Doc Sarah's Motorcycle Pages

Ducati Monster 600

Honda 90	Kawasaki GPZ500s
Yamaha SR125	Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat
Kawasaki EL250	Yamaha YZFR1
Ducati M600	And Stephen's GSXR600
Honda VFR400 NC30

This was a good bike to move on to after the EL250, although I wouldn't really call it a beginner's bike because it has too many quirks. I fell in love with this beautiful beast the minute I saw it in the showroom. It was so smart, so sexy and so very Italian. It also had a low seat, and I could reach the ground very easily by my standards, which meant I could get the ball of my foot down on both sides.

Good points:

Fantastic sounding engine and exhausts
sensational looks turns heads wherever you go - it is a beautiful piece of modern sculpture!
loads of grunt
good handling
high ground clearance from low seat height.

Bad Points: Oh dear - there are simply too many of these!

Electrics work when they feel like it, and certainly not in the rain.
no fuel reserve, so you have to trust either the fuel warning light or the trip meter, neither of which were reliable on mine!
speedo and generator both failed in a bike under 5000 miles
carb icing until kit is fitted
Brakes are underpowered for the bike - I needed to change to better pads but even so, not up to the job.
THE SIDESTAND flicks up when you don't want it to, so it falls over in a strong wind. Hard to get the sidestand down while still on the bike.
Everything made of alloy and very fragile, all parts expensive
pillion seat a joke, nowhere to bungee luggage
relatively underpowered for a 600 only 53bhp, both my 400 and 500 made more.
dreadfully heavy clutch, very snatchy clutch, difficult in town because of a high first gear, tendency to stall during low speed manouevres, and if you try to rev it, the dry-plate clutch smokes
top heavy, difficult for a small person to push around because of large tank in the way of the bars
almost totally absent steering lock meaning 27 point turns are a reality

.......too many bad points to make up for the good.