The Ducati Monster 821

The design of the Ducati Monster 821, like the Monster models before, is minimalist, and what immediately grabs your attention are the trellis frame and that huge 17-liter fuel tank. Ducati faithfuls will recognise the changes to the Monster 821 over the old Monster 796, such as the exhaust that has now been moved to the more conventional position on the side of the motorcycle’s swingarm rather than under the pillion seat.

The other big change is with the liquid-cooled 821cc engine. As soon as you fire it up, the Ducati explodes to life. Take to the broad, flat handlebars and you’ll find yourself seated in a familiar, sportily hunched position. The Ducati Monster 821 shares its chassis, fuel tank and the comfortable seat with the bigger Ducati Monster 1200, and feels rather nimble. Its 205 kilograms weight means it really flies off the mark while its short, 1480mm wheelbase lends it much-desired agility.

The ride-by-wire throttle is responsive to twitches lower down in the powerband, and there’s plenty of meaty initial torque to unleash. The Ducati Monster 821 propels itself with urgency and ferocity, but somehow, better than its overly prompt, linear acceleration is the scream that emanates from the twin-pipe exhaust. As you launch the needle north on the tacho, the engine note is matched by this motorcycle’s performance; makes you wonder why they’d even bother putting a horn on this thing. Even as you roll off the throttle, the way this beast spits and snarls is brilliant, almost overwhelming.

100km/h comes up in a brisk 3.9 seconds and you’ll really have to regulate the clutch to keep the nose down. The eight-stage traction control and three-level ABS units work well to rein in this motorcycle’s wonderfull uncouth character and teach it some manners. The huge 320mm semi-floating discs along with radially mounted four-piston Monobloc Brembo M4-32 calipers provide tremendous stopping power. Though not as beastly as the larger, more macabre Ducati Monster 1200, the Monster 821 new feels more of a ‘monster’ than the old Monster 795 and 796 ever did.

There are three riding modes to select from – Urban, Touring and Sport. And while the modes come with default settings where power delivery, ABS and traction control are preset, you do have the option of individually setting it to your desired level. And because there are just a couple of buttons with which you can cycle through the electronic options, toggling through to modify the setup may a while to get used to.

With the Ducati Scrambler around, the Ducati Monster isn’t the most affordable Ducati on sale in the country, yet at a price of 479,000 THB, it certainly makes a strong case for itself in the naked-bike segment.