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It came as a surprise to some that the new Monster range is to only feature air-cooled engines and the water-cooled 4-valve engines will feature in the new Streetfighter range. In an interview with Soup, Ducati North America CEO Michael Lock confirms that the company believes that the Monster range can remain true to its self when constrained to the air-cooled motors and their maximum 95 bhp whereas the Streetfighter is an opportunity to take a more hardcore approach with the 155 bhp engine from the recently discontinued 1098.

I think what the Streetfighter does, is it frees up the Monster to be a better Monster. And what I mean by that is, if you go back a year or two, we had, at one bookend we had the Monster 620, which was a chassis that was built for a 1000cc bike with a 620 motor in it, based on the 851 chassis from 15 years ago. So limited steering lock, heavier than it should have been, less power than really was suitable for the chassis, stiff clutch. It wasn’t an entry bike to the Ducati line, but it was stretching the Monster brand, because that concept had to go all the way up to 150 horsepower Testastretta engine.

link: Soup :: SuperBikePlanet.com Interview: Ducati’s Michael Lock :: 01-26-2009

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