I just bought a 2005 Ducati 999 2005 and loved it every bit...for just three days after which I locked the front wheel and wrote it off !! The front brake is really a bit too effective...and the chassis and bodywork eztremely fragile, I was only going 30 miles per hour and after a 30 yards slide the whole bike is wrecked...my Ducati experience so far has been rather short but sweet. Should I give up or risk doing the same to another 999 ? I rode a 165 bhp Honda Blackbird in all weathers for two years prior with no spills. However, the 999 is the best handling, most responsive and involving machine I have ever ridden and makes most Japanese super bikes feel positively dull. It rides like it is alive ! I´d recommend it to anyone but it does need to be ridden with extreme care as it is deceptively fast and those brakes can be deadly if you are heavy handed (like me!)...perhaps a bike built for race track super heroes and not middle aged twits going through their mid life crisis (better stick to BMW and Honda which are idiot proof).