I wouldn't hesitate to buy one as your first other then a naked bike that gets dropped you end up damaging really expensive stuff not easily replaced plastics.. although plastics on a duc are not cheap.
You can pick up a used monster for 3-4 grand every day of the week. Not saying this because you will drop it or you need something less powerful to start, some 600s today make more power then a 1000 5 years ago so this argument is kind of pointless, but the older ones are still fantastic bikes so you can get a lot more for your money picking up a slightly older one.
ducati maintaince is expensive and frequent though so make sure you are aware of that, valve adjustments timing belt replacements etc. Parts are NOT cheap either Friend with a 996 and another with an R1 had a little miscommunication at about 5mph bumped and ended up both dropping their bikes. R1 was a month or two old replaced the fairing shifter and fit peg, maybe mirror and a few other parts total was about 800 bucks. Friend with the 996 which was 3 years old paid over a grand for a foot peg, touch up paint and the sticker kit, fixed the fairing himself. They also didn't talk for about 2 years.
I go through monster fazes they haven't been on my mind in a long time and all of a sudden this weekend I wanted one again.
