Of all the streetbikes in Ducati’s lineup, the Monster model has proven its most successful, having sold hundreds of thousands since the first one rolled off the assembly line 28 years ago. Over the years, the Monster concept grew, literally, becoming big, heavy, and full of plastic. Motorcyclists spoke with their wallets, and the Italian company is returning to the Monster’s core competence with a smaller, lighter naked bike that hopes to rekindle the love of Monster. Tune in to this extended-version video review, where we talk about the Monster live from the official North American press introduction in San Francisco. Also be sure to peruse the 2021 Ducati Monster First Look Preview article to learn more about the individual changes in written form.
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Full story here: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/2021-ducati-monster-mc-commute-review/
Photography: Ducati North America
Video/edit: @AdamWaheed
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--
Full story here: https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/reviews/2021-ducati-monster-mc-commute-review/
Photography: Ducati North America
Video/edit: @AdamWaheed
Motorcycle Riding Gear
Helmet: Arai Signet-X
Jacket: Cortech Marquee
Gloves: Racer Tour FHH
Pant: REV’IT! Austin
Boots: TCX X-Cube WP EVO
Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist
Shop Products We Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/motorcyclistmagazine
See more from us: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey folks, good morning and welcome to this special edition MC Commute coming to you live from the official North American press introduction of Ducati's 2021 Monster and Monster Plus naked bike.
00:15 Let's swing a leg over this thing and tell you what it's like to ride.
00:19 Alright folks, here we are at the official press introduction of Ducati North America's 2021 Monster and Monster Plus.
00:34 When we start talking about the Monster and Monster Plus, you're like, "What are the differences?" Well, we can spot them real quick. The Monster Plus adds an accessory fly screen and an accessory removable passenger seat cover.
00:52 That is how Ducati defines the Monster Plus. And it has a $200 more expensive MSRP, which brings the MSRP on this 2021 Monster Plus to $12,095.
01:09 If you don't want the fly screen or this passenger seat cowl, that will be the standard Monster and that's $11,895.
01:22 Ducati paired these two accessories because those are the two most popular accessories for this bike.
01:31 So if you were to buy them separately, it would be a couple hundred dollars more. So if you want those components, buy the Monster Plus and save yourself a little bit of money.
01:41 I like that little fly screen. It looks cool, dude. I like that cowl. That thing looks neat too.
01:47 Well, enough talking about it. Let's hop on this thing and tell you what it's like to ride. Now, I have already put my various settings that I like into the motorcycle.
02:03 We can access those settings via this color TFT display. I think it's about 4.2 inches in size. We are in sport mode. Sport mode with max engine power.
02:22 DTC I've manually disabled. ABS is in the lowest setting, least restrictive ABS mode 1. And because DTC has been disabled, wheelie control is also turned off.
02:42 So we can pop the wheelies. See? We can do wheelies. But for those of you who aren't comfortable with doing wheelies, you can have DTC active, wheelie control enabled,
02:59 and you can adjust the engine power pullback when the front wheel is raised. So very nice technology. Ducati is always forever updating the traction control programming,
03:20 and the programming is getting pretty good. It is worth noting, though, Ducati's traction control and their whole electronics system is set up for, even though there's a lot of adjustment in there,
03:37 holistically it's set up for more high-level riders. Even in the least restrictive setting, you have to be a very, very capable rider for the traction control to even start intervening,
03:53 because that's how Ducati sets up the bikes. But it's nice being able to make the traction control adjustments in 8 increments, plus off.
04:07 Well, we got a little bit ahead of ourselves with the electronics. Let's get into the ergonomics. Ergonomics on this motorcycle, I like this handlebar.
04:23 It is maybe a little bit lower than I would think a Monster would be, but it's not too low. And the rearward sweep isn't excessive. The handlebars, it's not the widest, but it's got a good bend. I just like it.
