I have the opportunity to buy a Monster 600 at a great price, but the engine has 34,000 miles on it, and history is unknown. he said it recently had timing belt and spark plug service. Owner says the motorcycle runs and rides normally, but I have not seen it in person yet. Assuming the engine has been maintained, is 34k miles considered high for this motorcycle? I've owned Hondas and Kawasakis and its not uncommon for them to reach more than 50,000 miles, but I'm not experienced with Ducatis.
What he said. Great little engine. Stick new belts in and change the oil regularly and they tend to be pretty solid.
looks up ducati sporting club desmodue race series. Full of little 600's and have been for probably a decade now. Les than a handful gone pop AFAIK and they are on the stop for 90% of their life
I've had a 2001 600 Monster Dark for the last 15 years and it's done about 34k miles too. Fantastic bike, always done all the servicing myself as it is dead simple once you've done the belts and valve shims a few times. Only failures have been 1 rectifier, but that was the original and lasted 12 years and recently the rubber stems on the indicators have gone brittle and snapped. Secondhand set for £30 on EvilBay, or £38 each if you want new! Aside from that, it needs to be used regularly or else I find the routine is it failing to start, followed by pulling the plugs, cleaning them and trying again. Always starts after that, it seems to be that the fuel takes time to reach the horizontal carb after a lay up, by which time the vertical one floods. I used to commute regularly on it and used dailu, or at least weekly, it fires first press of the button. It's also my favourite of all the Ducatis I've owned and is a hoot round the country lanes! Oh, and I road it from the UK to Bologna with full camping gear too and it didn't miss a beat.
I can vouch for them being a hoot to ride too, especially if you dynojet them and stick a set of cans on. Not enough power to get you into serious trouble, but plenty to be an absolute blast to ride flat out everywhere!
My 600 was a fantastic bike, I had it for 7 years and it had 23,000 miles on when I traded for my M1000Sie. Never let me down, always started first press - I did use a battery tender - and cost peanuts to run. Useful range of 170 miles to reserve, so better than the 120 of my 1000. Simple to work on and fun to upgrade.
I had a '96 M900 which was easy to work on, not much to go wrong and cheap to run. Keep the battery charged if not using it regularly and start it every 2 weeks so the carbs don't gum up
I’ve just bumped into a guy riding an old monster 900 with 98,000 miles on the clock. All original, just belt changes and oil. A bit tatty but sounded glorious. I guess it’s all about servicing.
