It was getting boring. Following the Aussie photographer in his Grand Vitara, back and forth across the Queensland outback, looking for a photo venue, I saw plenty, but evidently they didn’ t have the kind of non-stick surface my man was looking for( he’ d find it eventually). Seeing as how it was seriously tipping down and the roads were pretty rough-house as a general rule I was wondering why he was bothering so. Seeing a long uninterrupted straight I let the snapper get ahead and had a play. Standing starts resulted in lots of wheelspin and a few lurid slides. Attempts at conventional wheelstands – more of the same. Eventually standing wheelies proved the best diversion – with enough rearward weight there was enough grip. Just a few muffled attempts, then joy, a nice well-balanced wheelstand with the bars reaching well-back against the chest. Nice. Pissing rain, a dark cold day, a shitty road, but the Monster Dark was still eager to please, still ready to party. If there’ s one thing you just gotta love about the humble Monster, it’ s that entertainment factor. Monsters are fun bikes.
HISTORY It also has to be said, in New Zealand the Monster is a much under-rated motorcycle. It is a massive hit in Europe, even the Australians are becoming quite fond of them, but here they’ re as rare as a unicycle riding Kakapo. Perhaps that’ ll change soon, with the improving stock levels afforded by the new importer( NF Imports). Anyhow, the Monster’ s been around for very nearly a decade now, so it hardly rates as news, but that doesn’ t stop it being a great bike. When launched it really was quite the break, instantly grabbing a massive European following, even turning up as a one-make international road race class and one was doing quite well at the Isle of Man TT, back in the 1990s, until its unfortunate pilot Baldesarre Monti headbutted a wall at Sarah’ s Cottage. But it’ s not really a racer.
DON’ T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK The Dark is a sort of basic Monster. With so many Monsters getting the tune-up, dress-up back in Europe, Ducati could see they could
58 KIWI RIDER