04:43 The seat, the seat is nice and low, fairly comfortable. I'm a tall rider, and I like that there's a good amount of seat room. I can scoot back, and I don't have to worry about touching the passenger seat, because I have a little bit longer legs.
05:03 Of course, riders that are more height challenged, you can purchase an accessory low seat option, which further reduces the seat height. You can also purchase a tall seat option, which lifts the seat height.
05:23 Ducati also offers a suspension lowering kit. So theoretically, if you're someone who's really height challenged, you can fit the lower seat and the low suspension link and stand flat-footed at stops.
05:43 Very nice feature and very, very good attention to detail. We like that Ducati is an inclusive company and wants everyone to ride its vehicles.
06:02 Engine. This monster is powered by Ducati's 937cc Testastretta L-Twin engine. This is a 90 degree V-Twin engine, liquid-cooled, eight valve cylinder heads, and it has Ducati's 11 degree valve overlap.
06:27 11 degree valve overlap is in reference to the duration when both the intake and exhaust valves are open. This helps make for a better spread of torque and smoother throttle response.
06:46 Ducati's been doing this for a while, and the engine in this bike, it works really well. Ducati, for the 2021 Monster, they didn't just plop down the same 937cc super sport engine.
07:04 They actually did some important tweaks to the engine. It's got new pistons, new connecting rods, new cylinder heads. They dropped a substantial amount of weight from the engine. I think six pounds alone from the engine with these new parts.
07:21 Very impressive. The clutch mechanism has been redesigned. It now benefits from 10 plates, help give it a little bit extra durability. And instead of having six clutch springs, there's now only three, which makes for easier clutch lever pull.
07:42 Of course, this bike has hydraulic assist, which makes it a little bit easier to press the clutch in with your left hand.
07:54 Of course, in typical Ducati spirit, there's a lot of clutch and brake lever adjustment available so you can move the levers farther toward the handlebar or more away based on your hand size.
08:12 So six pounds less inside the engine, and also very important enhancement they made is inside the six speed gearbox, there's a new shift drum.
08:27 Now, the transmission on this 937cc engine, and even the previous engines, the transmission was always one of the Achilles heels of these Ducati motorcycles.
08:42 It would always pop out of gear, it felt sloppy, and it was just a really poor performing transmission.
08:49 Well, Ducati has finally fixed that. Finally. Thank you, Ducati.
08:55 And the new six speed transmission works great. Has nice short lever throw, a nice good secure gear engagement, there's no more sloppiness, the bike doesn't pop out of gear like it used to, and it's a very nice improvement.
09:14 Good job, Ducati, it was about time.
09:19 The six speed gearbox also benefits from a standard electronic quick shifter.
09:27 The electronic quick shifter allows you to make gear exchanges without having to use the clutch.
09:35 Whether you're up shifting up or down, you just press on the gear shift lever and the bike goes in the next gear.
09:43 I love quick shifters, all bikes should have them in my opinion, because it just makes riding more fun and safer, especially during corner entry.
09:55 I also like that this electronic quick shifter benefits from IMU powered programming, so the vehicle's combined gyro accelerometer, aka an IMU, gives feedback to the electronic quick shifter,
10:19 so it helps make more optimized power cuts based on vehicle speed, lean angle, all that stuff.
10:30 In effect, it just works really well. I really like the powertrain on this motorcycle.
10:39 The engine is manipulated via a ride by wire throttle system, so Ducati has made really great strides recently in their ride by wire programming, and the throttle response on these bikes is just really good.
10:58 It goes from mild to wild with a few swipes of a button, there's a high power mode, a medium power mode, and a low power setting.
11:08 Right now we're riding in the high power setting, but even in the high power setting, the throttle response isn't too sharp. It's easy to manage the motorcycle when you're twisting the right grip.
11:30 Now, this Ducati L-Twin has desmodromic drumming valve train, so the new Multistrada V4 went to a more conventional valve train strategy, but Ducati's sticking with its guns with this monster.
