Ducati 1200 Monster Opinions

benstone wrote:

Not that anyone but me gives a shit, but here's a brief longer range report: I put about 3,000 miles on the Monster this summer. It...

Not that anyone but me gives a shit, but here's a brief longer range report:

I put about 3,000 miles on the Monster this summer. It would have been more, but I had new hip surgery in early September. Overall impressions are still the same. This is a sweet bike with good manners. It all works together well for a solid ride. It did take me about 1,500 miles to get to the point where I was comfortable wicking it up hard in sport mode, but now I can hold it WFO and hammer through gears as I feel the need. It's fast enough though that it's hard to find the space to let it rip into the upper gears. Usually just quick blips up to a ton and then have to brake for traffic.

I am having a minor issue with the front brake system needing bled again. I thought I got all of the old fluid and air out but it's cloudy again and spongy. I bought a Mityvac bleeder tool and will try that in a few weeks.

The Termignoni pipe on this thing is an attention getter. It sounds sorta mean at idle, but once you hit 4 -5K RPM, it has an amazing race sound. Engine braking is an audible event too. For a bike person, it's music to my ears but I'm not sure my neighbors feel the same way. The guy included the stock pipe when I bought it and I may put that back on just for a few days next year to see how performance compares. I have to think this aftermarket pipe adds some go.

No other mechanical issues except for the front brakes - just keep putting gas in it and go. It's due for the dealer service over the winter and I'll probably get that done instead of doing it myself. I'm short on time these days and this bike is mechanically dense so it looks like it might be a pain in the ass to work on.