Ducati Monster
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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 two models: M750 and M900 (numbers denote engine size). The bike remained relatively unchanged until 2000, when Ducati added fuel injection to the M900 model and Mikuni carbs to the M750 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 Showa inverted forks.
In the third generation series there are four models (http://www.ducati.com/bikes/my2004/monster.jhtml): 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.
See also
- Ducati v Japanese Motorcycles (http://www.ducati.com/bikes/techcafe.jhtml?detail=article&value=miscellaneous&part=miscellaneous&artID=11)