In my humble opinion (I have an Evo) the new Monster looks poor compared to the previous models. A lot faster it may be, but at what cost? It's water cooled and all those pipes look ugly, especially with the massive radiator. There's almost no trellis work to be seen, the seat looks massive and crap, the air vent at the bottom looks like an after-thought and a lot of reviews are not looking too kindly on it. and there's no stripes on the tank or seat cowl. Maybe I should go and look at one...
I took a Monster 1200s out on Friday. I wanted to see if the new up coming Monster 821 would be for me. After many years of BMW GS's and two Multistrada's first impression was the front half of the bike was missing when riding it. Clocks very difficult to read in the sunlight, pegs higher than mine so that was a no no for me from the off as my knees hurt enough already without bending them any more. Pleasantly surprised by the lack of wind blast up to 60 ish, above and it was uncomfortable but for a naked bike that slanted headlight seems to work if that's what it was designed for. The bike I rode had only 9 miles on the clock but I thought it was very lumpy and vibey compared to my 2013 Multi. Another really good thing was ease of getting you leg over the back as it's much lower. Looks? Not sure, the 821 pictures suggest it should be a little better than the 1200 without that oil cooler hanging down the front (looks very vulnerable) but the size of the radiator which you can see sticking out both sides of the tank from the riding position put me off. Taking it all into account not for me.
Not yet, but I hate monsters so have no intention of trying one. However, I may not have any choice next week...
Rode the 1200S, cos I wanted to see if it was better than my S4R. It was quicker, smoother and more comfortable, but they've managed to engineer out any Ducatiness, it felt like any other 600cc naked (until you cracked open the throttle). If I was new to Ducati's and Vee Twins, I'd love it, but they could stick Honda on the tank, it's not a Ducati, it was hard to tell it was a Vee Twin, they've ruined the "feel", deffo won't be changing.
