Ducati Monster – 1993
The Monster needs no introduction. Revealed in 1992 and launched the following year, it all but saved Ducati from financial ruin. However, with the naked machine originally destined to be a Cagiva model, and Ducati lacking in credit with its suppliers, it almost never materialised. But, it did, and the rest is history. The Monster dominated Ducati’s sales throughout the ‘90s, accounting for over 40 per cent of units. Forty guises and more than 300,000 units later, the Monster is infamous for its affordability, rideability and effortless cool.
That style was the result of Ducati manager, Massimo Bordi, tasking designers to replicate the bike aboard which Marlon Brando lounged in the iconic photo from The Wild One. Miguel Angel Galluzzi (also responsible for Aprilia’s RSV4) expanded on that, basing ‘Il Mostro’ on his simple concept that “all a bike needs is a saddle, engine, two wheels, handlebars and a tank to fill with fuel…”
It’s hard to pick just one Monster to make this list, but if we had to, it would either be the OG, the M900, or the water-cooled, performance-orientated S4RS, which boasted Ohlins suspension and a 126PS (93kW), 998cc testastretta engine.