I wanted this car all through high school and I was finally able to buy a use one a few years ago and my 98 spider has only had a couple of problems. nothing with the top so far (thank god) but a trip to the dealer with this car is never a trip I look forward to.

I don’t have one but My good friend is a sales manager at a Ducati dealer. I rode the dealer demo for about 3 days. And it really is an amazing bike. Its nice a soft with the big stuff but you can really drive it hard through the corners and grab a hand full of the throttle. I really didn’t have any trouble with rough roads (as rough as they get in California) really the one thing that got on my nerves is that its about 2” to wide and it makes it hard to sneek through traffic at lights. But the trade off is worth it.

I would recommend to at least test ride one. It will put a huge smile on your face.

I have to say this bike may look a bit goofy but it is so much fun to ride. you can grab it and manhandle it around every corner and any speed.
So much fun!

but will it be enough of a step to go from my mk3?

hummm......

Aprime

Sadly people don’t understand that the free market ideal is a farce. It is now more feasible them communism (utopian ideal) The reality of these systems is they don’t work because they don’t take into account human nature and greed. The system only works if you take the human element out of it.

that repsol trials bike is sweet

All i know is that im going to take good care of my XB12r. It is really sad that they are cutting this brand. Maybe someday we will see another buell.... I can hope cant I

Im not sure why there is all this animosity toward the idea of VW buying ducati. Being an avid rider and having owned and enjoyed everything from buell firebolt, R1’s a 998 and now a 1098s.
I cant think of any reason ducati would not benefit from something like this. Lower manufacturing costs and endless recourses for R&D to continue one of the greatest racing programs in motor sports.
Really It could bring the reliability up to the standards of the big four (though the new bikes are much better) and I do my own valve adjustments.

You should buy one then you wont need to get the badges off for people to know how much you spent on your car....

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/11/report-more-europeans-prefer-to-go-shaved-for-the-discreet-look/2#comments

I was always under the impression that most people did one of 2 things. Paid Cash and drove home, Or leased the car for a couple of years and then paid cash for the depreciated value of the car.
But what really strikes me about this is that I would not consider myself a “rich” guy but I just finished paying for my car and I could swing that payment (if my wife agreed paid the mortgage) lol But 12 years really? Who would…. Or why?