Make room for a MONSTER

Why Ducati's naked café racer is a tempting used prospect.

- WORDS: JON URRY PICS: GARETH HARFORD

Ducati's Monster model range has formed the financial bedrock on which the firm built to create its more eye-catching sportsbikes ever since Miguel Galluzzi first came up with the concept in the early 1990s. However, the Monster's life hasn't always been plain sailing. After a horribly confused and cluttered model range throughout the 2000s, Ducati trimmed back the stable of Monsters to allow riders to have a more defined choice. In 2021, it went a stage further, releasing a Monster model that would become the only machine in the model range to carry this iconic name.

Harking back to the ethos of the original 1993 Monster M900, the new Monster (it is now just called Monster) was designed to be minimal in both design and engineering and as such arrived with very little additional clutter. Just as Galluzzi had envisaged the first Monster model, which was basically a 900SS motor stuck in an 851 frame, the new Monster used a Panigale V4-inspired frame with a SuperSport-derived V-twin motor at its heart. And boy, did Ducati get it right...