Need help finding suitable Monster!

[MVness]

My wife recently took the motorcycle rider safety course and she did absolutely fantastic. Much better than I thought she would! I have been looking in vain to locate a used Ducati 620 anywhere close to our location here in Florida. I've found a few high mileage bikes in our price range but they're usually on the other side of the country. Figure in shipping at around $650 (average), tax, title, and license, and there have been virtually no bikes in our price range for the past month or two without them having 16K miles and above. Seems everyone wants an inexpensive Monster!

She's looked at both of the Kawasaki starter bikes (250R and 500R) and quite frankly, I'm not thrilled about either bike and neither is she. They're both well within her mandated price range but they're not Ducatis.

I've just about given up on finding a nice used 620 but I've seen several older 750 Monsters that are less expensive and on average, have had fewer miles. I know virtually nothing about any of the other Monsters like the 750 including seat height and power output. She's 5'3" on a good day so taller bikes are not an option. Are there any other Monsters I should consider? Thanks for any input!
Michel

[mangeldbug]

My '02 750 is my second bike, but I graduated from a 1981 Honda 400 which I only rode less than a season. Pretty much anything after that would have felt like a rocket. The 750s have a bit more power and torque than the 620s but its not a humongous jump. I was able to motor around perfectly fine on my 750. Before I bought anything, I test rode a brand new 620 but ended up getting the used 750. I couldnt really tell the difference because I didnt ride the 620 hard on the test ride. Monsters are incredibly well balanced and that really helped at stops. My old Honda was a pig and very top heavy. The throttle response is also very smooth. You can definitely wheelie it pretty easily, but the throttle is never choppy so it wont take you by surprise.

Also, I am 5'1" and I do quite well. I did shave down my seat, but I have the M750S which has the higher seat. There is a link in my sig on how I did the seat mod if you are interested. Also setting the suspension for me and raising the forks in the triples a smidge helped. My bike came with the lowering dogbone, but if the one you get doesnt, that is an option too.

Happy Duc hunting!

[MVness]

Cool, thanks for the feedback! Are there good/bad years for the 750? On a good note, I think we may have found a 620 in our price range although I will need to ship it from a few states north. Fingers crossed!

[mmoore]

+1 on the 750. They are everywhere here in SF, and go for around $4500. Older 900s go for about the same $$, but may be a bit big.

Also, if you do decide to ship, check the FAQ section. Plus I'm sure you could ask on the local boards if you wanted someone to check out a bike in person.

Best of luck,
Michael

PS - have you thought about an SV 650? Not as nice as a monster of course, but they may be more available.

[mangeldbug]

the 750's were made from 1997-2002. The 2002 was the only year that they had fuel injection. Some of older models (I think just the Darks?) had single disk brakes up front. All have 5 speeds except for the model I have, the M750S, which has 6.
I dont know of any "bad years" per se.

[Speeddog]

+1 on the 750, just as suitable as the 620.

The '02 air-cooled bikes had the new style frame, something to consider from the mods standpoint.