I have a chance to pick up a 2001 Monster S4 for under $6K. That's about $1.5K under normal prices here. It has 35K Kms on the clock and seems to be bog standard apart from arrow mufflers. 

I will have the K-LT running soon for long trips but a sports bike would be nice but is this the one. It's the 916cc water cooled with 130HP at the crank.

I'm looking for a REASON NOT TO BUY IT

Easy.


Its flashy.
It breaks down.
Its naked.
Its red.
Its moody.
Its got attitude.
It goes mental.
Its got roadholding. 


But............
Its got a ride me if you dare look......
It will cost you your licence.

Then
You wont be able to ride your K..!

You could buy a naked K for the money, and have enough left over to enjoy it too!

Reason not to buy; ehmmmmmm.....

Reason to buy; get an Italian grin instead of a German grin  

Reason to buy:MUST be fun to ride it
Reason not to buy: WILL be spending most of the time in the shop .for service and breakdown    

k-rider

Reason to buy: good price
Reason not to buy: not a classic, even by Ducati standards  

I should add...a friend of mine had one, broke his heart with trouble. You name it, but the worst one was the fact that it would cut out for no reason. It went legal and was changed for another one
also had issues. Like a bucking bronco, you don't get to ride it for long. But people still go for them.

Buy it.

If you want a Ducati then you know of all the issues that can arise.

Put aside the purchase price for repairs/ service and enjoy it when it runs.

Silly forum people with their German ideals on how a machine should run like a well oiled machine and not something that was made by crazy Italians.

My nephew had one for more than 100,000km without issues, apart from bits falling off it...blinkers etc. The donk and gearbox and beautifully almost silent (   ) dry clutch all performed faultlessly. He sold it to buy a KTM 990 Super Duke thingy.
He also rode that bike from Perth to Kununurra.

Uhh, jk-ridert came to think of another reason to buy:when fired up it will make your heart beat FASTER just hearing those v2exhaust      


  k-rider

Go for a more reliable Ducati...

Got a message from the Gods on the way to check it out, clutch cable on the RT broke and it's under a year old. When the boss found out what I was up to, she simply reminded me that we are going to New York in a few months and camp sites in Manhattan are scarce. No Ducati for U.  

Bit sad to see the usual negative cliches.
Wonder what they're saying about BMW riders these days? 
Sean.

I asked the guy I rang to pick up the RT and carry it home, what was the most common bike he was picking up and there wasn't one, twas all pretty even around town for him. He did say that his country pickups where either BMW's or Harley's, almost exclusively. He figured they are the only bikes doing any real distance travel. He charged me $66 to get the bowling ball home which was pretty good I thought.

got a spare cable here  rob ....new one too

ooops forgot to ask ...."r" or "k"

It's the bowling ball charlie (RBike), but thanks anyway. Got one in the mail from munich, should be here Monday. With the poor exchange rate to the pound it's almost the same price as motorworks. I also got a chrome K1100 emblem for the rear cowl on the LT. It was almost $10 cheaper than motorworks !!!!!!

RobinW wrote:Got a message from the Gods on the way to check it out, clutch cable on the RT broke and it's under a year old. When the boss found out what I was up to, she simply reminded me that we are going to New York in a few months and camp sites in Manhattan are scarce. No Ducati for U.  

Camp sites? There is always Central Park? Or take a return train trip to Boston, you will be back by morning.

Anyway the K will be more fun. The Ducati will put a grin on your face when you fire it up but after 2 hours you wont be able to get off it fast enough. The K just does it but after 2 hours this smug grin will appear as you finally realise how nimble it is in nice fast curves and you think I can go another 2 hours on this.

The real question is what to do with the Ducati budget??????? Now my advice is you tell her you are going to use that budget for a long motorcycle trip, two up, and make a list of some must see places. The reason is and you tell her you don't want to become a boring old fart who just plays bridge on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

She bought the plane tickets, she wants to see NY, she can pay for the hotels. I just want to see Washington and Orlando while we're there. I spent 15 years doing oil search all over the planet so I'm not exactly keen on aeroplanes. I mean it's 8 hours just to get to Asia from here. Almost 24 hours to Europe and about 17 to NY. Bloody boring ...

