First released in 1992, the Ducati Monster shocked motorcycle enthusiasts with its nakedness. Designed to emulate the stripped-down streetfighters popular in Europe at the time, the Monster featured minimal bodywork, a high handlebar and a totally exposed motor and frame-pure bike porn for hardcore gearheads. In the dozen years since then the Monster has become the best-selling bike in Ducati's lineup, and one of the most customized sportbikes in the world due to its low cost, simple design and huge selection of aftermarket accessories.
So, as the undisputed king of custom naked bikes, it seemed only natural Ducati would put together a search for the baddest, meanest, nastiest custom Monster in North America, right? Damn right! Over the winter of 2004-'05, Ducati North America organized the Monster Challenge to seek out the coolest custom Monsters. Every Monster owner in North America was invited to enter a bike in one of 12 regional showings held in conjunction with Advanstar's International Motorcycle Show consumer extravaganzas. Show attendees selected winners at each regional show, each of whom were invited to a final runoff held at Ducati Day Daytona, the special Ducati-only celebration held during Daytona Beach Bike Week. Bikes were judged one final time, with the ultimate winner taking the title of North America's wildest Ducati Monster, in addition to the title to a brand-new, $13,495 Ducati Monster S4R.
The Monster moniker seems even more appropriate after eyeballing the dozen customs that showed up in Daytona. Just like Dr. Frankenstein's eponymous monster, each of these machines presented a stunning combination of aftermarket bolt-ons, pieces taken from other motorcycles and one-off, hand-fabricated components. Best of all, each entry was entirely unique-many were inspired by Ducati's famous roadracing machines, complete with plenty of carbon fiber and billet aluminum performance parts. Others looked to the past with retro designs, while a few could have come from the pages of Super Streetbike, complete with dragbike-style extended swingarms, nitrous systems, chromed-out bodywork, even turbochargers.
One third of the Monster owners walked away with awards, starting with the "People's Choice" plaque, which went to Keith Myers and his '99 M900S, "The Flying D." Third place went to Kyle Brussich for her bright red and chrome custom, which is her daily-rider streetbike to boot. Second place went to an across-the-border Canadian, Chris Nicolaou. We were feeling his stretched-and-slammed Super Streetbike style. At the end of the day the retro look pulled the most votes, though, as the panel of judges picked Stuart Baker's old-school-styled '99 M750CR as the big winner-a decision we think says more about the age and the Italian heritage of certain judges than it does about the current state of custom bike design. But, hey, we were just taking pictures, so what were we going to say. Nothing against Baker-we love his minimalist style and unconventional parts picks, such as the '54 Chevy pickup taillight-but, well, let's just say that if we were keeping score things might have turned out a little differently.
So now, with apologies to the Monster Challenge judges, Ducati North America and all the Monster Challenge entrants, we take our revenge and offer up our slightly less-than-conventional picks for the Super Streetbike Monster Challenge.