11:53 Oil change intervals are every 9,000 miles, and valve adjustment durations every 18,000 miles.
12:05 Now, not only does this engine have good power, it sounds very nice. It's got a nice, pleasing rumble. The exhaust is much less tinny sounding than the previous Monster was.
12:22 I couldn't stand the exhaust note on the old Ducati Monster and Monster 1200. It sounded cheap, it sounded tinny. This exhaust note sounds much better.
12:36 I like the vibration that the engine has. It's not excessive, but it lets you know you're riding a V-Twin style motorcycle.
12:52 Now, Ducati, if you can even believe this, they were able to remove 27 pounds of weight off this motorcycle.
13:02 Which is awesome, because when the Monster 821 and Monster 1200 came out, I did not like those bikes. I did not like those things. They were big, they were heavy, they were long, they looked silly, they rode kind of silly.
13:18 And this 2021 Monster is almost a return to the core ethos of Monster. Of course, you're still going to have the Ducati purist, who are like, "That's still not a Monster! It's got too much plastic, it's got a twin-spar front frame. It's not a real Monster, it's not air-cooled."
13:40 But, realistically, this is a turn back in time to the OG Monster. This motorcycle is much smaller dimensionally, weighs less, 416 pounds, with a full tank of 3.7 gallons of fuel in the tank.
14:00 And it's just way more nimble and maneuverable. I like it. The one thing I always liked about the Monsters of old, the air-cooled Monsters, was how nimble they were, how simple they were, how easy it was to ride these things. And this bike is returning to that core. So, good job, Ducati.
14:20 Speaking of the front frame, this motorcycle has incorporated Ducati's twin-spar aluminum front frame. This is a chassis that it first introduced with the Panigale V4.
14:42 And it mixed attributes of a typical Japanese twin-spar frame with Ducati's old-school, original monocoque frame idea, and it works really well. It allows for a nice, light motorcycle, yet it has good feel and good rigidity when you're whaling on it through the corners.
15:10 Alright, guys, we gotta take a little break. We're gonna do our photo stop here. So, we're gonna do photos, and then we will check in with you because there is some more talking to be done on this Monster. So, stay tuned.
15:28 Alright, folks, we are back on the bike. Mission accomplished after our photo shoot. Let's continue and pick up where we're talking about the front frame and chassis.
15:42 Ducati did a great job with the front frame, and it works very well in this Monster application. It makes for a motorcycle that's slim, compact, light, still has favorable flex and feel character when you have the bike leaned over on the shoulder of the Pirelli Diablo Rosso 3 tires, and it works very nice.
16:10 One thing we didn't talk about ergonomically speaking is this. The water pump housing is literally right there, is in the way, and it bumps up on the inside of my knee and makes it just really annoying. I really do not like that feature. It drives me nuts.
16:32 Now, if you're a shorter rider, you might even not even have your knee hit that port side water pump area because your legs are shorter, and it just won't do that.
16:44 Suspension on this motorcycle, just over 5 inches of travel fore and aft. We have an inverted fork up front, a hydraulic shock absorber that mounts directly between the swing arm and the engine.
17:06 Now, there is no linkage, and this motorcycle, it handles good, steers really nicely, feels very lively, but the suspension, I wouldn't say the suspension's, it's not terrible.
17:24 It definitely has good compression and rebound damping character for a non-adjustable setup. Yes, it's a little bit springy, a little bit fast, but not overly fast.
17:36 But for whatever reason, this bike, you can really feel the bumps through the road. And there was a certain stretch of road that we navigated earlier where just the bumps, my God, you could just feel them just through the bike, through the bike, through the bike.
17:56 And it almost, it just felt like the suspension wasn't working. It was very odd. So, the suspension on this bike is a mixed bag. It has worked okay in some situations, but in others, it really wasn't my favorite.
18:14 And for $12,000, it doesn't have any adjustment, which is kind of crazy. I mean, $12,000 for a street bike and you don't have any damping adjustment, that just seems kind of goofy to me.