I went and saw that Ducati today. Needs a new clutch, it's banging badly (under 40K Kms on the clock), also had obviously been degreased but still showed signs of a leak up high and he wouldn't trade the boxer. He said, an 18 year old bike isn't worth much, I said, but your trying to sell a 13 year old bike, what's the difference. I'll flog the Boxer first I think and avoid dealers in future. He was quite rude, maybe that's why I was the only customer in the shop.

A '98 Ducati ST2 appeared on Gumtree late yesterday real cheap. I rang after lunch today and he had bought it for a trip that never happened and it's been sitting unridden for 18 months since then. He just wanted it out of the garage. He took the panniers off but I have them in hand, it's got staintune pipes Corbin seat and about 47K kms on the clock. 

I was happy to take it off his hands, I just couldn't resist. $3700    

Nice one, congratulations, hopefully you will have alot of nice km on her

k-rider

That's a good buy Robin, looks very tidy

crikey ...that's cheep !

Cheers guys and thanks to those who PM'ed with advise, I can't resist a bargain  All I see wrong is a blown charge bulb (I hope it's just blown) and a broken rear left cowling mount. Front tyre is sus but I have a new conti here that'll fit. I rode it, once I got it here and put air in the tubes and it runs just fine. Bit of a clutch rattle when disengaged but I've heard a lot worse, but it is coming up on 50K Kms so will prolly need belts, filters, fluids etc etc etc. I have downloaded a manual but I'd like a haynes as well. I like stuff on paper

The PO paid $6700 18 months ago and just wanted it out. He has an old combi in the garage and a rebuilt posche motor to go into it ..

Just a little update now I've had a closer look. 

It wasn't a blown charge bulb it was an aftermarket rectifier/regulator with no charge light output and it's position has been moved to get more airflow going. I bought a little waterproof voltmeter to go on the dash.

I dropped into the southside ducati dealer and asked how much to change belts, check shims and balance the throttle bodies, nothing else. $800. I thought, tell i'm he's dreaming. Now that I've looked at doing it myself I see the engineering side of the bike is pretty poor. So much has to come off the bike to do this, there has to be almost 4 hours labour just getting access to the bits and putting it back together. For example, to change fork oil the forks have to come off the bike, the spring has to be removed and you measure how much new oil goes in with a ruler from the top of the fork.

There is no Haynes manual as such. There are so many models you buy a Haynes to suit the motor, 2 valve, 3 valve or 4 valve. Air or water cooled doesn't seem to come into it. I found a manual written and sold by desmotimes which appears to be the bee's knees. The factory manual I have is in Italian and English and damned if I can find any tourque settings in it.

All in all it'll be a challenge but I see a post on ducati.org about one of these with 200K Kms on it 

The PO will be just about to get out of the funny farm now after 4 weeks of careful care he might just make it through the next few years without going postal in a Jewcarty shop. 

He didn't even ride it Rick, he just rode it home from Byron Bay, threw a tarp over it and left it. It still has 2011 NSW plates on it. His mechanic mate moved to Sydney.

I wouldn't want a new one with all the electronics, it's about $1000+ per service for this one, every 10K Kms  

I'm pretty sure the radiator has to come out to get at the tappets on the front pot. 
That desmo manual will tell me, the factory manual just says, remove anything that's in the way  

And one more issue, there is an exhaust pipe under the motor. Ye old bike jack needs a couple of serious blocks of wood either side of the pipe to work. A lift would be nice.

The reason NOT to buy it is simple;
It's not a BMW.

larrikin wrote:The reason NOT to buy it is simple;
It's not a BMW.

It's under 200Kg, definitely not a BMW.

I know one guy that did a lot of work on Ducatis and as you would expect rode one himself but only to work and back home because in his words. "Would you take your bike to a mechanic who openly said they are a pile of shit, they are but they are my living and I know them well but it's nice to ride my Goldwing when I go touring".
His sentiments were much the same as mine that they are a great bike to ride they stop, go and handle, sound great but for every hour riding most of them spend a couple of hours in the workshop.
There is the good ones and bad ones but on average they aren't worth the headaches they give.

His sentiments were much the same as mine that they are a great bike to ride they stop, go and handle, sound great but for every hour riding most of them spend a couple of hours in the workshop.

Sounds like sailing, which I do like. For every hour sailing there are 10 hours working on the boat. I get my fix from friends who want to take out a boat that's too big for one, so I get my enjoyment with no 10 hours working on it. Someone describes serious racing as being like throwing banknotes over the stern rail.....I suppose a Ducati is like that.

