Best bang for the buck Ducati Monster?

Never thought I'd see the day but I've reached an age that a GSXR600 is not an enjoyable street bike. I find myself choosing the wife's monster 750 for around town hooliganism.

need suggestions on the best older monsters mid to early 2000's in the 44000-5000 ish range must be FI and prefer 800cc up

 

Is it too early to say naked 1st gen SV650? jk. but really...

 

Yeah to early

 

Had a S2R 800 that was fun. It gets you a few nice parts like wheels, sing sided swingarm. S4R was better, but more expensive. No idea what the prices are now for the 2, but worth looking for.

I sold the Monster and have a Hypermotard now though, which has been a much more fun machine but not Supersport like.

 

I'd steer you towards air cooled motor.

Someone already said S2r and I'll say that's a great choice.

What's your budget? Not trying to sell ya on anything, but Ducati has done great financing right now and I can get you a damn good deal on a 696 or 796 or even larger 821 if that's your thing.

Don't let anyone get ya in the "expensive" modes. The monsters aren't expensive to maintain.

 

I'll third an S2R here. Great bike, comfortable and reliable.

The S4r is a "better" bike and I've put a few thousand miles on one but honestly it just felt out of place, it wanted to go fast and as soon as you tried you realized the damn thing didn't turn like you wanted. To me it felt like it pushed quite a bit.

I prefered riding the S2R quite a bit more at a leisurely around town pace. For the thousand or so miles I rode one anyways.

 

+4 on S2R. Great bike!

 

They did build an S2R 1000 for a couple years. I don't think they are quite as common as the 800. Might be a good choice if you want the bigger motor. That said, most of the guys I knew with the 800 thought they were plenty.

 

I'll vote S2R also. Solid bike and as RB said they are NOT hard to work on or expensive to maintain.

The bling can be pricey though. Lol

 

The biggest thing I can remember about my S2R that I didn't like was the brakes/suspension. I ended up putting on a stock 05 GSXR 1000 front-end, but there are probably easier solutions if you're ok with the existing forks. I don't believe they were very adjustable from what I recall. For tooling around on the streets leisurely, I suppose they'd be fine, but if you have a feel for a nice suspension and good brakes, you'll notice it's lacking in both. The GSXR forks/brakes bolt on with just a couple simple spacers for the calipers, and then a washer or two in addition to the wheel spacers, both of which you can make at home easily or buy at the hardware store, and retains the ducati wheel, so it doesn't look out of place and is a cheap upgrade. The Ducati fender can also be re-attached with a simple sheet-metal bracket.

If you look for one, try to find one with the tail cover still with it and maybe the termis already installed, that'll save you a bit of cash.

 

My wife had an S2R 800 and I loved it for around town. I agree with the others here, it's one of my favorite Monsters. It could use a brake upgrade but that's all it really needs. If you want to ride it hard, the front end needs to be dropped a little (for cornering) and fork upgrade. But to hop on and rip around town/commute on it's awesome.

 

Yep, mine went from looking like this in stock form...




To this. I found every part on Ebay but that was in the early '00's when you could still find stuff for a decent price. I got the tank for $600...Ducati wanted $2500
for it.

 

S2R certainly is more budget friendly than the S4 but is there enough torque that i won't miss having 100+ hp coming from the 600?

 

There's some decent torque, but little HP. It will feel weak compared to a supersport 600 for sure. Whether that's enough for you or not, that's all up to you. It's 77HP, it will get you going fast, it can break the speed limit, but it's not going to exactly WOW you with acceleration.

 

I have a 2001 900 Sie that is right in the sweet spot in my opinion. I actually tried to sell it a few years back when I moved and the buyer wasn't able to come pick it up before I moved. 15,000 miles, bone stock except for the Arrow Ti exhaust hi-mounts. I even have the original exhaust too for some strange reason. It is a nice street bike since the wide bars and the steep geometry makes it very agile for street speeds. I would recommend different geometry for the track. This era is a nice choice, air cooled, dry clankty clank clutch, and satisfying torque....

 

Dang! You would pay up to $44K for a monster?

 

Air cooled 1 liter. That ds1000 is an awesome motor.

 

I've had mine a while and have put a lot into it, learned a ton about em too. But, I don't ride on the street anymore and have been thinking of selling it for that range. Friggin awesome bike for the fun factor on the streets though.

 

Damn this thread. This makes me want to get a Hypermotard and do something about that front headlight so it's not so hideous. Or maybe I should just buy another TL to scratch that L-Twin itch...

 

Seems the monster 1000 is also in a similar price range. I'm guessing it's the ds motor. I could probably live with that