Story by Mike Seate, with Chris Abel and Nick Coumos
Photos by Mike Seate/Ducati North America
Change is controversial, especially in the high-stakes realm of performance streetbikes. In few 2021 models is this more apparent than with Ducati’s radically revamped Monster 950. The machine has boldly done away with much of what made the Monster a global top-seller for 28 years, from the steel trellis chassis to the bulbous fuel tank to the raw, surging power delivery. The redesigned bike, introduced earlier this year to much online bickering, is so different from previous Monsters that Ducati’s PR team declined to invite Cafe Racer to the May press launch in fear that our readers would dismiss the new bike outright.
They were quite mistaken as is anyone un- willing to appreciate the all-new Ducati because this is one of the best motorcycles we’ve ever ridden. Yes, that’s quite a statement, but peep this: seldom do motorcycle manufacturers choose to directly address the myriad quirks and niggles of popular machines, but Ducati have created a Monster that’s magically tossed away everything that made the bikes a lesson in tough love – the snatchy, low-speed manners, the rock- hard seats and the cramped ergonomics – and created a bike that suffers not a single one of these maladies.
