Garage Night

The previous decade, I mean …

Got together with Pete, Trent and Richard last night, and Pete had the latest issue of Motorcycle News featuring Ducati’s reinvention of the Monster, the 696 (you’ve got to check out this Ducati promo, it’s a giggle).

Riding to work the same morning, I had been thinking of how, for me, the Monster would have to be the bike of the 1990s.

I remember when my mate Dave bought his. It was the year 1997, I think. I had a Cagiva Elefant 900 back then, and riding a bike with the 750 Ducati engine was a revelation.

The pig-headed, snatchy, lumpy low-end, dry-clutched 900 engine is fun in its way, once you get used to it. Dave’s Monster was fun right from the word go – a willing engine that pulled right off the line and a really flickable frame. My arms were splayed out to grip the bars, and my grin was almost as wide. The all-round nicer engine is the reason I have the 750 version of the Elefant these days. Continue reading ‘Monster: Bike of the decade?’