I have considered this many times, none more so than when Ducati was offering 0% finance in the summer on the 749 dark. It's a real hard one, I have been following the reviews that Perfromance bike have been doing on their long termer and it always receives real favourable creative writing, a few reliability issues but nothing to worry about. I think this is a decision that many of us will need to make over the coming years... I guess it depends on your preference, as much as I love the spec of the R I could live without the differences but I cant get enthusiastic about paying more for a lesser spec bike (discounting the benefits of age). I think that I will wait and see what happens to the price of the 749r before I make the change. Good luck with your decision. Mark |