[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by spuggy

Ducati were making bikes that no-one was buying, and were struggling badly. They'd been bought by Cagiva.

According to "The Monster Bible", in 1991 a chap called Galluzi, a designer working at Ducati, had stripped the garbage off his 888 and was riding it to work. Management saw it, and immediately told him to get it Production-ready...

They had originally intended to use SBKs as the platform - but the 900SS (which also used the 888/851 frame) were not selling well. So they had plenty of 2V 904 motors lying around - and went with those instead...

Market at the time was a whole slew of faired bikes with bodywork and impractical riding positions. Yawn. And also "clip-ons? Pah, I fart in your general direction"...

Monster started an entire "naked bike" trend which was aped by the entire industry, produced it in many variants and trim levels. They generally kept the costs down on the spec (non-adjustable forks, thinner disk rotors etc) and priced them low - and they sold very well, saving the company.

Eventually (after 2001 or so), they would just re-package the current SBK in parallel as a higher-end Monster model, (offered in parallel with the budget, lower-spec models) - eg the 2001 S4, which was a detuned 916 SBK motor/frame with (adapted) M900 cycle parts. Later S4s got the 996 and 998 SBK motors/frames as production switched over to those.



Waxed cotton is a wonderful thing - still pretty good for abrasion resistance, modern designs have provisions for armor, waterproof membrane if you want. And very waterproof. Size generously large so you can fit as many high-tech clothing layers underneath as it takes...

Silk is the best base layer for warmth with minimal bulk, IMO. Still. Silk glove liners, socks, balaclava, long johns.

You're a proverbial google for all things Ducati, thanks for the interesting story.