28] RIDER TEST

All-Terrain Tourer

BMW's do-it-all R1200GS gets

even better.

38] 2008 BMW R1200GS Adventure

40] RIDER TEST

Bruiser Boxer

It’s not merely supermoto,

it’s Megamoto!

44] ON THE ROAD

Northeast Grand Slam

Finding the best of New

England with local knowledge.

52] RIDER TEST

Lil’ Devil

One tiny cc has transformed

the 2009 Ducati Monster 696.

on the cover: Yamaha's wild Vmax

returns under the Star Motorcycles ban-

ner to crush the performance cruiser

competition. Photo by Kevin Wing.

58] RIDER SKILLS

Keeping It Alive

Inside the new Stayin’ Safe

Motorcycle Training.

68] RIDER SKILLS

Overriding Instinct

Leaning and believing at the California

Superbike School.

departments

8] ONE-TRACK MIND

Errata

10] RESPONSE

18] KICKSTARTS

2009 Yamaha Vmax

22] RIDING AROUND

Ridden & Rated: 2008 Star

Road Star Silverado

26] ROAD TALES

Black Gold

76] FAVORITE RIDE

Lincoln Zone

Red, white and blue:

Portrait of an American motorcyclist in New Mexico

82] TECH Q&A

Reluctant Relay

88] ADVERTISER INDEX

94] NEW & COOL

96] RIDER’S MALL

106] RETROSPECTIVE

Yamaha RD350

86 DVD Review:

Ride Like a Pro U

87 Gear: bmw Rallye 2

Pro Suit

89 Gear: Sargent World Sport Seat

91 Gear. Roadgear XKJ Boots

& Multi-Season Gloves

93 Book Review:

McQueen’s Machines

2009 DUCATI

MONSTER 696

Ducati’s Monsters, or Mostri, are the Italian maker’s naked

sport-standards with L-twin engines. In the USA for 2008,

they range from the air-cooled 695 and S2R1000 with two

valves per cylinder, up to the liquid-cooled S4R S Tricolore

with four valves per and a rapido 130 horsepower.

All have desmodromic valve actuation like Ducati’s super- and sportbike ranges, which

can require complex valve adjustments, though Ducati says that its 2008 models

“require less frequent service, less parts and labor during each service and, as a result,

have greatly reduced scheduled maintenance costs.” Hallelujah!

In 2005 the Monster line accounted for more than half of Ducati’s sales worldwide,

a phenomenon that has smartly silenced those who derided the concept when the 900

was unveiled in 1993. Here was a bike that offered the sound and feel of Italy’s most

famous sporting motorcycle marque, without the wrist- and leg-cramping ergonomics

of its traditional superbikes. Blasphemy to some Ducatisti; nevertheless the Monster’s

wide, more upright handlebar and prodigious torque made infinite sense on the street

where tiny clip-ons and narrow powerbands do not.

A smaller Monster series was launched with the 600 in 1994, which eventually gained

some displacement and fuel injection to become the 620ie in 2001. This bike also had

something going for it not found on the rest of the line—a wet clutch. Ducati wanted a

kinder, gentler feel at the clutch lever, in addition to a low seat to endear female and

entry-level riders to its most diminutive new Monster, so it broke tradition and replaced

the light, easily serviced but stiff and noisy dry clutch with a quiet, wet multiplate that

had a light pull. It was also found on the bike when it grew to the 695 in 2007.

According to Ducati, the 600-series Monsters have been its best-selling motorcycles

in the United States almost continually since their release. Several years they even

accounted for more than 25 percent of sales here. Said PR man John Canton, “If

Ducati has a Panne e Nutella bike, this is it (Italians don’t really do bread and butter!).”