Ducati Motorcycles

About Ducati

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. is an Italian company that designs and manufactures motorcycles. Headquartered in Bologna, Italy, Ducati is owned by Audi through its Italian subsidiary Lamborghini.

In 1926 Antonio Cavalieri Ducati and his three sons, Adriano, Marcello, and Bruno Cavalieri Ducati; founded Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati in Bologna to produce vacuum tubes, condensers and other radio components.

At the small Turinese firm SIATA (Societa Italiana per Applicazioni Tecniche Auto-Aviatorie), Aldo Farinelli began developing a small pushrod engine for mounting on bicycles. Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called the "Cucciolo" (Italian for "puppy"). The first Cucciolos were available alone, to be mounted on standard bicycles, by the buyer; however, businessmen soon bought the little engines in quantity, and offered complete motorized-bicycle units for sale.

So in 1950, in collaboration with SIATA, the Ducati firm finally offered its own Cucciolo-based motorcycle. This first Ducati motorcycle was a 48 cc bike weighing 98 lb (44 kg) with a top speed of 40 mph (64 km/h) had a 15 mm carburetor giving just under 200 mpg-US (1.2 L/100 km; 240 mpg-imp). Ducati soon dropped the Cucciolo name in favor of "55M" and "65TL". The chief designer of most Ducati motorcycles in the 1950s was Fabio Taglioni

In 1952 Ducati introduced 65TS cycle and Cruiser (a four-stroke motor scooter).

In 1953, management split the company into two separate entities, Ducati Meccanica SpA and Ducati Elettronica, in acknowledgment of its diverging motorcycle and electronics product lines.

In the 1960s, Ducati earned its place in motorcycling history by producing the fastest 250 cc road bike then available, the Mach 1.

In the 1970s Ducati began producing large-displacement V-twin motorcycles and in 1973, released a V-twin with the trademarked desmodromic valve design.

In 1973, Ducati commemorated its 1972 win at the Imola 200 with the production model green frame Ducati 750 SuperSport.

In 1993 Monster model appeared, a bike with exposed trellis and engine. It makes about half of all sales.

Ducati is best known for high performance motorcycles characterized by large capacity four-stroke, 90° V-twin engines, featuring a desmodromic valve design. Ducati refers to this configuration as L-twin because one cylinder is vertical while the other is horizontal, making it look like a letter "L". Modern Ducatis remain among the dominant performance motorcycles available today partly because of the desmodromic valve design, which is nearing its 50th year of use.

While most other manufacturers utilize wet clutches (with the spinning parts bathed in oil) Ducati previously used multiplate dry clutches in many of their motorcycles. The dry clutch eliminates the power loss from oil viscosity drag on the engine even though the engagement may not be as smooth as the oil bath versions but the clutch plates can wear more rapidly. Ducati has converted to wet clutches across their current product lines.

Ducati also extensively uses the Trellis Steel Frame configuration, although Ducati's MotoGP project broke with this tradition by introducing a revolutionary carbon fibre frame for the Ducati Desmosedici GP9.

Moto blog

V8 Ducati

Really this sort of thing is Forsyth's thing. Although I'm probably wrong saying that and the old man will berate me for posting pictures of a Ducati with a bastardised engine. That it may be, but it's a serious bit of handywork...

Rossi to Ducati: The affair begins

WE'VE STUMBLED across a series of videos posted on YouTube which follow the behind-the-scenes action of Valentino Rossi taking his first spin aboard Ducati's 2011 MotoGP racer. Filmed by an insider and posted on 'Tube by those lovely chaps at 'Assphalt and Rubber', the series of six videos follows the nine-time World Champion, as he's introduced to the 2011 machine for the first time. Rossi ended the two-day session at Valencia in 15th place on the timesheets.

Ducati Diavel Makes First Appearance in America [video]

Our sister site, AutoGuide.com is currently at the LA Auto Show covering all of the latest and greatest in the auto industry, managed to catch Nicky Hayden giving the crowd a smokey treat at the Mercedes-Benz booth, officially unveiling the Ducati Diavel for the first time to an American audience.  The press conference was setup to also announce Ducati’s partnership with Mercedes-AMG. Hit the jump and check out the video. Get the Flash Player to see this player.

EICMA 2010: Ducati Diavel and Monster EVO Unveiling

Motorcycle.com’s European correspondent Tor Sagen was fortunate enough to be on hand for Ducati’s pre-EICMA press conference and the official unveiling of the new Diavel power cruiser. Below are his impressions from the event. Carcano Theatre, Milan, November 1.

Milan show: Ducati Diavel latest

Just got back from Ducati's stand in hall 18 and it's swamped. People are literally scuffling to get a sit on the new Diavel. I managed to scuffle my way to the front and even though the handlebar grips were dripping with other people's excited hand secretions, it was a pleasant experience.

Milan Show: Cute little Ducati

Amongst the grand new models at the Milan show is this adorable Ducati Cucciolo, or as translated, Ducati Little Puppy. The Little Puppy was born out of a project for a small 48cc pushrod clip-on engine to be added to bicycles. The name Cucciolo is derived from the yapping note from the stubby exhaust.

Would you pay £115,000 for this?

A HONDA NR750 - one of the most hi-tech production motorcycles ever built - is up for grabs on eBay with an asking price of £115,000.The bike was produced in the early 1990s by Honda to showcase the company's engineering skills; a 32-valve, oval piston V4 engine, Carbon Fibre Composite bodywork and titanium-tinted screen are just some of the revolutionary features that warranted the bike's £37,000 original price tag.This particular 1993 model has covered 5000 miles from new - quite a few for a bike with such a heady price tag. We'd have expected it to come with delivery mileage only. It's being sold by an Essex-based dealer who describes the bike as 'IMMACULATE'.

2011 Ducati 848 EVO: First Ride

It was a great day at work for Duke, riding not only the new 848 EVO, but also the new 1198 SP. Ducati’s 848 impressed us when it was introduced in 2007, offering exotic Italian style along with more power than any 600 supersport. Now Ducati offers a significant upgrade to it called the 848 EVO, which we had a chance to sample at the historic circuit in the town of Imola, Italy.

Sci-fi Rizoma Anima sculpture

This sculpture is from Rizoma the purveyors of exclusively sexy specials, like this Ducati Streetfighter. Named the Anima Hero, this concept looks as if the block of aluminium is morphing to form a space-age bike suited to the metropolis highways of the distant future. The piece sums up the Rizoma values of Innovation, Technology, Style and Exclusivity and was a culmination of 45 days of continuously precise machining conveying what the company says is a "purity of clean-cut edges and crisp contours, which give a sense of lightness..."

Ducati Partners with Xerox [video]

The unlikely duo has teamed up and are working on a new global ad campaign.  The commercials demonstrate how Xerox has taken Ducati’s business processes to another level of performance within the office.  There are two commercials after the jump to check out, enjoy! Get the Flash Player to see this player. Get the Flash Player to see this player.