The K, for all it is, is quite easy to get the stuff off for servicing.

Owning a Ducati can be much the same as owning a K in that if you can and are prepared to do the work yourself they can be a great bike to ride and they are a great bike to ride but they are high maintenance.
One of Australia's millionaires describes Ocean racing as akin to standing in a freezing cold shower tearing up $100 notes.

Lots of 3rd hand wisdom in this thread but no owners. I haven't been on one since the '70s, 450 desmo single and the classic 750 Sport. Both where kick start only, no starter motor, and neither ever finished a ride without breaking down or have bits falling off. That was 40 years ago, surely they've sorted it by now. 

Ohh, I did get on an 860GT in the 80's, that was a great bike to ride at the time.

Any and probably all of them are now worth a fortune.

I took the restrictors out of the staintunes on the week-end. Now I know why they where in there  

Hey Robin, their a lot of negative comments on this thread about the Ducati reliability ect. When I bought my first K new in 1984, it spent time in the work shop with the odd little issue. It had a throttle problem recall, then a few months later suffered a water pump failure, with the nut that holds the impeller in place letting go, leaving me stranded on the south coast, with the bike being trailered away. At the time I was riding with a good mate Les, a Ducati man, on his F1 750, I became the butt of all jokes, ha ha ha BMW reliability ect ect . I remember servicing cost on the BMW were over $200 in the eighties , no difference to the Ducati costs. Les still has his Ducati, no doubt it's had issues over the years, but never trailered back to the workshop. 

 

 

Hey mate, one positive comment is a bonus. It seems the PO has lost all the books on this bike and that will be an issue when it comes time to sell it. I have some paperwork and have found the PO's, PO in ballina. I thought I'd ring him for some background. He has moved but I found him.

I don't have the cash to pay for rego yet (about $500 for 6 months from no rego) but I do have the cash to get it roadworthy and I'll wait for the RBike to sell. Alternately, this one will be cheaper to get on the road than the K1100 as I have a tyre for it but have to buy one for the kbike. We'll see what happens.

Got a huge quote from a periodontist last week and start treatment Monday yet health insurance will only cover 15% of the bill. 
I'm experiencing issues due to my cessation of cigarettes. I stopped smoking cigs after the tottingham run.

Basically they should just apply the ducati directly to my gums

So I registered the Duke. The K1100 has a slight knocking noise coming from the clutch area and I want to look in there before pulling the rego pin. Cost me $600 including RWC for 12 months rego on the Duke.

I spent 5 hours on the bike on Tuesday, a couple of hours in city traffic getting shit done then a 3 hour run over Mt Glorious to my mates place near somerset dam and back. I had 2 or 3 instances of misfiring when rolling on the throttle going over the hill and I immediately thought fuel. Buy the time I got to Peter's place my left leg was feeling uncomfortable. This bike has a corban seat. In top gear from 100Kms/Hr @ 4K RPM it ran straight up to 180Kms/Hr @ about 7K RPM really easy and this twin redlines at 11K so I'm guessing 220Kms/Hr is top speed.

I turned around almost straight away as the weather looked to be turning, it's been raining a lot here. About half way back my clutch hand was starting to ache and the engage point for the clutch was getting closer and closer to end of travel. 

By the time I got over the hill and heading home I couldn't get my left leg off the pedal to put it down at traffic lights and I was using my whole hand to grab the ball on the end of the clutch lever to depress it. Plus it was engaging right at the end of travel.

Anyway, I got her home, looked in the clutch reservoir and the newly flushed fluid was black and almost empty, obviously a leak at the secondary. I couldn't lift my left leg for 24 hours but I did wear shorts under the kevlar pants so maybe that was an issue.

So here's the fuel pump assembly, doesn't that filter look familar. The ryco Z200 don't fit.



I had a go at sanding the pits off the fuel cap but that will result in a respray so I've ordered a carbon fiber look cover to go over it $20. The pump assembly was covered in a white powder and every fuel line was crumbling. I don't think they used the right stuff last time and with 45K Kms on the dial, I doubt there was a last time. 

I scrubbed the powder off with a tooth brush and replaced the lines. There's still a little white powder showing. I also ordered a new oberon clutch slave. Made in the UK, a nice big 29mm piston for an 30% easier pull and supplied locally from Perth yet cheaper than buying from the UK. Aftermarket Ducati parts are everywhere and this thing is not new.

