Ducatis hold Monster appeal for James Wright.
James, a member of our parts, clothing and accessories team, still hankers after his first big bike – a Ducati Monster M600.
He bought the 1995 model in 2008 when he was working at a Ducati dealership.
But he had to wait to ride it because he was only 16 at the time so could not even take his motorbike test.
“I was working in a Ducati dealership at the time and it came in from a customer. It had so many trick bits and accessories on it and I just had to have it,” he recalled.
“It was my first big bike,” said James who started on a Yamaha TZR50 sports bike before moving on to a Yamaha XT125 supermoto.
“There’s nothing like a Ducati when it starts up. That’s what got me into them – the noise.”
What made it so special was that it was loaded with Ducati accessories including the Corse paintjob for the petrol tank, a carbon fibre front mudguard, dual cluster instruments which added a rev counter to the speedo and an Arrow racing exhaust which sounded wonderful.
“My dad could hear me coming home from college about a mile away.”
He sold the M600 after riding it for about a year, and covering around 7,500 miles, to buy a 696 Monster. Both James and the M600’s new owner still have those same motorbikes.
“I’ve tried to buy the M600 back a few times but the person who bought it won’t sell it,” he added.
