Monster Love

 

The Ducati Monster is my favorite motorcycle. Well, that’s mostly true. Sometimes another bike can challenge for the top spot in my motorcycle hierarchy, but most of the time if you ask me, my favorite is the Monster. If that Monster is matte black, then look out, I’m reaching for my wallet. I mention the Monster because I just read this article from Motorcyclist. I hadn’t realized that Ducati has already been making Monsters for 25 years.

It was around 1996 when I first noticed a photo of a Monster. Prior to this, I was definitely interested in motorcycles, but I hadn’t had much interest in reading motorcycle magazines. That year, I was a junior in high school. For some reason, I was placed in a study hall with only middle school students. I literally knew no one. So, I spent that time in the school library, where they had a monthly subscription to Cycle World. I’d read that magazine cover to cover and anxiously await the next month’s copy. This is when I first saw the Ducati Monster.

I can’t say I fell in love with it instantly. I’m sure I thought it was cool and would’ve liked to have one, but I could say that about a lot of bikes. This did put the Monster on my radar, though. Two years later when I was traveling to Milwaukee to visit my Grandfather, I stopped in a Ducati dealership to check out the new bikes. There it was. A matte black Monster 750. That’s when I truly found my favorite motorcycle. 21 years later, I’m still riding a Ducati Monster.

If you haven’t seen a Monster in person, go check one out. Make sure it’s matte black, though. It’s not that I don’t like other colors, but yellow and red just don’t look as good on a Monster in my honest opinion.

“So that was it. This bike was really not like any other Ducati. It was just like the loud stubby powerful thing on its way into the ooze. A prehistoric beast. A monster. The kind of animal you thought they didn't build anymore.” - from Monster Story by John Burns, featured in Cycle World