I used to own a suzuki maurader 800 and was perfectly happy w/ it.  My brother started looking at naked bikes, so I searched the internet to help him with suggestions.  I ended up on the ducati site.  (a brand I had never seen on the street)  I came across the dark 696 and thought "Holy shit!" ( I know opinions are varied when it comes to this particular bike, but mine was a positive "holy shit")   I sent a picture to my brother with the message, "This bike looks like if someone tipped it over in a parking lot, it would pick itself up and kick there ass!"  Two months later the maurader I had just repainted, put new signals and mirrors on and chopped, was sold and my dream monster was ordered.  Since that time I've come across this site.  When I ordered the bike my only plan was to get different mirrors.  My bike won't be here for another week and already, thanks to you dmf, I'm planning on getting mirrors, levers, powder coating, painting, etc., etc., etc..  So thank you dmfers  for taking me from a perfectly happy- dream bike on the way- biker, to a guy who's gotta convince his wife that there are a multitude of things wrong w/ my NEW bike and they can only be fixed by throwing  more money and time into it.  A special thanks to all of you who have posted pics of your heavily modded bikes that have caused an embarassing amount of drool to seep from the corners of my mouth. Bastards!  (I'm talkin' to you "Murdered Monster")    So, if you're new to this site and love your duc, leave.  Just leave!  Save yourself and your wallet and LEAVE!!

Well.....just look at it this way.


When the wife is mad at you about new parts-you get a good excuse to leave the house and go on a ride.


It's win-win.

Welcome and Congrats on your new toy. The M696 is amazing.   

Damn, you need a wife like mine, she seems to be happy with my upgrades on the bike, I think she understands that I have to make it my own and fiddle with the bike and upgrade and modify to suit my personal taste.

thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Sorry brother.  I did the same thing when I bought mine. I planned to change a few things and next thing you know, $$$$$$$. BTW, I don't have a wife. It's easy for me to spend my whole overtime paycheck on modding my bike. I'm not rich or even close to it. But when you're not married, well you guys remember how it is. I honestly think mods are a never ending battle. There's other things that I've done and want to do since my last post. I'm getting more padding put in my touring seat as we speak so my nuts are squeezed up against the tank anymore. I'll be posting in a few days. Once again, sorry bro. 

Danmack_98,  Welcome.  Other than the steeply sloped seat (read: hard on the boys), the M696 is a great bike.  Congrats on your bike.  Mine's red.  Ride safe. [moto]

All mods are for safety reasons!

Suspension & brakes are obvious
Exhaust - equally obvious - loud exhaust saves lives
Ergonomics (rearsets, seats, clip ons or risers, grips, .....)
Mirrors - better view = safer ride
Engine mods - gets you faster out of (not into!!) trouble
Carbon fiber/chopping - lighter bike stops faster
Bling (so called) - if it makes your bike look better, it will make you keep it out of trouble/danger

who can argue with expenses to improve safety?

Quote from: stopintime on September 15, 2008, 03:06:51 PM
All mods are for safety reasons!

Suspension & brakes are obvious
Exhaust - equally obvious - loud exhaust saves lives
Ergonomics (rearsets, seats, clip ons or risers, grips, .....)
Mirrors - better view = safer ride
Engine mods - gets you faster out of (not into!!) trouble
Carbon fiber/chopping - lighter bike stops faster
Bling (so called) - if it makes your bike look better, it will make you keep it out of trouble/danger

who can argue with expenses to improve safety?

Thanks.  I'll have to use some of these lines.  Nice to get wisdom from someone who's apparently been there!

Once your at the point of purchasing a sweet exhaust, you can then tell her "it is a sound investment."   

Quote from: r_ciao on September 15, 2008, 02:55:31 PM
Danmack_98,  Welcome.  Other than the steeply sloped seat (read: hard on the boys), the M696 is a great bike.  Congrats on your bike.  Mine's red.  Ride safe. [moto]

Some things don't change.

you can be happy with it stock, and you can be happy with it after dumping as much as the cost of the bike back into it.   Make sure to ride it and enjoy it no matter what it has done to it though.

congrats.

Quote"This bike looks like if someone tipped it over in a parking lot, it would pick itself up and kick there ass!"

This might be my new favorite saying

Quote from: ICON on September 15, 2008, 03:17:32 PM
Once your at the point of purchasing a sweet exhaust, you can then tell her "it is a sound investment."   

Zing!!!!

Congrats!  I just today (being the recently brokified person that I am) sat down and wrote up a list of all the mods I want and in which order they're going to come.  I can highly recommend to anyone that wants to keep their bike and wants to keep throwing money at it to avoid this practice.  It's one thing to know that you're dropping a lot of cash into your bike.  It's quite another to see it in writing, and I even left out some of the "optional" mods.

I was once in the same position as you, with exception that my Duc is my first ride.  I'd wanted a bike for years and years and finally decided to bite the bullet and buy one.  Upon looking around at all my options I stumbled upon a used 620 on ebay and was absolutely floored.  I'd always loved Ducatis, though mostly through superbike stuff, a la my old room mate, but the monster was something entirely too intoxicating to pass up (especially when I discovered they were in my price range).  Enjoy.

Quote from: Some Dude on September 15, 2008, 05:28:36 PM
This might be my new favorite saying

+1  I think that may even make me feel better about leaving the bike in a less than ideal parking location.

Just wait until the M1100 comes out with that SSS!

Congrats and enjoy!

Welcome aboard. You could always just buy her one to match!