18:29 Now, because this is a press introduction, we are not able to ride this motorcycle after dark, so we cannot comment on how effective its LED light components are.
18:42 But I do like the shape of the headlight. It's got that signature monster look with a nice LED ring, and it just looks really appealing.
18:56 The taillight is also very aesthetically pleasing, as you can see there. It's got a nice shape. It's very minimalist. I like it a lot. Ducati did a good job with the look of the lighting.
19:11 I also like that it has LED turn signals. Thank God. Some bikes, despite having LED head and taillight, they don't have LED turn signals, but this bike does.
19:25 Alright, guys. It's starting to cool off a little bit. Let's go and turn on the heated grips.
19:35 This Ducati Monster Plus is outfitted with Ducati's heated grips accessory. It's right around $300 for this accessory, and it just makes riding more comfortable when it's cold out.
19:52 The little icon has illuminated, saying that we have high heat mode activated.
20:00 Now, we talked a little bit about this 4.2, 4.3-inch color TFT display. Now, the display has a lot of information on it, but it needs to be bigger.
20:14 This display is too small. It's the same complaint we had on the previous Monster 1200S. The display is just too small, especially for a motorcycle that costs $12,000.
20:26 This display needs to be bigger. It needs to be at least five inches in size. So, Ducati, please, you fix the transmission, fix the display. We need a bigger display.
20:38 The menu navigation, it's a little clunky for my taste. I like menu navigation that's really intuitive, like it would be on your iOS-enabled smartphone.
20:54 But after you figure it out, it's not so hard to navigate the menu system. You do it with the switch gear here. There's an up and down switch button, and then the turn signals also double as a mode and an enter button.
21:12 So, through a combination of that, you can adjust your vehicle settings, but it should be slicker.
21:20 Speaking of the instrument display, another neat feature that this bike has is the auto adjust backlighting of the screen.
21:34 So, the screen will automatically go into night mode, which is white fonts on a black background when the ambient light sensor picks up that it's nighttime or dark outside, like it is in this tunnel.
21:57 Now, when we return to daylight, the sensor registers that, and it goes to its daytime setting, which is black fonts on a white background.
22:13 You can also manually adjust the display so it is to your liking, regardless if you're riding in the day or the night.
22:24 There, it changed. I am a big fan of dark mode. I run dark mode on everything.
22:30 Black background with white fonts is absolutely the way to go.
22:38 But it's cool that Ducati allows you to adjust that setting in the display or have the machine do the heavy lifting for you.
22:49 Fuel economy wise, we've averaged 39.5 mpg. 39.5 mpg.
22:59 To be fair, our riding has been somewhat lower speed. We haven't really been giving our big helpings of wide open throttle.
23:10 So, 39.5 mpg sounds pretty reasonable.
23:17 This motorcycle drinks from a 3.7 gallon capacity fuel tank. It's a plastic fuel cell.
23:26 So, getting nearly 40 miles to a gallon, in theory, this thing should go right around 150 miles, in theory.
23:39 But if you're giving this thing copious helpings of twist grip, your fuel economy is going to go down considerably.
23:50 Brakes on this monster. This bike employs triple disc hydraulic brakes with Brembo radial mount calipers up front.
24:01 The brakes system is augmented through a Brembo radial mount master sonar.
24:09 These brakes have good stopping power. I also like the response of the back brake.
24:15 Ducati has a history of not doing rear brakes very well, but this rear brake works very nicely.
24:24 It has good feel, and I like motorcycles with nice powerful rear brakes, and this bike has a decent setup.
24:35 Of course, it has ABS. We talked about the three level ABS with cornering function.
24:45 I love the ABS programming on Ducati motorcycles. I love how, even in the least restrictive ABS mode one,
24:55 you still have to ride the bike and actuate the brakes with crazy veracity for the ABS to even cycle in.
