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

New Ducati Diavel Gallery

Ducati has released number of new photographs of the new Diavel ahead of the sports cruiser’s worldwide press launch. Motorcycle.com‘s Kevin Duke has already shared his thoughts after having a seat on the Diavel at the L.A. Auto Show, and Pete Brissette will get his chance in his upcoming review.

Ultimate Trackbike 5: Chili's WSB Ducati 916

Occasionally, some seriously trick bikes with a decent pedigree come up for sale on eBay. Here's the first in a small series of bikes that we've dug up for sale on eBay now. Queston is, which one would make the ultimate track bike?

2011 Vyrus Moto2 Grand Prix Racer Preview

Motorbike cognoscenti recognize the Vyrus name, the Italian brand producing exotic sportbikes based on the amazing hub-center-steered Bimota Tesi. The Vyrus story begins when Bimota filed for bankruptcy in the early 2000s. Vyrus principal Ascanio Rodorigo, a former Bimota employee, began producing his version of the Tesi after Bimota let its patents expire while it was in bankruptcy.

Radical Ducati: RAD02

I found this Ducati on tinterweb and I love it. Its RAD02 Pursang name hardly trips off the tongue, but the bike is a thing of beauty in the eyes of this beholder. Based around a Multistrada 1100 engine, with Keihin FCR41 carbs, Ohlins front and rear suspension and the swinging arm off a Monster S2R all bolted onto a custom frame.

Visordown art curation

I'm finding it difficult to appreciate art at the moment, especially with all the modern art nonsense. I guess I just don't understand it, but these pieces look worthy of Tate Bike (that is if it existed). They're from young female artist, Guenevere Schwien, who grew to love motorcycles at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Happy Holidays from Nicky Hayden and Ducati Corse

Twas a few days before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring … except for Nicky Hayden. The Kentucky Kid dropped by Ducati’s head office in Bologna, Italy, but when he arrived, there was no one to be found. No, it wasn’t because of one of those month long holidays Italians are known for.

"Hello, is that Ducati?"

MOBILE phone manufacturer Videocon has launched a Ducati-branded phone with unique features such as E-Compass, Thermometer, Barometer, Altimeter, Pedometer, Sunrise & Sunset timings, UV Sensor & Global Positioning System.Launched initially onto the Indian market, the V-6200 also features an LED torch and an FM radio.UK price and availabilty has yet to be announced.

Want sugar with that?

THE FOUNDER of a Ducati dealership in America has started selling a Ducati-inspired coffee at his shop.Arun Sharma, of Portland Ducati dealers MotoCorsa, says he went on an exhaustive search for the best coffee producers available: "Wine, bikes, coffee — quality always boils down to the people who crafted the product and the people they made it for." 'CorsaCaffe' is available with or without caffeine.“Even if you are not a coffee drinker, you may want to obtain the coffee as a centerpiece," says Sharma. "Packaging like CorsaCaffe’s has never been seen before.”Sharma also sells a Ducati-inspired wine, CorsaVino, which uses the same style branding.

The original Ducati Diavel?

Only a select number of people know how long Ducati have been working on the Diavel. Let's guess 3 years. Funny then, that I came across this interesting Ducati custom on t'interweb yesterday.

Design a Ducati Season’s Greetings Card

Nothing says “Happy Non-Denominational Holiday” like an e-card from Ducati and the Italian motorcycle manufacturer is looking for somebody to design one. The Ducati Greetings Contest is looking for contestants to design Ducati’s annual holiday greeting card. The winner will take home a top prize of 1,000 euros and the winning card will be used all over the world.