2015 DUCATI MONSTER 821
FIRST RIDE
P96
design statement, but otherwise
near-identical chassis layout, just
with less high-spec hardware.
At $11,495 it's well priced in a
Ducati context and it's practically
a bargain against the Hypermo-
tard in which the new bike's liq-
uid-cooled 88 x 67.5 mm 821cc
Testastretta 11-degree engine de-
buted 18 months ago.
In Monster guise this deliv-
ers a claimed 112 hp/82.4kW at
9250 rpm, 2 hp more than in the
Hypermotard and a massive 25
hp up on the 796 Monster, plus
65.9lb-ft of torque peaking at
7750 rpm, and as a 135-mile day
riding out from Ducati's home city
of Bologna proved (initially spent
ultimately unsuccessfully trying to
dodge thunderstorms before the
sky cleared and the roads dried),
this delivers a significant step
up in performance and handling
from the 15 percent less torquey
desmodue 796.
First impressions are every-
thing, though, and the big thing
you notice first about the new
Monster is that designer Gianan-
drea Fabbro has hit the bull's-eye
with the styling. Hop aboard,
and you discover the best rid-
ing position yet on any Monster
- one that's obviously been very
carefully thought out to provide a
stance that is both commanding
and comfortable, yet also com-
municative.
The extensive 29.3 to 32.6-
inch range of seat height choice
for the new bike will deliver a pos-
ture that suits just about anybody,
but the stock 31.8-inch number
was just fine for me. The bike
was comfortable whether cutting
corners through Bologna rush-
hour traffic (and there is almost
certainly no better traffic tool than
the new midi Monster) or carv-
ing canyons up in the Apennine
mountains, where its intuitive
handling really showed up well.
That's thanks not only to how
the subtly revised stance, with
the rubber-mounted one-piece
taper-section handlebar pulled
back an inch and a half closer to
the rider and 1.5 inches higher
than on the Monster 796, makes
you feel a part of the bike when
you start hustling it through turns,
but also because of the way that
thanks to the chassis packaging
it feels much lighter than it really
is.
At 395.7 pounds dry (453
pounds fully fueled, ready to
Some 295,000
Monsters in various
capacities and
guises have been
sold since the debut
of the original 21
years ago.
