Ducati Monster
.jpg)
Ducati Monster (Il Mostro) is a motorcycle produced by Ducati, in Bologna, Italy from 1993-present. Its introduction marked the beginning of the naked bike (fully exposed engine and bodywork) movement, and it accounts for almost half of Ducati's worldwide sales. Ducati is best-known for its Desmo engine and its tubular steel trellis chassis, both designed by Fabio Taglioni (1920-2001).
Ducati introduced three models: M600, M750 and M900 (numbers denote engine size). The first M900 was shipped in 1993, the M600 in 1994 and finally the M750 in 1996. The bike remained relatively unchanged until 2000, when Ducati added fuel injection to the M900 model. Other technical changes that year included semi-floating front discs with Brembo four-piston calipers and lighter Brembo wheels as well as 43 mm Shōwa inverted forks.
In the third generation series there are four models: M620, M800, M1000 and S4R. US prices range from $6,595 to $13,495, making this bike relatively expensive compared with comparable Japanese motorcycles from Honda, Kawasaki or Suzuki. Most recently the S2R model has been added to the Monster range; it is styled like the 4 valve S4R, but has the simpler 2 valve 800cc motor. A 1000cc version of the S2R using the 1000 dual spark engine is due for production in late 2005.