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Without its Monster range, Ducati wouldn’t be in existence today. It’s as simple as that. While the 916 and its designer Massimo Tamburini might have been grabbing the headlines in 1995, none of his work would have made it out of the factory’s gates had it not been for the genius of Miguel Galluzzi and his incredible foresight.
Using his philosophy that all a motorcycle needed was “a saddle, tank, engine, two wheels and handlebars,” Galluzzi took the trellis chassis from the 888, mated it to the 904cc air-cooled engine from the 900SS and debuted his new bike at the Cologne Motorcycle Show in 1992. He called it a Monster, and it was the first modern streetbike.
In 1993, the term “street bike” or “naked” bike didn’t exist. With the introduction of the FireBlade in 1992 sportsbikes were kings and rider’s minds were either focused on going fast or touring. There were some bikes without fairings, but these were either middle of the road commuters or outdated and heavy retro bikes. All were a far cry from the glorious Monster. Next to the light and sharp steering Ducati, bikes such as Honda’s insipid CB1000 (Big 1) and Kawasaki’s terrible Zephyr 1100 were outdated dinosaurs. The Monster was something new, a bike with the chassis and engine from a sportsbike, but the look of a café racer. Riders all across Europe went nuts for this new concept from Ducati, which inevitably lead to other issues.
“It wasn’t a matter or selling them, it was getting the bike in the first place,” says Ray Petty, who ran Claesson Motorcycles in 1993. “The reaction was amazing, the Monster was affordable and people snapped it up. But the factory was a nightmare. Because money was tight they didn’t pay people like Brembo, so bikes were stuck on the production line without brakes, as Brembo refused to supply calipers until they’d been paid.
“Then there was the finish. They used to paint the bikes in one factory then wheel them across to another with the paint still wet, the finish always had blemishes. It was a bloody shambles.”
But shambles or not, the Monster 900 captured the imagination of a wider audience and, from its launch in 1993, went from strength to strength, mutating into various sizes with different engines but still remaining true to its original design. Which is both its charm and its downfall.
Continue for the 1993 Ducati Monster M900 used review
