Monsters In Monaco
Monsters in Monaco
CW RIDING IMPRESSION
Ducati S2Rs loose on the streets of Monte Carlo
MARK HOYER
THERE ARE PLACES ON THE EARTH NOT MADE FOR us. By us I mean mere workaday mortals who are not millionaires, or I guess billionaires these days.
Take, for instance, Monte Carlo hard against the Mediterranean in the postcard Principality of Monaco. At its heart, the city of Monte Carlo is a playground and tax-shelter residence for the super-rich and famous. Michael Schumacher has a pad there, Max Biaggi, soccer players, tennis stars, you name it.
Money goes where money flows. In town, and it’s a small town, there is an Aston Martin dealership, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Bentley, Rolls-Royce and... a Ducati dealer, although the rent is pretty high, so it’s not the best financial proposition for the poor guy hawking all-new Monster S2Rs, the bike we were there to ride at the worldwide press introduction.
Whether you visit Monte Carlo by tour bus or by Monster, you never actually see the real place, just the fancy façade that hides the authentic, money-soaked action where cashflow is an abstract idea, not a pathetic month-tomonth reality. So even though I eagerly await every paycheck, that didn’t stop me from packing fancy duds (the one suit in my closet next to four sets of leathers), and cruising Monte Carlo on a twice-piped, racing-striped 2005 S2R, Ducati’s latest naked bike, meant to fill a middleweight sporty entrylevel kind of niche in the lineup.
Which makes Monte Carlo all the stranger a place to bring out the budget-minded S2R, with its very reasonable $8495 asking price. But I’ve learned in this business not to ask those kinds of questions, like why Ducati thinks it’s a good idea to bring some 60 journalists from all over the world for the better part of a week to one of the most expensive places you can find. Example? The cheapest room in our hotel was $400 a night, and meals, per person, according to the menus at a couple of fancy-looking restaurants, would run you a minimum of $40 a head, just for the food. Cocktails, as I found out later, really run the bill up, even in small quantities. Don’t even think about dessert. But like I said, when somebody says, “Come to Monte Carlo to ride a Ducati,” you just say yes. Even if they only keep you in town for about 22 hours...
We were surprised to find out this bike uses the 88 x 66mm 803cc desmo motor and not the Dual Spark 1000 that populates the engine room of the Multistrada and Supersport 1000. And the Monster 1000S.
Honestly, it’s probably because on all but the fastest roads, a DS1000 S2R would spank the mighty (and mighty fun) S4R and its fancy liquid-cooled four-valve, ex-Superbike 996cc engine. The 996 is superb, but very much a top-end-oriented motor that doesn’t quite offer the playful immediacy of the DS1000 two-valver, an engine that is perhaps one of the finest street motors going these days. In any case, the S2R runs the 803cc Twin, sharing engine cases and wet clutch with the smaller 620.
Once you take a ride, however, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t a good engine for this bike. As we discovered with the SSI000 and SS800, the smaller engine does feel a little more lively (if less powerful), and because of decreased mass of engine parts whipping around, makes for a lighterfeeling, easier-steering bike.
There was torque strong enough to whip the front wheel up with ease as we rode the bikes en masse to cocktails on the first night in Monte Carlo (gotta love the Italians!) and dinner at Café de Paris, right on the circle with the Grand Casino, where, I later discovered, you can have a fine, fine martini as long as you bring $ 17 and are wearing a suit, because they otherwise don’t let you in. Oh, yeah, and when you present your passport (mandatory) in the gorgeous and ornate marble-clad “lobby” of this quiet, old Cathedral of Money, they stick it face down on a scanner and put you In The System. You’d better behave...
If I’d known how much of a force cops were in town—it seemed like there was one gun-toting officer for about every five citizens-I probably wouldn’t have done the wheelies or any of those deliciously smooth brakeslide hackers around the Formula One GP course. A word about the clutch is in order here, because this is a nice is in order here, because this is a nice piece. The pull on the hydraulic slipper unit is fantastically light, made possible by diagonal slots in the clutch basket that lift load on the plates by “unscrewing” on deceleration (helping reduce rear-wheel chatter) and then squeezing the plates tighter on-power using the same screw-drive principle, just in the opposite direction. This mechanical advantage allows use of light springs for that easy pull. Are you with me? If not, don’t worry, it works great. Use and enjoy.
The nighttime ride was brief, and after riding back to the hotel a little chilly in my suit jacket, slacks and wingtips, with tie whipping in the wind behind me, I realized how cool it would have been to have my outfit equipped with CE-approved armor and Thinsulate, for just such special occasions.
The next day in the hills above the city, we rode the treacherous and dirty winding tarmac to get a feel for the bike outside the congested city center. The S2R is pretty typical Monster, offering the longstanding tradition of easy performance that we have come to love over the years.
Power is immediate, EFI tuned nicely. The bikes were set up with the standard (read: low) ride height on the adjustable rear end. We know from experience that cranking this up makes for a much quicker-steering bike. As it was, the ride was nice and stable, not the least bit flighty.
You’ll note that the gorgeous tubular aluminum swingarm used on the S4R is utilized here, which really sets this bike apart from other Monstersmore so than the ode-to-Dan Gurney paintjob or cool, stacked silencers. In talking to Monster Project Engineer talking to Monster Project Engineer Giulio Malagoli, he noted that the swingarm is the most expensive single part on the bike-it costs more to make than the frame! Worth every penny, or sorry, euro cent.
As cool as the swingarm is, there are some areas where Ducati obviously took money from to pay for it. The fork is non-adjustable, for example, and feels pretty low IQ in terms of damping performance, especially as compared to the S4R’s adjustable unit. The front brakes, too, are of a simpler nature than previous versions. No performance complaints on the binders, really. Top Ducati tester Andrea Forni described the advantages in lightness of these new two-piston sliding calipers versus the heavier four-pots used in the past, and said the discs had lower mass, too. Both no doubt contribute to the nimble feel of the S2R.
The bike did shine, particularly in the smooth, banked sweepers of the fast sections we attacked in our large group, and big lean around the countless hairpins was initiated with ease.
Prior to our ride, I gave the gas tank a rap with my knuckles to find it constructed of plastic.
This is the first application of this material in this role beyond the Multistrada’s fuel cell, as all the other Monsters’ tanks are still steel. Other twovalve models will get plastic in the near future, while four-valve models with the bulkier cylinder heads need the extra undertank space afforded by steel construction. Malagoli said the plastic unit
is less likely to burst in a crash, and of course isn’t subject to retaining dings and dents so readily. Capacity is slightly reduced, but otherwise it’s the same classic shape as ever. Just leave your magnetic tankbag at home.
This brings up styling. The Monster has had its tweaks over the years, but retains the same basic essence as the original Miguel Galluzzi version that made its debut in 1993. Ducati gave no indication things would change anytime soon, either. Which is A-OK. The look of the air-coolers is much cleaner than with the liquid-cooled four-valve engines, so the S2R gets styling marks above the S4R and all its plumbing.
But really, over the years, we haven’t met a Monster we didn’t like. Because of the few places where money was saved and spec dumbed down, this budget-minded S2R might not keep the doors open in Ducati of Monte Carlo, but in the rest of the world, it’ll do just fine.
