VOL. 54 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 7, 2017 P95
rather than intimidate you into shut-
ting off. The motor loves to rev,
and oddly for a V-twin is more than
happy sitting at the higher ends of
the rev range of 8-9000 rpm. The
11° V-twin is certainly an engine
of two halves, with excellent table
manners below 5000 rpm with a
penchant for partying above 8K. At
that engine speed, you'll be gently
lofting the front in the first two
gears and maybe the third if you
get on it hard enough, although if
you're in either the second or third
ABS mode the ECU will cut the fun
quickly indeed. For the record, if
you want to carry the one-wheeled
salute you can do it in ABS mode
one, but you didn't hear that from
me.
One of the aftermarket additions
an 821 customer can now have
is the Ducati Quick Shift system,
which, I feel, should be made a
standard fitment. The gearbox is
nonetheless still good, but it's not
the smoothest out there and a
DQS system should be at the top
of any discerning 821 buyer's list.
Project Leader Giuseppe Capr-
ara told me later that one of the
reasons they didn't fit the DQS as
standard was because the higher-
spec, more expensive Monster
1200 doesn't come with it either,
and they didn't want to spec the
821 higher than the 1200 for a
cheaper price—which I guess is
easy to understand.
The 821 is a physically small
machine for someone like me at
6'1," and even with the tallest seat
height of 31.89 inches (the small-
est seat height is 30.91 inches)
I found the ride to be a little
cramped when I wanted to really
get moving. This is due to the seat
shape in that instead of it being flat
with a pad at the rear, it's a con-
tinually upward curving design, so
when I moved back on the seat to
enable myself to slot into the tank
indents with my knees I actually
raised myself up and backwards,
instead of just backwards. This
problem shouldn't manifest itself
if you are under the six-foot mark,
but was still worth noting for the
(Above) Mid-speed cruising
manners are excellent on
the 821 with lots torque and
excellent low rpm fueling.