25:04 It's a very advanced system. I also like that when you have ABS level one on,
25:12 it disables rear ABS so you can still do brake slides and have some fun. Good job, Ducati.
25:18 You can also do endos on this bike. You can do nose wheelies.
25:22 The ABS programming is so advanced that it can sense. It doesn't restrict you from doing endos, and I like that.
25:32 Engine power wise, Ducati claims 111 horsepower out of this engine.
25:40 Realistically, it's going to put probably right around 96, 97 horsepower at the business end of the Pirelli Diablo Rosso III tire.
25:53 That was an awesome wheelie.
25:56 Speaking of the tires this bike rolls on, the tires are mounted on a wheel set that is also a lighter.
26:07 So not only is the frame and engine lighter, but the wheels also shed weight too.
26:16 Roughly 27 pounds less in total than the outgoing Ducati Monster 821.
26:26 And less is always more, especially when it comes to these Ducati Monsters.
26:33 All right, folks, here we are riding on the freeway.
26:38 Because this is a naked style motorcycle, there is no wind protection from the elements.
26:48 We are feeling the air through the cockpit.
26:54 While this fly screen looks cool, it doesn't actually do anything.
27:01 But at 80 miles per hour in top gear, the engine is pulling just over 5,000 RPM.
27:13 We talked about the engine vibration.
27:16 Engine vibration is present through the handlebar and the foot controls.
27:22 But I wouldn't say it's excessive.
27:26 These Ducati Monsters and Ducati's L twin engines have a very unique character.
27:35 And vibration is part of that character.
27:40 So I wouldn't say vibration is excessive.
27:43 But you're definitely going to feel it through the controls, through the foot pegs, through the handlebar.
27:49 So if you're a rider who doesn't want any engine vibration, do not buy this bike because the engine vibrates.
27:56 Another thing I like about this Monster is just the engine.
28:01 I like how much torque the engine has.
28:04 Even in top gear, you can twist the throttle and the bike accelerates forward very nicely.
28:11 Of course, if you want to grab a couple downshifts and do it that way, you can.
28:16 But you don't have to.
28:18 This engine has a good amount of torque to pull these higher gears, even at a lower RPM.
28:26 Alright, folks, we are back in the city.
28:30 Back in San Francisco.
28:33 We're going to wrap things up.
28:36 And then we are out of here.
28:39 Well, folks, there it is. Ducati's 2021 Monster Plus.
28:45 Again, it differs from the standard Monster with its fly screen and hard plastic passenger cowl.
28:54 I enjoy the changes Ducati has done for 2021.
29:00 This Monster goes back to Ducati's roots.
29:06 In a way, it doesn't fully go back to the original Monster formula.
29:11 I really like the styling on this motorcycle.
29:15 I like the engine.
29:17 I like that Ducati finally fixed the transmission.
29:21 Finally, after years of complaining about it, it doesn't jump out of gear anymore.
29:27 Good job, Ducati.
29:29 I also like the handling of this motorcycle.
29:33 It's much more nimble. It's much more playful.
29:36 Just like the Monsters used to be.
29:39 But the suspension on this bike.
29:42 The suspension, I like the damping and the action.
29:46 But, man, when you hit some bumps on this thing, you really feel them.
29:50 The suspension's okay, but it's not great by any means.
29:55 This bike in Monster Plus with the $300 accessory grips, this bike costs $12,400.
30:05 That's a lot of money for this bike.
30:10 Yes, it's fast. Yes, it's peppy. Yes, it looks cool.
30:14 But it's just too expensive.
30:16 I would have a hard time spending $12,400 on this bike.
30:21 It's just a little bit too expensive.
30:23 Well, folks, that wraps up our special edition MC Commute.
30:27 Live from the 2021 Monster Ducati official North American press event.
30:34 Make sure to log on to MotorcyclistOnline.com.
30:37 That's where all of my written content goes.
30:40 And we'll see you later. Thanks for watching.
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