Which of these two modern cafes would you choose?
I’ve only been riding a little over a year and looking to upgrade from little 250cc. Any suggestions for what I should consider when comparing between the Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe and the Ducati Scrambler 800 Cafe? Both have comparable miles.
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Kawasaki if you want your bike to always work, even if its not all that exciting. Ducati if you want relatively infrequent servicing, but those services will be EXPENSIVE. More fun engine character though
Depends, how much money do you wanna spend on services? Personally I feel the Kawi is the better buy.
I 100% agree with this. I used to work at a shop that serviced Ducati. Parts are VERY expensive. Even simple things like oil changes were really expensive, mostly because of the amount of shop time it takes just to remove all the stuff you need to in order to be able to do the job (mostly fairings and stuff which wouldn’t really apply to the scram though)
So my teammate races a zx10r and we have been talking about different bikes to have for street shenanigans etc. Apparently you can build out a z900 with Brocks parts to cut a 10 second quarter mile.
While I’m not a cafe guy, the idea of a cafe bike that can cut up older 1000ccs is kind of entertaining. They also look fantastic in black and gold.
What about SV650?
Good suggestion but the cafe lines aren’t there enough for me
I’ve got the scrambler and just a heads up it WILL roast your leg and nuts. So take that into consideration.
Form over function, it’s the Italian way
Z900 is going to be sooo much cheaper to maintain and also modify
As nice as the Ducati is, I was speaking to a guy yesterday who dailyed his Z900 and rated it extremely highly. The Scrambler has its own appeal though…
If I’d known that Kawasaki made a black and gold Z900RS with a racing-style quarter fairing straight from the factory, I’d very likely have bought one instead of my Aprilia. The couple hundred $ it costs over the Ducati will be made up for by maintenance costs within the first year of ownership unless you’re willing to do the cam belts and Desmo valve adjustment on the Ducati yourself (hint: it’s a pain in the ass). They’re both going to be fun and look great, albeit with very different characters; it really comes down to whether the Ducati’s inherently Italian cost of ownership is worth it to you.
Z900, but not green
The Ducati is nice but that z900rs is just all sorts of retro awesome. I’d pick that any day.
People are going to cite the disparity in reliability between the two, but something to also consider is how much a Ducati valve job (and general maintenance) costs. Desmo valves aren’t just a quick shim job, they’re mechanical and will cost you a lot more
