The 821 is the newest Monster globally and Ducati has made its debut in India with sales commenced via Mumbai and Gurgaon dealerships at present.
One of the most iconic motorcycle brands globally, Ducati’s strained relationship with India in the past can now be long forgotten, as the Italian marque has commenced operations in the country once again but under its own administration. The automaker officially announced its arrival in India a couple of days back and introduced a host of products from its global lineup for domestic roads. While the Scrambler will be Ducati’s most affordable offering in the country, middleweight bike lovers will surely be saving up for the new ‘Monster 821’, which also made its Indian debut alongside the Scrambler. The Monster 795 and 796 will be discontinued in the future.
Set to compete against the Kawasaki Z800 and Triumph Street Triple in the segment, the Ducati Monster 821 continues to adopt the quintessential Italian styling from the other Monster models and is certainly one of the more good looking bikes in the segment. The street-fighter is powered by an 821cc twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine tuned to produce 113.5 PS of power at 9250 RPM and 89.4 Nm of torque at 7750 RPM, paired to a 6-speed gearbox. The bike comes with adjustable seating, while the kerb weight of 205 kgs makes it a touch lighter than its Japanese rival.
Suspension duties are performed by 43 mm Upside-Down (SD) forks at the front and adjustable Sachs monoshock setup at the rear. Braking performance is derived from the 320 mm front twin discs and 245 mm single disc at the rear, whereas the sticky Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tyres ensure optimum levels of traction. With three riding modes namely – Urban, Touring and Sport coupled with Ride-by-Wire (RbW) system, the Monster 821 is fun on city and highways with equal ease. The Italian automaker is also offering ABS with Ducati Traction Control (DTC) on the new Monster. Priced at a slight premium, the Monster 821 starts at Rs. 9.09 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Providing sales and service back up this time around, Ducati presently has dealerships located in Mumbai and Gurgaon with the latter being its biggest showroom globally, spread over 16,000 sq.ft. Moving forward, the automaker will open doors in Bangalore by this October followed by showrooms in Hyderabad, Pune, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Cochin, Kolkata, Chennai and Indore, taking its total dealership strength to over 10 outlets in the country. Time to paint the town red, finally!
