I’m a sucker for a Ducati Monster of any taste, however notably the pre-2001 carbureted fashions. I’ve been in search of a pleasant rider-grade instance for a few years, however by no means obtained impressed sufficient to drag the set off. Till this little chromey man got here alongside. When the itemizing on Carry A Trailer loaded on my laptop display screen, I knew I needed to at the least bid. I despatched a textual content to my spouse with the hyperlink and mentioned “BTW, if this stays below 5K, I may need to bid” and she or he replied, “KK.” Inexperienced gentle, let’s fucking go! Okay, so I went $100 over my authentic self-imposed price range, however I believe she’ll forgive me. So I’m a Ducati proprietor.
Whereas the second-generation might be the extra iconic and recognizable Monster, these early bikes actually helped save the corporate from itself and adjusted the complete motorbike trade. When designing the Monster, Ducati’s aim was to make a style-conscious city machine, however the firm didn’t actually have any cash to develop a brand new line, so it needed to be a components bin particular. The engine got here from the 900 Supersport, the body is a frivolously modified 851 Superbike, and the upright fork is from a 750 Supersport. When it was put collectively, it was someway larger than the sum of its components, and kicked off an upright bare bike craze within the motorbike world.
It’s a comparatively light-weight and highly effective bike, and delivers quite a lot of stuff my BMW GS and Harley-Davidson Livewire don’t. None of this bike’s plusses are rational or workaday, it’s all emotional. In fact it’s, it’s an Italian bike. No person buys an Italian bike as a result of they’re being rational. Hell, there aren’t many American bike consumers who use rational thought wherever within the shopping for course of. We purchase bikes as a result of we’re enthusiastic about them. And so they’re shiny.
In 1999 earlier than the bike switched to gas injection for 2000, Ducati launched a sequence of restricted version fashions to expire the components provide and hopefully increase gross sales. Allegedly 101 Monster 900 Cromos have been constructed, although some say that quantity is inflated as a result of Ducati mucked up the chroming course of and cancelled the run someplace within the center. I haven’t discovered an official supply for Cromo numbers, however I don’t actually care. This isn’t a collector piece, I’m going to trip the rattling factor.
The Cromo is clearly named for its chrome gas tank, however it additionally obtained just a few different tweaks to set it aside from a daily M900. The Cromo obtained a full spate of carbon fiber trim, together with a carbon rear seat cowl which was faraway from this bike, however is in a field of components that comes with the bike. Manufacturing unit adjustable suspension was additionally on the playing cards, in contrast to the usual M900s. With 74 horsepower onboard, and a sub-400 pound weight, it needs to be fairly fast, however received’t win any superbike battles. It needs to be loads of enjoyable at my subsequent monitor day.
I purchased this instance from the man who purchased it model new and has put each one of many 11,000 miles on the odometer. Again in 1999 he had the bike tricked out with just a few additional goodies, together with an aftermarket exhaust, bar finish mirrors, a Corbin consolation seat, a Ok&N consumption, larger carburetor jets, aftermarket gauges with an actual tachometer, and a tinted flyscreen. It wants a belt service and a few tires within the close to future, however contemplating the worth I paid, I’m fairly pleased with it.
I’ll be touring for the following three weeks, so I received’t have the ability to choose it up from the vendor till late October, however I stay up for digging into this factor as a winter undertaking to maintain my fingers busy. From what I do know concerning the vendor and what I can inform from the pictures, this factor has been properly taken care of, however it hasn’t been sitting in local weather managed garages its complete life, and it’s truly been ridden. It’s a superb bike, even when I haven’t laid eyes on it but.
