Ducati Goes Dark With The 2020 Monster 1200 S

By Janaki Jitchotvisut, RideApart

Black or red, take your pick.

The 2020 Ducati Monster 1200 S is here! Before you get too excited, just about the only thing new on it is the color scheme. Of course, it’s a beautiful combination of matte black with gloss black, as well as a few perfectly placed red accents to set the entire thing off just right. Would you expect anything less from the boys from Borgo Panigale? We didn’t think so.

Ducati is calling this color scheme, naturally enough, “Black on Black,” and running with the tagline “Monster is the new black,” which, good on them for catching up with decade-old pop culture references. Ah, I kid. If you don’t want the 2020 exclusive Black on Black, no worries. You can still get the 2020 Monster 1200 S in classic Ducati Red.

The 1200 S comes with fully-adjustable Öhlins suspension all around, those gorgeous three-spoke Y-rim wheels, and of course that carbon mudguard. As ever, you get the 1198cc Testastretta 11° DS twin-cylinder engine, which makes 147hp and 91lb-ft of torque. You also get cornering ABS, traction control, wheelie control, and selectable ride modes.

It’s all fine, and beautiful, and Ducati seems to be saying with this 1200 S, “why mess with a good thing?” It’s also a smart strategy on Ducati’s part, and the company is all about thinking strategically, as far as marketing is concerned. You see, with the Big Ducati Announcement coming up at the end of October, conveniently placed in between Intermot and EICMA, one important goal of Ducati is to keep itself top-of-mind for the motorcycle-inclined straight through the season.

Therefore, introducing a 2020 Monster 1200 S that seems to only have cosmetic updates—albeit, very nice ones—seems both like a solid snack to appease the new-model-hungry masses, and also like some pretty low stakes for the company. We all appreciate some quality moto eye candy, so who’s gonna complain, right? It’s the Monster family, and you already like it, or you don’t.