really, you need to ride both bikes.
The gixxer will be immediately familiar being an i4, but you may not get on with a v-twin instantly. For me, coming from a big single, I was at home with the twin straightaway, but you might take a good few miles to ‘get it’.
Out of the box, a lot of riders find Ducati sportsbikes to take some effort to turn, but once it’s on it’s ear, it’s more stable than, er, a place you keep horses.
Re reliability; depending on the bike, you’re talking about something that’s between four and ten years old.
As it’s been said before, the electrical issues Ducatis used to have were on 916 and early 748s. Anything built after 2001 uses jap electrics so is as reliable as a jap bike, or more so.
Re belts, I’ve rarely heard of one fail. When they do go, it’s usually because they have been used after the two year replacement schedule, or they’ve been tensioned incorrectly.
Aircooled Ducatis are generally easier to look after than the watercooled ones and many owners of these bikes do most of the maintenance themselves. Mostly simple.
My experience, running three Ducatis is expensive, but my Monster runs the 998s motor and has never let me down. It’s done 12,000 miles in three years in all weathers - pouring rain, sub-zero, 40 degrees and sunny - and has never failed to start. I’ve lost count of the times my ktm has refused and the Ducati starts on the button, getting me to work. It’s been serviced twice in that time and never failed.
My other two are just expensive bikes. One is a track bike and has a load of RS parts on it, the other is mental - 2004 749R with 137bhp at the wheel. That kind of power out of a little motor takes some looking after. I think there’s a vid of it on the dyno on here somewhere (search youtube - 749RS).
I’ve had one ‘breakdown’, which didn’t leave me stranded, but almost did. The fuel relay decided to intermittently cut out. That cost a whopping £3.89 to fix. Left me gasping, I can tell you.
In your position, I’d buy a snotter for commuting in all weathers and a really nice Ducati that you can get excited about riding when the roads aren’t full of crap. Insurance isn’t too bad if you’re an old fart and you can usually insure two bikes for the price of one if you’re the only rider. Use someone like Sean at DucatiRaceSupport to give it a good look over if you buy it privately or buy from a dealer. Make sure it’s had belt services every 12,000 miles or 2 years. There’s nothing wrong with the older bikes, but I’ve gone for the later testastretta motors, which can take a real pounding.
One of the good parts of owning a Ducati is that the owners are real enthusiasts and know their bikes. There’s a huge amount of free knowledge about the bikes. I have a lot of good buddies now who ride Ducs. Nice people.
And next time the sun is out, get down to Box Hill. Look at the average age of the Ducatis down there, then look at the average age of the jap bikes. Then tell me Ducatis are unreliable.
Enjoy!