BIKE OF THE YEAR: THE WINNER
No, no, no we aren’t going to let it slip here.
Nowt like a dancing, squirming, rising and falling B-road. Taking the convoluted route from A to B and calling at C, D and E. These ever-changing snakes are our natural home. We don’t hunt straight motorways or gravel-strewn tracks. And we all have favourites, roads where corners, topography, views and lunch stops deliver two-wheel perfection and keep us going back. The B664 is one of ours. Nadgery knots, humpbacks, cascading descents and hilltop sweeps, it dissects three counties and has been used for Bike tests since the 1980s. We know every grain. Now, here in 2021, this 12-mile stretch confirms why the all-new Ducati Monster is our Bike of the Year. There are clearly more powerful, high-tech and exotic new models this year, we’ve been frothing over them on the preceding
‘That Ducati have been brave with the redesign while taking it back to its spiritual roots is very commendable’
pages, and picking a winner has been harder than for any recent Bike of the Year. But the Monster squeezes to the front not because of trinkets, shouty features or unnecessary power, instead it’s the Ducati’s simple brilliance at just being a bike. ‘I love the simplicity of the ethos,’ says Hugo. ‘This is a motorcycle, it’s job is to make you smile.’
And smiles come thick and fast. Leaving Uppingham the B664 is a tangle of turns before plunging into the Welland Valley along mountain-like hairpins, and the light-onits-tyres Monster dances. Gone is the occasionally stodgy handling of some previous versions, this new bike is nimble, eager, with lighter steering and keener reactions than Yamaha’s MT-09 datum. This doesn’t mean skittishness. Its fixed forks and 1993-alike yella shock aren’t the flashest but there’s nothing amiss with the springy bits – Michael said, ‘ride quality is my favourite bit,’ and it’s easy to see why. Into, through, climb the other side, and the 937cc liquidcooled V-twin is a joy. Fuelling is sweet, torque delivery as polite or punchy as your wrist requests. There’s a hint of chugga-chugga at very low revs but it isn’t a flaw – I like being reminded that I’m on a big twin, and the desmodromic Ducati supplies engaging feel and living, breathing character without the chain-slapping lumpiness of ye olde V-twins. It’s an easy bike on which to build brisk, flowing, effortless pace. Third- and fourth-gear kinks flick east and west as the road rises to its peak, the Monster demonstrating its breezyyet-compelling deportment. A tight 90-degree left proves how ace the brakes are. We know from datalogging that the Ducati stops dead (see Sept issue), and a single-digit squeeze is all it takes for Brembos, just-so weight transfer, quality damping and fabulous feel to give eye-bulging deceleration. From here the landscape changes again, a series of rises and open sweeps ushering us to Medbourne. The V-twin thrums airily across the rolling landscape, its suspension, high-quality controls and just-so riding position working in harmony. It all feels fun. It feels right. Into the village and the Ducati feels classy too, pipes rumble inoffensively, solid colours and simple style mean I don’t feel too conspicuous. Pretentious sweepy indicators fit in with the Audi masses.
Onward, further, more. The southern end of the route strides across farmland, straights punctuated with kinks and picturesque villages. All too soon it hits the junction where the A427 and A6 meet near Market Harborough, but handily there’s a roundabout. The Monster flicks round in an instant, confidently cranking with a pleasing hit of Ducati’s trad’ lean-loving character, and we’re back on the B664… Many miles of grin-spreading antics and I struggle to nitpick. On the balls of my size elevens and a heel occasionally brushes the exhaust shield. The natty underseat storage with USB outlet isn’t big enough to accept an average phone. And accelerating hard out of a bumpy second-gear corner the front gives a flutter. It’s not instability, but a mix of snappy gearing and instant torque, rippled surface and a fool gripping too tight. I don’t mind – it’s a high-spirited reminder of the bike’s new-found cheekiness. I quite like it. The Cagiva elephant in the room is whether this is still a ‘proper’ Monster. For the first time in a 28-year model run there isn’t a trellis frame or air-cooled engine. Some say it’s too contemporary, even bland – Michael admits he mistook the Ducati for ‘something Japanese’ in our gloomy,
cluttered lock-up. But it’s definitely a pukka Monster. The original M900 came about when designer Miguel Galluzzi saw a Ducati 851 with no bodywork in a Japanese magazine and vowed to make a bike as minimalist and pure. After commuting on a stripped 888, he got consent to use the 851 superbike’s frame and planned to use its eight-valve, liquid-cooled motor as well. But the factory was littered with air-cooled 900SS lumps, so his hand was forced.
With the ‘front frame’ from the Panigale superbike, the liquid-cooled V-twin from the Supersport and minimal fussiness, the new Monster is true to Galluzzi’s concept; it’s what he’d build if he’d dreamt up the Monster today. ‘That Ducati have been brave with the redesign while taking it back to its spiritual roots is commendable,’ says Hugo.
It’s also good value. Heading into Market Harborough the twin is propped kerbside while I wander off for calories, and its presence stops me in my tracks as I return. This is a proper, high quality, finely detailed, red blooded Ducati with the performance to upset rivals. Yet it’s a super-competitive £10,763 on the road. Half what an all-singing Multistrada V4 S costs, the ticket puts the premium Monster wheel-towheel with cooking rivals. ‘Ten grand for a really engaging, characterful, well-built and highly-equipped roadster with a Ducati badge is really, really impressive,’ says Michael.
In ’93 we said the original M900 was, ‘damn good fun, a blast to ride, good value to boot’. It was a huge hit and the cornerstone of the firm’s success for years. Though still of its time (and fizzing with electronics), the light, comfy, easy-toride new Monster is the return of a simple, smile-spreading, great value bike... and a joy on the B-roads of biking Britain.
‘I love the simplicity of the ethos. This is a motorcycle, it’s job is to make you smile’