VOL. 51 ISSUE 9 MARCH 4, 2014 P63
height. The standard seat height
was good for me, so I didn't go
any lower.
Now some people – like me
- move their feet back and forth
on the pegs when setting up for
a corner. So if you're like me then
you will feel some limitations in
the footpeg area of the new 1200
Monster. I kept feeling the back
of my boots hitting on the back
part of the cast section footpeg
holders. No big deal, you just
have to adjust your foot position-
ing a bit and you will be fine.
After a lengthy lunch break we
were back on it and came upon
a really long straight
and bumpy section
of road. I was curious
what the Monster was
capable of in such
rough conditions as I
found this section of
road a bit unnerving.
Although the 1200
Monster was skim-
ming over the bumps
well enough there was
a sense of nervous-
ness to the bike. With
all that power at a flick
of the wrist you might
think that the throttle
would be the culprit,
but that wasn't the
case. Actually, it was
very smooth. Some-
times when you hit a bump it might
jolt you back causing you to grab
a handful of throttle. Not so on the
Monster. With this it was more a
case of chassis setup.
I have come across this sce-
nario in the past and found that
by loosening off the suspension
a bit the problem is cured. While
you may lose some stability on
the faster, smoother corners, it
can save your rear in the bumpy
stuff. I could have stopped and
adjusted the new Ohlins 48mm
fully adjustable front fork (com-
plete with TiN coating) or the
Ohlins rear fully adjustable piggy-
back style shock that features a
lint-less type mounting configura-
tion straight to the rear cylinder
head, but once we got out of the
bumps the Monster came good
again. Granted I had the thing
pinned in top gear or close to
it so that might have had some-
thing to do with it.
While the S model features
Ohlins suspension the standard
Monster 1200 comes with a fully
adjustable 43mm Kayaba fork
up front and a Sachs unit in the
rear -with spring pre-load and re-
bound adjustments only.
The new Monster 1200 has
quite a motor. The powerplant
comes straight from the Super-
bike-derived 1198 Testastretta
motor, but as powerful as that
sounds the new Monster 1200 is
quite practical.
There were a lot of sections
throughout the day where you
could really open it up and it was
never a problem, even while ex-
iting tight corners or negotiating
fast bends.
The new second-generation
1198 Testastretta 11-degree DS
(Dual Spark plug) motor has been
refined for a more customizable
and user-friendly character. At
135 hp (8750 rpm) for the stan-
dard 1200 and 145 hp (8750 rpm)
for the 1200 S model, the new
Monsters deliver quite a bang.
But it is the impressive torque
curve with a peak output of 87 lb-
ft for the 1200 and 92 lb-ft for the
1200 S, both at 7250 rpm, that
really makes the bikes shine.
The Monster 1200 will
sell for $1500 more than
last year's Monster 1100
Evo; the tricked-out S
model will run you $2500
more than the standard
model.
