Ducati Monster 821 review, test ride

First thought as I crank the engine is that the bass and rumble from the new exhaust is brilliant. Outside, on the narrow roads of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, the Monster felt more at home in slow traffic than the 796 ever was. The engine felt smoother and the shorter gearing let us crawl around at under 20kph – something that the 796 absolutely couldn’t manage! I was impressed to see that it could canter around at 30kph in third gear and that it responded to small throttle openings to slip through traffic with just a bit of a shudder. It’s clear, though, that the 821 isn’t thrilled about maintaining this pace, and the L-twin starts to lug in giant pulses if the revs and speeds drop too low. The good news is the 821 engine will oblige you with how it handles city duties, but just don’t expect it to love it there.

What the 821 loves is speed, and revs – oh yeah. The bottom end is adequate, it gets furious when you cross the 4,000rpm mark, and just when you think it’s plateauing, things get even more blurred as you head up past 8,000rpm. So heady is the rush of acceleration that the front wheel keeps getting light as you hammer down a straight. On the faster roads and around the squiggly bits, I switched to Sport. The throttle in this mode is direct and the engine response is always very crisp. The sense of connection between the throttle and the rear wheel feels very mechanically linked.

The Touring mode, on the other hand, has a softer throttle response without capping power. However, the response still seemed a bit too quick for touring, as the motorcycle tended to surge ahead with even a light twist of the grip, albeit with a slight delay. The seat, although super for short blasts in the city, is a touch too soft for long rides. On the upside, the suspension and the tyres work almost unbelievably well to dampen out the irregularities of the road surface, and there were plenty of rumbly bits and small potholes to test it out on.

So the Monster can go further and more calmly too. What helps it along is the new chassis. There is a greater sense of stability that will inspire confidence in riders of all skill levels. Sport riding enthusiasts will find that the seating position, although more relaxed and less likely to cause backaches on long rides, is still sporty enough for when you want to switch into attack mode. The biggest improvement, then, is the smoothness of the Monster on corner entry. It no longer feels sudden and you can meter its line of attack pretty well. The Monster’s weight, although mostly invisible, felt apparent over some of the bumpy corners, but only just. The road conditions and the tyres didn’t always inspire the greatest confidence to push further, but there’s no doubt I am eagerly looking forward to riding this motorcycle in India on a familiar road.