No Ducati. Wussed out and bought a 50cc moped.
 

Yeah Right!!!!

2000 900S.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1222719517.jpg

Flame job on a monster? Umm?

Congrats. Now you can ride to Starbucks in style :p

The paint is way over the top, but I (obviously) didn't buy it for the paint. The mechanicals are astoundingly clean. Tons of upgrades. Very knowledgeable adult owner.

Ride? Hell, I'm scared just moving the thing around in my driveway. :D

Just got back from my first ride. Its been a long time since I have been on a bike, so I was being uber cautious.

Love the engine. Big beefy bottom end makes it easy to start up hills. Clutch is certainly 'different'. Not grabby, but it definitely feels different from what I remember. Steering is not what I expected. More of a crusing setup. Much wider turning radius than I expected. I rode for about 20 minutes, and found I had a fair amount of weight on forearms and wrists, but the position was comfortable. Not sure how thats going to feel after an hour or two.

I can get down the road just fine, but I realize how poor my riding skills really are. I will be taking the MSF course, no question. I rode when I was younger, but as I suspected, I wasn't a very smart rider.

I am a very happy man at this moment.

Sweet! Have fun and ride safe. Gear all the time.

I find that the Monster looks comfortable but isn't. Tight leg position (for me), and you are forced on your hands. The good thing is that lack of wind protection at higher speeds lifts the weight off your hands. Around town it can get tiring. Doing crunches can help. The steering lock is surprising, and you need to learn to look over your shoulder and lean the bike when trying to do a u-turn. The steering at speed should be ok, but it is fairly slack head angle which is offset by the wider bars. I would think that guys who run clipons really need to muscle the bike to get it to keel over into a turn.

MSF will bore you out of your mind...its very basic. Just get as much practice as you can.

Be sure to get the forks lowered and the rear shock raised by some suspension guru. The weight distribution on the monsters isn't very good out of the box. Get on the brakes mid corner in an emergency situation and watch your bike go straight ahead.

A guy on a monster s2r crashed yesterday on our Ducati group ride...a better set suspension could have helped keep him on the road.

That bike is screaming out for a flat black paint job.

My moped is 49 cc. And a lot of fun.

Congrats. Beautiful bike, flames 'n all. Have a blast.

looks mighty purdy, congratulations!

Moped/scooters are like fat chicks. They are fun to ride until somebody sees you.

Very nice! Congratulations!

+1 on the MSF course being too basic. IIRC, some locations offer an advanced course, you may want to see if there is one available in your area.

I took an advanced course last weekend. It was basically a low speed auto-x. It was well worth the $$.

Hey, so you got the bike you were talking about. I think it looks great - beautiful in fact. Take it easy and remember chances of crashing in the first 6 months of starting to ride are pretty high.
I didn't ride, except for a couple of short rides on friends bikes, from the early '70s until the first of this year. I took it easy for quite a while on mine and started feeling like I was getting decently familiar with the bike just a couple of months ago. Take it easy. I took the MSF class to avoid the riding test for the DMV. Everybody said it would be almost impossible to pass it on a larger bike. I'm glad I took it, and yes it was pretty basic - although 3 people in the class dumped their bikes and didn't complete, and another person didn't pass the course. I'm hoping I can also get an even lower rate on my insurance by having completed it.
Have fun!!

I don't care how basic the course is, I will be taking the MSF course. It can't hurt to take the course, right?

Very, very pleased with the bike. Very pleased with my decision to get a bike.

I feel badly because I have wasted plenty of folks time on PPOT with various post about bikes. Frankly I was a bit unsure about the whole deal. But I'm glad I took my time and got the right bike for me at this point. Perhaps down the road, If I'm still into it I will seek out a pristine 900SS SP, but I think this monster will serve me well for now.

A HUGE thank you to all the folks on PPOT who have offered advice. It is VERY much appreciated. THANKS!

Just remember - everyone else on the road is a complete idiot and they ARE out to get you!

Please take care. It looks like a great bike and you're going to love it. I know, I really miss my 750SS.