.  

Maintenance costs seem to vary depending upon how much work you do yourself versus how much you let a competent and skilled dealer do for you.  I actually let the dealer do far more work on my ST3s than any other vehicle because they make it run like I want.  I purchased and exotic ST and I expect it to run as designed.  I won't settle for less.  That comes with a price.  

The monster 1000s is the one to go for.  They have many upgrades over the straight 1000.

This has been my experience in five months and 3500 miles.  I had a runnability issue, addressed under warranty and now the bike runs like Desmo-silk, even with some elevation gains on my run up Mount Rainier last Saturday.  The bike and I are happy as clams in a spit.

This wouldn't be your friend's first bike--right? 'Cause if it is, then I take back everything I said.

[2DFlyer]

This wouldn't be your friend's first bike--right? 'Cause if it is, then I take back everything I said.

Depends on what you consider a middle weight cruiser to be  
Seriously, he's been around long enough to have owned a late model V65 Sabre.  Of course the fact that he can't decide between the Monster and a FZ1 should cause some concern...