CarBrandLogos archive · Ducati · 1993

DucatiMonster

Take the fairing off, keep the frame, and accidentally rescue the company.

Photo: Monaroman68 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Ducati history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Ducati Monster, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Miguel Galluzzi's premise was simple enough to sound flippant: all you really need is a saddle, a tank, an engine, two wheels and handlebars. He built the case for it by raiding the parts shelf — the tubular steel trellis frame came from the 851 and 888 superbikes, the air-cooled desmodromic V-twin from the 900 Supersport, the front end from elsewhere in the range — and dressing the result in nothing at all. The engine and the frame were the styling.

Monster 796 · Monster1000 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

Shown at the Cologne show in 1992 and on sale shortly after as the M900, the Monster arrived when Ducati badly needed a volume product. Superbikes were expensive to build and sold in small numbers to a specific kind of rider. The Monster was cheaper, easier to live with, upright, and immediately legible to people who had never considered an Italian motorcycle. Smaller-capacity versions followed — the M600 with a five-speed gearbox, then a whole ladder of displacements — which made it a first big bike as well as a connoisseur's one.

2002 Foggy Ducati · GorgeRat · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

It became the best-selling model in Ducati's history and, for years, a substantial share of everything the company produced. It also created a template: the naked roadster with a visible frame and no bodywork became a standard category, and every manufacturer eventually built one.

2014 Ducati Monster 1200 · Dennis Bratland · CC BY-SA 3.0

Legacy

The Monster has stayed in production continuously since, moving from air-cooled to liquid-cooled engines, from trellis frame to aluminium monocoque, and picking up rider aids the original could not have imagined. Purists argue about which generation counts. The commercial fact is not really in dispute: the bike that saved Ducati was the one with the least on it.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1991–present

Engine

90° V-twin, desmodromic valves

Technical specification

The Monster, in detail.

Production: 1991–present
Class: Standard
Engine: 90° V-twin, desmodromic valves
Transmission: 5-speed (M600) and 6-speed sequential manual transmission, chain-drive
Manufacturer: Ducati

Explore Ducati Read the full reference ↗

From the journal