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

George White & Visordown: 848 Challenge

I've never met a motorcycle dealer who isn't flat-out 24/7 and Steve Gannicott, the big cheese at George White Motorcycles, is no exception. George White's have 7 dealerships across the country and 6 outlet stores - a lot to keep on top of so Steve probably didn't need me pestering him all day but that's exactly what he got. When I managed to get hold of Steve, he was really supportive of my entry to the 848 Challenge and wanted to get behind it because George White now has a Ducati dealership.

Stats ahead of Estoril MotoGP round

The MotoGP circus moves into it's tenth appearance at the Estoril circuit, with the Portugease circuit playing host to a Grand Prix event in each of the previous nine years since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP formula at in 2002. Below is a reminder of the highlights of the previous nine MotoGP races held at Estoril: 2002 – Having won the last 500cc GP race at Estoril in 2001, Valentino Rossi (Honda) won the first of the MotoGP races held at the circuit. This was a race that was run in very wet conditions and Sete Gibernau had led for most of the race only to crash out with four laps to go.

Many hands make light work...

This was the sorry looking JHP Ducati after Darren Fry crashed it in qualifying on Sunday before the first race of the championship. Fry broke his coccyx in the crash but, fortunately for Fry, it took around 10 people just over 3 hours to get the bike ready to race, as can be seen in the picture below. Hats off to Darren Fry for racing the bike over the rest of the weekend.

848 Challenge rider profiles

The 2011 Ducati 848 Challenge is packed full of talent. Here are the riders who'll be pushing their 848 EVOs to the limit during the 8-round championship. Mark Andrew #22 Age 28 Hometown: Lincoln Occupation: Car Dealer Team Name: TBC Career History ·         started racing 1990 ·         Age 8 – sand racing, Mablethorpe ·         Age 16 – champion, Mablethorpe ·         Age 17 – Aprilia superteens ·         Age 18 – CB500 Cup competitor ·         Age 19 - 28 – British Superstock competitor ·         Age 28 – Thundersport Streetfighter A, 3rd in championship Aaron Brown #81 Age 27 Hometown: Nuneaton Occupation: Builder Website:  Team Name: T.B.C.

The 848, challenged

Last year I decided to enter the 848 Challenge and ever since that decision, a challenge is exactly what I've had on my hands.On one of his last days at the magazine, Barry - our mag designer - took Ducati's 848 to Brands for some instruction with our very own Niall Mackenzie. An ex-GP god, a pristine Italian superbike and a dry Brands Hatch. What would possibly go wrong?

2011 Ducati Monster 1100 EVO Review – First Impressions

Pete says, ‘Grrawarsnarlke grmble  grmble!’  He’s become a monster for this new Ducati. Salve, from Catania, Sicilia! It’s always nice meeting up with an old friend you haven’t seen in a couple years.

Ciao, bella! Quick visit to the Ducati Museum and Factory

The MotoGP room at the Ducati Museum located at Ducati’s world headquarters in Bologna, Italy. This span of Desmosedici GP bikes represents every iteration of the Desmo, including the number 1 plate-wearing bike  ridden by Casey Stoner. Just on the right edge of this pic is Nicky Hayden’s #69 Desmo.

Press launches - the ugly truth. Part 3

So with an afternoon of sightseeing completed (a rare luxury on most launches) it's back to the hotel for the press conference. These are you usually long winded, tooth pulling affairs with Japanese technicians insisting on speaking their bestest engrish which only serves to elongate the proceedings. Nothing kills a presentation more than reading every word of a powerpoint slide verbatum, even thought the viewers can read exactly the same words (and probably a lot faster).  The Crossrunner presentation was mercifully brief and snappy followed by dinner in the hotel and a reasonably early night as everyone had already been up for twenty hours.

WSBK Racer Maxime Berger Losing His Rear Wheel at Donington Park

We’re still in awe of a bizarre incident from the past weekend’s World Superbike Race at England’s Donington Park. If you haven’t heard what happened yet, check the video after the jump or read about it in our race report. We’ve seen crashes before where a rider lost control of his rear wheel, but not like this.

Come To ‘Da Rossi’ For A Pizza And More

At 32 years of age, some might say that Valentino Rossi is edging towards the twilight years of his career. At least now he’s got something to fall back on once he hangs up his leathers, as he announced the opening of his pizzeria in his home town of Tavullia, Italy. In the meantime, you can be sure this place will be packed each race weekend.