World's greatest bikes #7: Ducati Monster 900

Many assume it was the 916 that revived Ducati in the 1990s. Instead, after the 1991 750 and 900 Supersports, it was the 1993 Monster 900 that truly returned the Italian marque to prosperity.

The Monster’s aggressive style started the whole ‘super naked’ class. At an accessible £7500 it was a vital sales hit, and that popularity, spun off into 600, 750 versions and more, spawning a best-selling family which was Ducati’s lifeblood for decades to come.

And it was all on the whim of a junior Ducati designer who named it after one of his kids’ favourite toys.

That designer was Miguel-Angel Galluzzi, an Argentinian who grew up in California, graduated in design in 1986, worked for Opel in Germany then Honda then Cagiva/Ducati in the late 1980s, under chief engineer Massimo Bordi…