Doing this shows me the tappets are not as hard to get to as I thought so I'll check the shims and belts. That's the rear head poking out in this shot.



All great fun however there is an exhaust pipe directly under the motor and an oil filter poking down from under the right hand side. I'll have a hard time getting this one on the jack, it needs a lift  And who needs physio after every ride, or am I just getting old

Saxon7 wrote:Bit sad to see the usual negative cliches.
Wonder what they're saying about BMW riders these days? 
Sean.

we just want them all to hate k bikes with a passion sean ....    think that one through ...huh ?

Should have gone to Specsavers bought a K1100RS.

I can't loose on this one but I really need to sell the RBike before registering the KBike 

I don't see a lot of interest in RBikes here just now

I spent 5 hours on the bike on Tuesday, a couple of hours in city traffic getting shit done then a 3 hour run over Mt Glorious to my mates place near somerset dam and back. I had 2 or 3 instances of misfiring when rolling on the throttle going over the hill and I immediately thought fuel. Buy the time I got to Peter's place my left leg was feeling uncomfortable. This bike has a corban seat. In top gear from 100Kms/Hr @ 4K RPM it ran straight up to 180Kms/Hr @ about 7K RPM really easy and this twin redlines at 11K so I'm guessing 220Kms/Hr is top speed.

I turned around almost straight away as the weather looked to be turning, it's been raining a lot here. About half way back my clutch hand was starting to ache and the engage point for the clutch was getting closer and closer to end of travel. 

By the time I got over the hill and heading home I couldn't get my left leg off the pedal to put it down at traffic lights and I was using my whole hand to grab the ball on the end of the clutch lever to depress it. Plus it was engaging right at the end of travel.

Gearing is same as K100, except the red line is much higher....but the riding experience does not seem the same. I like that the K is good for 5 hours one day, and the same for every day after and not so sure that it would result in that level of discomfort. I often do 400 miles in a day and seems like everyone on other bikes is in agony after that kind of distance.

I'm not sure if that issue was caused by the bike or something else. I'm currently under medical direction for several problems and don't really want to tell them what I get up to   For example, I thought  the RS I had was sending my hands numb, turns out I have diabetes and that is the reason. Possibly the leg discomfort was caused by advancing years. At 57 my legs don't work properly at the best of times, I think I've worn them out   I will admit I was looking at Goldwings for sale yesterday  

I am also 57! So it must be the bikes!!! I have a lot of old injuries to mind and always struggle to find something comfortable. Furtunately the Ks fit well and I will stay with them. Takes a little bit of adjusting to get control positions to exactly where I want them but once its done then its bliss.

Well know fact that seating position on sports bikes restricts blood supply to the legs, a UK member here posted it up. That would account for your leg. Regular off bike exercise needed on long trips. Kind of important to have leisurely walk about fuel and water stops maximum an hour apart! You aint old yet!!!

I'm keen to give it another go, It's really has got the goods. Really light, corners effortlessly, stops on a pin, lots of go juice, it's got it all except for an upright lounge chair

Once it's fixed up  it'll owe me $4500. I'll get $6K for it easy

Sell for $6K and of course you are ahead and that's good.

Then get the diabetes sorted, you are supposed to stop every half hour with that and get the circulation going and replenish and look after the body, naughty of you not to do that.....Us K100 riders are usually in the company of these things and they are organised as a casual photo stop, tea stop or whatever so that these things get looked after.

Now why would you want a Gold Wing..........

92KK K100LT 193214 wrote:Now why would you want a Gold Wing..........

Window shopping

There is nothing like having a bike that fits perfectly. Once you get all the adjustments done you will find a vast improvement. But if a bike doesn't fit right the initial joy wears away soon enough. It falls into the category of great performance but can't use it.

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/bmw-k75-rat-survival-bike/1055385394

Carefully consider this one; it comes with a net to catch the parts falling off.

That'd be a good bike for when the Zombie Apocalypse occurs. 

That'd be a good bike for when the Zombie Apocalypse occurs. 
 

Got all the busted bits fixed and it's back on the road with panniers installed.
I'll have another bash at this on the week-end.

Found a kit to lower the foot pegs, might be worth a look.
http://desmotimes.com/product19a.htm