60's,70's,80's Ducati's as a first bike?

I've been wanting a bike in the worst way, and am in love with old ducati's.
My question is, would a 60's or 70's or 80's era Ducati (probably a Scrambler or something similar) be a good choice for a starter bike? I should be able to handle the mechanical side of things, and will just be riding it to work every once in a while through the city, like 10 miles (if we get to move as close as we are looking at doing)
My mom's boyfriend is going to be helping me learn to ride, I know how to do it, just need practice time.
I'm not interested in crotch rockets or harleys or goldwing-like bikes

While I'm rarely one to say bad stuff about Ducatis, for a first bike, you need to focus 100% of your attention on learning to ride and doing it safely. You don't need the added distraction of Italian mechanical noises.

The smaller cc ones are probably slow enough that you could learn on them okay though. I started on a fun, light, small, EXTREMELY noisy Honda, and I turned out alright.

I have a buddy who bought an '07 Monster as a first bike. Based on his experience with a modern one - I'd say unless you prefer to push your motorcycle to where you need to go, find something a little less Italian.

Those older scramblers are good bikes, but they will require regular maintenance.

Any $1000 UJM will run forever, so why hassle with wrenching when you want to be riding?

Yeah, those will be expensive/time consuming to get running right. You want to be enjoying yourself. I mean, what if you spend money on the bike, then spend time and money getting it to run, and finally it turns out that you don't like riding? Sadness...

On the other hand, it could be quite rewarding keeping an old Italian bike running. A friend of mine learned to drive in his Dad's old Alfa. Despite the frequent fettling and tinkering, he really loves that car.

Woody wrote: While I'm rarely one to say bad stuff about Ducatis, for a first bike, you need to focus 100% of your attention on learning to ride and doing it safely. You don't need the added distraction of Italian mechanical noises.

I'm with Woody on that, and that's from a guy who had a fairly rare Italian bike as his first bike (a 125cc Moto Morini).

If you have the means, get a cheap, ratty Japanese bike to learn on. One you really don't give a E36 M3 how it looks that has a heart of gold.. Buy favorite Ducati. Spend rainy days fixing the Duc. Spend sunny days learning to ride the rat.

Appleseed wrote: If you have the means, get a cheap, ratty Japanese bike to learn on. One you really don't give a E36 M3 how it looks that has a heart of gold.. Buy favorite Ducati. Spend rainy days fixing the Duc. Spend sunny days learning to ride the rat.

good idear... I wanted a 70s duc to make it just kind of blacked out and fun (don't care about having a really fast bike, just a ride-able one that sounds cool lol)
so now you had me looking at old hondas at work! thanks! lol
found some really cool stuff so hopefully I'll get the ball rolling on this thing.

Oh, and good thing is, as temperatures drop, so do prices. Usually.

There's no Ducati I'd suggest as bike number 1. I've ridden for 30+ years and worked in the industry for some time, specifically in charge of a parts department of which Ducati was one of 7 lines, and for a year selling them, again, among multiple lines.

A 25 mph light crash on a 1980s Japanese standard can cost double digits if you decide to buy a new turn signal and mirror. Lightly dropping any Italian bike is much more costly, and if it's not something with current parts availability you'll be trolling eBay or paying crazy money to Bevel Heaven .

Ducatis are great second bikes. Despite the fact that the only customer of mine that died on a bike they bought from me did so on a baby Monster, the 600s/649s are nice little bikes. If you want classic but also parts availability and real handling and brakes, the Ducati Sportclassic series are very nice, and the unfaired ones have gotten as cheap as the SS and Paul Smart versions have gotten expensive.

I'm hoping to get something along the lines of this:
http://charlotte.craigslist.org/mcy/2724217877.html

actually, the link posted above is the one I want, but I doubt it will hang around for a month waiting for me to get the extra money for it. and I love the sportclassic and SS line's, but I believe I am going to go vintage jap for this one. maybe pick up a duc later on.
This bike is just going to be something to learn on (both learning how to ride and learning motorcycles in general) and work on, project bike as opposed to the more expensive alternative: project car.
thanks, all for the help, and I'll keep ya updated. If I can get the yamaha xs, then I'll definitely start a thread on it.

I always recommend one of the big 4 jap bikes as a starter. Parts are easy to find and cheap. plus super easy to work on.