For nearly 30 years, (since 1993) Ducati have been churning out big, brutish naked bikes under the Monster moniker. Since then they?ve sold over 350,000 of them. That?s averaging over 1,000 a month. Fair play. Personally though, I?ve never been much of a Monsterphile. I think it?s because growing up, I thought naked bikes were a bit ?wet? (remember when they weren?t quite as cool"). But now I?m older I realise the error of my ways. So when the opportunity came to test ride the new Ducati Monster, I quickly accepted, keen to know whether the latest in a long line of Monsters could ?turn? me. And I?m not ashamed to say, it did. Here?s why?

First of all, before we get into the nitty gritty of what the bike was like to ride, let me address the elephant in the room. The new monster doesn?t have a ?traditional? steel trellis frame. Some will argue that ?it?s not a true monster without a trellis frame?? but if Ducati say it doesn?t need a trellis frame to be a Monster, it doesn?t, does it" Things move on, get over it. If anything, I think it?s nice to see Ducati making a bit of a statement; it?s function over form. They?re concentrating on performance, rather than tradition.
Bantam-weight

And because things move on, this Monster is 18kg lighter than the Monster 821. That?s thanks to the lighter, Panigale V4-esque frame set up, the lighter wheels, subframe and swingarm. And you can?t half tell the difference. Even before you?ve gone anywhere on the Monste...