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

Get your suspension set up, do it now!

Things are coming along nicely in the Speed Triple camp. I’ve finally removed my gaffa tapped heated jacket controls from the tank, and fitted a pair of Bridgestones sticky but durable BT-16’s. Last week a huge box full of R&G crash protection stuff arrived so that will be fitted at the weekend for peace of mind, just as well really because the Triumph now feels like a finely tuned scratcher thanks to a recent new discovery.

Ducati 848 EVO Appears in Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Commercial [Video]

Get the Flash Player to see this player. Mercedes-Benz’s high-performance tuning subsidiary AMG has released the first of likely many commercials featuring its partnership with Ducati. AMG and Ducati announced their partnership in November, which includes sponsorship of the Ducati MotoGP as well as various marketing and cross-promotional opportunities.

Behind the scenes in Qatar

Just because you have the name Jorge Lorenzo on your screen and you've won a world championship doesn't mean you'll get an easy time at scrutineering. In Qatar the technical inspection staff made the factory Yamaha mechanics remove bodywork and unbolt some electrical components in order to get a better look at the guts of the 2011 M1. Everything was in order of course but what a great opportunity for the scrutineers to exercise their power and have a poke around the most high tech Yamaha on the planet.

Ducati MotoGP: Smoke and mirrors

There's often more lurking within a seemingly innocuous press release than first meets the eye. The latest communication from Ducati's MotoGP spin doctor would, at first, lend you to believe that the team are buoyed with steely optimism and are hopeful that their hard work ethic and diligence will get them to the top of the time sheets in two shakes of a 10 mil' Facom T-bar. The results from their pre-season testing sessions have so far been pretty glum with both Nicky Hayden and their golden boy Valentino Rossi trailing the rest of the pack by a couple of seconds.

Old boys up front and where are the new 600 Gixers?

As I’ve been gagging for the new race season to kick off so it was almost a pleasure getting up at stupid 0 clock to watch the World Superbike Championship  opener at Phillip Island last weekend. I have to say Messrs Burnicle and Whitham were on form although I was disappointed there were none of the usual verbal attacks on each other that always add to the entertainment.    I’m sure they will put things right soon but the world superbike regulars must have been disheartened that Moto GP veterans nailed five of the six available rostrum slots.

Ducati 749R Turbo. 214bhp.

I know that the 749 and the 999 split opinion when they were launched. And even today, they don't possess the obviously stunning silhouette of the 848 and 1098 but I'm pretty sure they'll become curious classics in the future. However, this 749 is different and I think it's stunning because, well, it's not the same old 749R with a few carbon bits added.

A new kind of ridiculous: 42X Ducati Edition

I've just been sent this press release about a new Cigarette Racing (that's the boat co.) Ducati Edition boat. It's nice looking, for sure, but do you really need Ducati logos splashed everywhere when you've forked out on a boat that's probably not going to give you much change from £1m. No doubt, Rossi'll be seen on one this year, with Uccio manning the stereo...

2011 Ducati Diavel Carbon World Launch First Impressions

Despite the Diavel Carbon weighing in at 207 kg (456 pounds) dry and featuring bulkier dimensions than any other Ducati it still handles very well. This is down to true Ducati know-how where the 162hp 1200cc L-twin and trellis frame are based on the 1198 superbike developments. The engine is in fact the same Testastretta II found on the Multistrada but with a massive exhaust system that boost power over the Strada by 12 horsepower.

Ducati vs. Honda vs. Suzuki: MotoGP porn

For all you lovers of perfectly welded titanium, amazingly machined aluminium and lovingly crafted fasteners; this blog's for you. These pics were shot at the Sepang MotoGP tests where the bikes were presumably being warmed up, ready for action. Take a look at that Suzuki, it's a work of art.

Ducati Diavel Carbon, with a cherry on top

Here at the launch of the Ducati Diavel, there's a Diavel Carbon on display with a few extra Ducati goodies, including the 20mm lower 'Touring' seat. It's trick.. The only thing I'm not so sure about are the wheels, which are black and metal cut finish, as standard on both bikes.