I do love the Monster on paper (and by ear, and by eye) but I've generally signed off on Ducati for now and the foreseeable future. I could see it being my 3rd or 4th concurrent bike. Even my Honda needs maintenance that I seem to defer a little too much. While I have experience with depreciated Jaguars, I don't have the time to do that luxury maintenance on them all. In good weather, I just want to ride, in bad weather, I handle more pressing chores. But I did chase the sound with a VFR (V4) sport tourer. While Honda has two V2s, they're both sport/race oriented (VTR1000, RVT1000). And yet, I beleive I already have a street bike, so my dream is a 1098 sport, not a monster. Of course, you could always just get a 300 or smaller Japanese bike and have two bikes!

Anyway, since I haven't followed the Monster with any serious thought, I'd recommend just seeing if it's a wheelie machine. The Suzuki Sv650 (definitelynotaMonster) is twitchy in that regard. The SV won't loop in 3rd gear, probably not even 2nd without a clutch-up, but it's known to lift the wheel in spirited cross-traffic turns. Not so deadly, but can still ruin your day.

The weight fluctuation with atgatt struggle is real. The timing worked out well for me where I was down a fair amount after a rough couple years when I picked up riding. Only 10 kilos down though and could stand to lose another 10. While I wouldn't want to wait 2 years, I do acknowledge 50 kilos is a bigger swing. Sometimes the gear is tight in early spring, sometimes it's baggy by fall. Surely I think I'll make it down a full size for next season, but winter takes a toll. With regret at the time, I've already re-bought all my gear at about the same sizes because the first set wore out (all textiles, regular wear and tear, couple mild slides).

I was an adult when I started. I wish I started as a good, but I've accepted starting as a teen would have come with consequences. I've been active on bicycles all my life and credit that for good understanding of bi-cycle physics. Antics on a pedal bike cost less. Learning countersteering on pedals to command lean is invaluable to me. Everybody countersteers to lean, but most people think they're just leaning their torso. They're inducing a countersteer every time without realizing it because bi-cycle geometry is already worked out for the.

Stay shiny side up, wherever the road takes you.