I Had Made Up My Mind,

it was going to be the Ducati 796 for me,

if ever I had the money, but now a new contender for me has been announced over here, the Ducati Monster 821 which in sports mode delivers 112bhp, there are three modes, in the slowest mode output is limited to just 75bhp, changing mode also alters the traction control and ABS braking settings, it is essentially a smaller-engined version of the recently released Monster 1200, powered by the 821cc engine that was introduced last year in the supermoto-styled Hypermotard, the 821 shares most of its chassis, including the tubular steel frame, with the 1200 but has a shorter, twin-sided (instead of single-sided) swinging-arm, the reduced wheelbase aids manoeuvrability, as do the 821’s slightly lighter weight and narrower rear tyre, the engine itself is a dohc, (double overhead camshaft), liquid-cooled V-twin, it is mechanically unchanged from it's bigger brother apart from a new clutch with a 'slipper' function to ease down-shifts, a larger airbox and new exhaust system give a slight performance boost throughout the range, it is said that the engine is notably more responsive than the old air-cooled Monster 796 at low and high revs, the surprise for me is that the 821 is liquid cooled, which brings me back to a conversation I had with a friend Rob in the early 1960s who had a 1936 Scott Flying Squirrel which was a 596cc water cooled two stroke twin, I remember asking him, 'what is the advantage of have a water cooled motorbike' to which he replied, 'there are three, it freezes, boils and leaks!', the 821 is available over here for 479,900 in red, (at today's rate $14,221. £9,088.), so 796 or 821? oh the agony of choice!