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

Rossi: Dovi owes me 10 euros!

Sunday's MotoGP race at Donington was a weird one, but a really enjoyable race all the same. Strange to see both Ducati's plodding away at the back and even stranger to see Rossi make a mistake. Was it Rossi's doing or was he feeling the pressure from Dovizioso?

Got £99? Get a Ducati Monster

Ducati have announced a new finance package for their trusty naked, the Monster 696. Deposit £1843.70, make a first month's payment of £258 and then 35 more joy filled months of paying £99. The whole deal is on a 15.5% APR interest rate, which, like the bike, is Monster.

What’s the deal with all those Pink Motorcycles?

Picture a Motorcycle in your mind, any Motorcycle. It could be one you own, want to own, one you’ve seen. Can you picture it?  What Brand is it?  What Model, year, how fast does it go?  You can probably picture each of these elements vividly.

Top 10 Best Sportbikes of 2009

Since it’s inception Motorcycle.com Specs has been the best place for bikers and enthusiasts (like you) to voice their opinions; there has been a lot to spout-off about too! Over 528 Motorcycle models have been updated for you to review in 2009 alone. It’s great to see what the Motorcycle Community has to say about the bikes they ride.

Ducati vs Ferrari

The first annual “Ducs Fly South” track day was announced by Ducati North America and will be held at the New Jersey Motorsports Park.  The event is open to street riders and will give the opportunity for you to work with instructors from The Penguin School on the track. Hit the jump for more info and a list of participating Ducati Dealers. Along with the tack experience, you will get a close-up look at the Ducati Hypermotard Truck which will be the home base for product giveaways, a ‘Best Bike’ contest, test rides, a suspension seminar and cold Red Bull.  Larry Pegram, the factory Ducati AMA Superbike rider will be available for autographs and a special question and answer session about his Ducati 1098R Superbikes.

Mugello: Track Facts

With the record setting MotoGP of Mugello finishing up this past weekend, Motorcycle.com takes a look at the high speed action on the track. Just as always, as Motorcycle.com continues to cover all the 2009 MotoGP racing news, The Sidecar stays focused on the tracks of this years Grand Prix season. Admittedly I don’t know that much about Italy.

Mac Motorcycles

British motorcycle design studio Xenophya Design and product designer Ellis Pitt have teamed up to produce a new company, Mac Motorcycles. Based out of Upton-Upon-Severn in Worcestershire, England, Mac Motorcycles will produce a line of bikes powered by Buell’s air-cooled single cylinder 492cc engines used in the Blast, with a tubular backbone frame. On the company’s website, Pitt describes its bikes as being simple to maintain, include references and details from choppers and bobbers and feature “Harley posture, flat-track manners, Ducati handling”.

Should this Ducati Video be Rated R?

I’m feeling a little uncomfortable after watching Ducati’s recently posted “Colour Therapy” video.  Are you prepared to watch a Ducati technician strip a Ducati Monster of it’s plastic to reveal it’s true nakedness?  Cover your eyes if you are under 18. Ducati posted this video on YouTube to promote their “Colour Therapy”.  “Colour Therapy” is there way of customizing the colour of your Ducati Monster motorcycle with an easily interchangeable kit that is available at Ducati dealerships.  I have personally picked out a new colour for the Ducati that I don’t own. Hit the jump to see how a Ducati technician strips a Ducati Monster to “re-dress” it with some new colours.

Ducati Hypermotard Help Destory Mankind [Video]

Did you know those killer motorcycles in the new Terminator Salvation movie (out on May 21, 2009) are Ducati Hypermotard bikes?  I guess the Ducati designers around the time of judgment day decided they should go for a more scary and human-destroying look. Or the Italian Ducati designers were killed by Italian terminators, and then the machines took over designing the new bike…  I don’t think I’m a fan of their creative concept. Ducati Motor Holding have just uploaded a video on Youtube tooting their own horns, proud that these life destroying vehicles are really Ducati’s at heart.

Ducati Monster is Kids Play

My parents never indulged my fascination and passion for motorcycles as a kid, hoping it was merely a passing phase that I would grow out of like wetting the bed. Well nearly 30 years later, I no longer sleep on plastic sheets, but I am just as crazy about motorcycles as ever. If you don’t want to make the same mistake with your kids, Peg Perego has developed a Streetfighter for little ones.