Ducati Monster 1200 S

Quick Review by Maxabout Team

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A., with its headquarters in Bologna, Italy is a world renowned Italian company that manufactures and design motorcycles. The company was founded in 1926 by Antonio Cavalieri Ducati and his three sons Adriano, Bruno and Marcello. It was named Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati and produce radio components, condensers and vacuum tubes in the starting. It gradually gained success and starting manufacturing motorcycles by 1945 and since then has excelled itself with sheer hard work and innovation. As the competition grew, it faced some problems gradually and is now owned by Audi through its Italian subsidiary Lamborghini.

Ducati Monster is a naked bike with an exposed engine and frame and elemental simplicity which was designed by Miguel Angel Galluzzi and entered into the market in 1993. It gained immense popularity and success immediately and since then became a major product of Ducati household, accounted for almost two-thirds of Ducati's output. Recently, Ducati announced during a press conference of launching the third generation of naked monster bikes, thus showcasing two spectacular machines, Monster 1200 and Monster 1200 S at the 71st EICMA show in Milan, Italy in November 2013.

2015 Ducati Monster 1200 S is a perfect synonym for stylish and sporty design, aggressive looks and advanced features, carrying just everything that a Superbike flaunts. It has a carbon fiber front mudguard, light and aggressive machined rims, powerful Monster-fly-line, bright round headlight flanked by the forks and includes bulb light for high-low beam functions and LED technology for the two position lights placed at the sides. It has a dry weight of 182kgs and kerb weight of 209kgs along with a large wheelbase of 1511mm for a stable and comfortable ride. It has a rake and trail of 24.3-degrees and 93.2mm respectively and a front and rear wheel travel of 130mm and 152mm respectively.

Design and Style

2015 Ducati Monster 1200 S has three Riding Modes: URBAN, TOURING and SPORT, which can be enabled by combining technologies such as Ride-by-Wire (RbW), Ducati Traction Control (DTC), multi-calibration 9MP ABS and the graphics on the instrument panel. It can be done by the control from the left-hand switchgear and Riding Modes can be used to instantly change power delivered by the engine, the activation levels of DTC and ABS and the graphics on the instrument panel according to individual needs. A default option is also available to return all the settings to factory pre-sets. The bike is made much more formidable by a Ducati Safety Pack which like the 9MP ABS system and the 8-Level Ducati Traction Control comes as a standard feature. There is also a standard Performance Package which includes increased power and torque, advanced suspension and braking system, carbon front mudguard and new Y-pattern, 3-spoke wheels (also LED turn lights in European market).

It also has a full-TFT instrument panel with variable display configuration which can also adapt automatically to variations in environmental light and can also change according to the selected Riding Mode or wholly according to the rider's needs. This instrument panel has three different configurations which varies in information displayed, display layout and background style: CORE view is preset for URBAN Riding Mode which displays only the most essential riding information, FULL view is preset for TOURING Riding Mode which displays more information than earlier in the same layout as CORE and TRACK view is preset for SPORT Riding Mode which displays more crucial information such as an rpm bar graph in the same sporty layout which is present in 1199 Panigale.

Engine and Gearbox

2015 Ducati Monster 1200 S has a 1198.4cc, L-Twin cylinder, 4-valves per cylinder, Desmodromic, Liquid-cooled, 11-degrees Testasretta engine with a maximum power of 145 bhp at 8750 rpm and a maximum torque of 124.5 Nm at 7250 rpm and is mated with a 6-speed transmission. It uses an Electronic Fuel Injection System which has 53mm throttle bodies with full Ride-by-Wire. It has a bore and stroke of 106mm and 67.9mm respectively and a 12.5:1 Compression Ratio. It also has a light-action, wet, multi-plate clutch with hydraulic control which has Self-servo action on drive and Slipper action on over-run. Its chassis has a Tubular steel Trellis frame which is attached to the cylinders head. The lightweight 2-1-2 exhaust system has catalytic converter, two lambda probes and twin aluminium mufflers.

Suspension and Braking System

2015 Ducati Monster 1200 S has 320mm diameter semi-floating dual disk brakes with radially mounted Mono-bloc Brembo evo M50 4-piston callipers and radial pump with ABS as standard at front while 245mm diameter disk brakes with 2-piston floating calliper and ABS as standard at rear. The suspension system consists of Ohlins fully adjustable 48mm used forks at front while Progressive Linkage with fully adjustable Ohlins monoshock and Aluminium single-sided Swing arm at rear.

Shades and Ex-showrroom Price

2015 Ducati Monster 1200 S is available in a single variant in two shades which includes Star White and Red. The ex-showroom, Delhi price of this magnificent bike is INR 24,33,444. It also comes with a warranty of 2 years/unlimited kms along with Maintenance Service Intervals of 1 year/12,000kms and Valve Clearance Check after 30,000kms.

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