Choosing my new monster

[rendo]

Looking for some advice that i may not have through of myself

I'm looking at two bikes, both look immaculate.
a '96 m600 with 11k miles, part service history but owner claims to have sussed out the bike and all the mot's and receipts are well organised. i didn't go through in detail, but everything looked ok. but price is over book.

the and an 03 m620ie with little over 3k miles. current owner has had it 2 years and its only done around 400miles in that time. service history is there but nothing in those two years. new mot. is good value for age/mileage.

my initial thoughts were the 03, and put it through a service at ducati glasgow. even at £400 for a full service its probably still decent value, but concerned of those two years pretty much sitting idle.

any views welcome

 

[Derek]

Go for the '03, it is a much better bike. Ducati technology moved on a bit in 6 years
Two years sitting idle won't do any harm. But it will definitely need belts changing and probably the battery too. A full service including changing the coolant and the brake and clutch fluids should take care of the rest although the tyres might be a bit dodgy. If they have been kept in a dark place and the pressures maintained, or better with the wheels off the ground they might be ok, but if they have been outside and subjected to UV light they will be past their best. You can tell the age of the tyre by the figures after the DOT mark on the sidewall. For example DOT 1509 would have been produced this week, where the first 2 figures are the week number and the second two figures are the year.