MODERN MONSTER
It’s the 30th year of the Ducati Monster, with the first model launched way back in 1992. Today, we’re back to one open-class Monster, and interestingly it’s also a 900 – well 937cc to be exact. It’s still aimed at being a great city bike and fun weekend ride – sporty without having an aggressive riding position, fast without being threatening, good-looking and easy to live with.
Of course there are no interchangeable parts with the original air-cooled machine – indeed, this model represents a real break with the past. The trellis frame is now completely gone, replaced with a chassis that uses the engine not just as a stressed member, but as the basis for the chassis itself, with front and rear sections of the frame bolted on.
Where the 1992-model Monster was powered by a carburetted, two-valve, air-cooled L-twin, the 2022 version has fuel injection, liquid cooling, four valves per pot… only the L-twin configuration remains.
What hasn’t changed is the Monster nature: it’s an easy bike to ride, which represents fun and practicality.
LIGHT, COMPACT AND EASY TO RIDE
Although Ducati updated its Monster over the years, changes to the market and the widening of its range put pressure on sales – even bikes like the Scramblers would have cannibalised sales – which led to many of the different-sized Monsters being gradually dropped (there’s only this one and the ageing, re-introduced LAMS-compliant 659 currently available). However, instead of letting the Monster die, Ducati has re-invented the bike, building a new one with only the silhouette and L-twin powerplant really surviving the change. (It’s an ‘L’ rather than a ‘V’, because the front cylinder is almost horizontal… so if you’re looking at the right-hand side, it’s an ‘L’.)
The design brief
