Considering an '06 620 Monster Dark

[wmjbyatt]

I've been riding for about two years now, but so far I'm only on cruisers. I'm looking at getting a Euro naked now, and there's a shop up the road from me with an '06 Monster 620 Dark with 28K miles for sale. I'll be going to look at it this week, so I have a couple questions:

First, are there any mechanical or electrical gotchas I should be looking for when I do my lookabout?

Second, what are your experiences with owning and maintaining a 30K+ mile Monster? This bike will probably get ridden quite a bit, and I expect to stay with it for a while if I get it.

Third, what would you all suggest as a price point? Kelly Blue Book says $4,600 for excellent condition. How much should 28K miles depreciate that?

[philb]

Aside from all the usual bike stuff, on a Ducati you want to see some decent maintenance records, and especially that the valves have been checked regularly somewhere near schedule, and that the cambelts have been replaced within the last two years.

You will also want to make sure it ahs all the keys -- there should be one red key (important!) and two black ones.

Other than that, they're pretty normal, and very durable and reliable. A friend on mine has about 50K on her M620, and it's been a reliable bike. Mine's older and a little different, but the same basic design and mechanicals, and I'm over 200K on it.

PhilB

[65218]

They hold up just fine- the 2 valve aircooled motors are tanks as long as they have been maintained. a few typical Duc issues are that the clutch fluid turns dark fast, the o rings at the clutch slave and pushrod leak occasionally, nobody ever cleans and lubes the rear suspension pivots- so do that right away. The stator wires tend to become a vent for the crank case pushing oil into the voltage regulator, just check it and clean the connector occasionally until you can pull the case cover and reseal the wires. 05 and newer has a plastic tank that tends to swell with high ethanol content fuels. See if it stil qualifies for warranty replacement and get the new tank profesionally epoxy coated for the best results. get a manual, a torque wrench in newton meters, and a set of 1/4 stahlwille or hazet brand metric allen sockets and your life will be pretty easy with these bikes.

As far as the price- its a Duc, they aren't fleetingly rare, but they aren't as readily available as hondas. The KBB value is always off. Look on cycle trader to get a good idea of what they are going for nationwide. Bikes tend to be a seasonal purchase- the same bike in montana will sell for much less than it would in florida in january. by april, everyones bikes go up in value... A bike is only worth what you are willing to spend on it. Compare, buy what you'll enjoy, maintain it meticulously, and ride it untill you can't ride no more.

[Delray]

The asking price seems a bit high, but maybe it is higher in your zip code? Excellent retail is $4325 with trade-in at $3000 here. I would be looking at something in the middle or lower with that mileage.