Get Hotcars Premium. Start your free trial today

The Iconic Ducati Monster Celebrates Its 30th Birthday With The New SP Version

The year 2023 will be the 30th birth year of the legendary Ducati Monster. To celebrate it, Ducati had to do something special to commemorate the occasion. After all, Monster is the motorcycle that turned out to be the best-selling motorcycle Ducati had ever made.

Born in 1993 as the pet project of a young designer working for Ducati, the Monster M900 was an instant hit. With the inception of the M900, the legend of the Monster was born, which continues to woo everyone who has even an iota of aesthetic sense. Ducati Monster SP is a homage to the brand that single-handedly pulled the Bologna-based motorcycle manufacturer away from the clutches of bankruptcy.

Related: 10 Things Every Motorcycle Enthusiast Should Know About The 2022 Ducati Monster

Welcome the new Ducati Monster SP – one of the seven that the Bolognese manufacturer plans to launch in the next three months. Even though the Ducati Monster SP doesn’t seem to be a major upgrade to the existing Monster, it surely seems to have more ‘goodies’ in terms of technology and suspension.

The new Monster is believed to flaunt the same 937cc 90° L-twin motor that delivers a mouth-watering 111HP and 68.6lb-ft of power and torque respectively. This ‘street’ bike is a little lighter than the previous generation which makes it more ‘flickable’ around the corners, and the added technology will ensure that you come out of those corners unhurt.

Inspired by the 2022 MotoGP machines, the Ducati Monster SP’s livery gives you every right to behave and ride like ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, if you know who he is. The new and improved Ohlins suspension on both ends is fully adjustable. This allows you to lean as much as gravity allows. The forks are also lighter than before which contributes to the overall weight loss of the Monster SP.

Termignoni and Ducati are, usually, used in the same breath when mentioning the first one. The standard Termignoni exhaust gives you the grunt that rhymes well with the power the Monster SP delivers. There is a Monster SP logo on the pillion seat cover to make sure no one mistakes it to be a ‘just another' Monster.

The light alloy wheels that sport 120/70 and 180/55 17” Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tires at the front and rear are aimed at providing traction even in hostile conditions. The new braking system by Brembo is 1.1 lbs lighter than the previous unit and gives you enough confidence to stop the bike on a dime.

The adoption of a lithium-ion battery reduces the weight of the Ducati Monster SP by further 4.4 lbs. The addition of a steering damper ensures that you never get a tank slapper irrespective of the speeds and forces working against you.

Related: 10 Reasons Why We Love The Ducati Monster

When the current Monster was launched in 2021, it got everyone’s attention. The 937cc Testastretta engine delivered 111HP and the bike weighed 166kg (366 lbs) dry. That was enough for people to salivate. Not often do you get to have a naked motorcycle that promises track-like fun on your way to work without selling your organs!

The power delivery was/is pretty much uniform and easily accessible throughout the rpm range. The riding modes have been re-calibrated, in addition to a new wet weather mode, in such a way that the Monster SP changes its character with every mode. The new Monster SP also gets a bidirectional quickshifter which lets the racer (or the relaxed tourer) in you worry less while playing between the gears.

The addition of launch control to the Ducati Monster SP ensures that the front stays grounded even when your left fingers and right wrist don’t align. The 4.3” TFT display and a USB socket let you control the technology in an easy-to-understand manner.

Almost 30 years ago, a young designer from Ducati named Miguel Angel Galluzzi created what would go on to be the most iconic motorcycle of all time. The brief was simple – To design a motorcycle that did not look like a ‘race bike’ and was fun to ride. Ducati desperately wanted something to keep the bankruptcy at bay which was lurking around the corner for a while.

Not only did the Monster turn out to be a success, but it also became the brand ambassador of the Bolognese bike manufacturer. The Monster M900 was developed around the same steel trellis frame the Ducatis of the yesteryears were known for. With the Monster M900, Ducati also started a new segment in the motorcycle world – the naked sports – a category that offered more smiles per mile.

With changes in times and technology, the Ducati Monster came in innumerable combinations. It had engine capacities ranging from 400cc up to 1,200cc. With time, it got fuel injection and a water-cooled engine with the Monster S4 which was launched in 2001.

The year was 2011 when the Monster got a leash around its neck to make it safer for the riders in the form of traction control and ABS. So, it didn’t come as a surprise when Ducati announced the Monster SP to celebrate the legendary motorcycle’s 30th anniversary. The Ducati Monster SP will hit the dealerships sometime in January next year.

After spending many years in advertising as a copywriter, Divyanshu decided to club his passion for motorcycles and love for writing into a career as an automotive journalist. When not romanticizing the GP bikes from the two-stroke era, he likes to write about things with more than two wheels.