Quote:
Originally Posted by HardDrive
I want a Duc. I have wanted a Duc for years.
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That tells you all you need to know. Very few people
need a motorcycle. Most buy it because they
want one. So you might as well buy the bike (or at least something in the category of what) you want. If you've wanted a Duc for years, I submit you'll not likely be fully happy if you get something else. You'll always wonder "what if" every time a Duc rumbles by.
Certainly Japanese bikes have lower purchase costs, lower maintenance costs, better reliability, longer service intervals, yadda yadda yadda. To a certain extent, who cares? It's not as if Ducatis are unreliable or unreasonably expensive to maintain. If I was a college/grad student living on ramen, those would be (and were) legitimate concerns. But I'm not, so they aren't.
At the same time, I'd hardly denigrate a Japanese bike as having no soul. Hard to understand how someone can say a screaming inline-4 which puts out 90-180 HP out of just 600-1000 cc as being without soul. But man, do Ducatis have character in spades. Just as driving a Porsche is as much about the "feel" of the car, as it is about the speed, I find riding a Ducati to be quite similar.
I'm a fan of all sorts of sporting bikes, but it's the sound of a Ducati twin that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.