When you look at the Ducati ST4 on paper, it should be an excellent motorcycle - Superbike (888) derived frame, Superbike (916) engine and the same suspension that is used on the Monster - so when my wife decided her wanted to return to Ducati ownership, after a 7 years on a Suzuki Bandit 1200, and that she wanted an ST4, I had very high expectations.  The reality is that despite the superb individual components used to produce the ST4, it is actually greater than the sum of its parts and is a surprisingly good motorcycle.

My wife had previously owned a Ducati SD 900 Darmah which she sold in 2004, 2 years after buying the Bandit, but more recently she had become bored with the Bandit.  She still enjoyed it but it had no soul, no real character (if you've ever owned a Ducati you'll understand).  The hunt was on to find to suitable successor to the Darmah.  It had to be comfortable for longer journeys but still be able to "make reasonable progress" when the need arose.  There was really not much thought required, the ST4 ticked all the boxes, but finding one might not be so easy.

We made enquiries at dealers in Newcastle and Yorkshire (both over 200 miles away from our Central Scotland location) but as we had planned to be travelling down to Donington in the following few weeks it seemed like an ideal opportunity to view some bikes.  As fate would have it, an ST4 appeared around this time at a dealer less than 30 miles away.  A test ride was booked, a test ride was taken, and the rest is history.

This bike is a 1999 MY but was not registered unitl 2001.  It has had a number of previous owners however it looks like each one has looked after the bike as it is still in very good, almost unmarked, condition.  Very shortly after collecting this bike, the original exhausts were replaced with Ducati Performance exhausts, in order to let it sound as good as it should.

During the first year of owning this bike, my wife never really liked the silver paintwork so a change of colour, and perhaps something a little different, had always been part of the plan.  During the summer of 2009, we visited a number of bike painters to discuss her requirements and the all important cost.  After some disappointments we decided to give the bike to Bob Falconer, an airbrush artist, based in Arbroath near Dundee.  The ST4 was delivered to him earlier in May 2010 and was collected 4 weeks later.  The basic idea and design for the paint scheme was my wife's as she wanted it to look like the bike had been ridden through an Italian flag and the base colour is a metallic black with a "rainbow-fleck".  We are both very happy with the result, so much so that the Monster is next in line.