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2009 Ducati Monster 1100 And 1100 S

“A pure concentrate of lightness, power, design and exclusivity…” That’s Ducati marketing-speak for the new Ducati Monster 1100 and 1100 S. And that’s why ‘marketing departments’ were invented, friends: to see how many unlikely, meaningless and unrelat


"A pure concentrate of lightness, power, design and exclusivity..." That's Ducati marketing-speak for the new Ducati Monster 1100 and 1100 S. And that's why 'marketing departments' were invented, friends: to see how many unlikely, meaningless and unrelated words can be squeezed into a single sentence without actually saying anything. It's about as important as finding out how many people you can fit into a Volkswagen (I think the answer is 84).

What the toilers in Ducati Marketing mean - if I can loosely translate - is "the new Ducati Monster 1100 and 1100 S are ball-tearers". And they'd be right. Each, take your pick, is about the second-best thing you'll see naked on any given day and has grunt written all over it.

The new Monsters are currently being shown at the International Motorcycle Show in Cologne (INTERMOT), but we won't see them here until December at the earliest. With the Oz dollar currently worth about as much as a small pile of toe-nail clippings, or slightly less, pricing is anyone's guess.

Even more 'pared down' than their predecessors and now weighing in at a trim 169kg (and 168kg for the S version), both the 1100 and 1100 S are the lightest bikes in the category. After 15 years of evolution and refinement, and powered by Ducati's two-valve 1100cc Desmodromic twin (bore/stroke 98mm x 71.5) delivering 95hp at 7500rpm and torque of 10.5kgm (79.5lb-ft) at 6000rpm, the new Monsters promise impressive on-road performance. 

Soon as we can herd one into the TMR cave, we'll let you know.

While each features a single-sided aluminium swingarm and race-oriented chassis, the 'S' gets a bit of added fruit. It comes with adjustable 43mm titanium nitride coated Öhlins forks, progressive Öhlins rear shock absorber (with adjustable pre-load and return damping), and carbon fibre cam belt covers, silencer guards and front fender. Also setting it apart are Ducati racing gold-coloured 5-spoke wheels.

Now numero uno in Ducati's Monster family, the new 1100 and 1100 S are sure to send a ripple or two through the naked category.

Ride free friends. And if you can locate any of that "pure concentrate of lightness" stuff, try adding it to the Bourbon. The Dirk.

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