If all of your riding will be normal street riding then the monster is more fun and better on the street. But why are you only looking at Ducati? We sell Ducati, as well as all of the Japanese bikes at the shop I work at. I work in the service department and as another guy said..Ducks are VERY high maintenance. When you walk into our service department it's odd to see so many Ducati's in for service compared to the rest. They are sort of delicate, in that you MUST have ALL of the factory maintenance done on time or it WILL give you problems. All of the four major Japanese bikes are pretty much bullet proof. That's just the way it is.