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

Charge Up you iPhone While You Ride

Motorcyclists can now enjoy total freedom on the open road confident in the knowledge that their cell phones, GPS, MP3 players and latest generation of iPhone/iTouch devices will remain fully-charged and in-service for the duration of the ride thanks to Powerlet’s plug and play systems. “Our product line was inspired by personal experience and the realization that there were no worthwhile options for clean, reliable on-board power for cell phones, stereos and GPS devices,” says Powerlet Products founder Adam Bonislawaski. “Before we came on to the scene, riders would bust out the black tape and wire strippers and cut into their bike’s fragile wiring to tie-in a cheap cigar lighter to power their devices.

Hayden and Stoner go on the piste

DUCATI MOTOGP men Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden took to the slopes today, at the opening of the 2010 Wrooom event at Madonna di Campiglio’s in Italy's Dolomite region.The annual event celebrates Italy's upcoming motorsport calendar; press conferences with the two Ducati Marlboro Team riders, Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden feature tomorrow, while the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F1 team will conclude proceedings on Friday.Sadly, there are no 'You've Been Framed' moments. Not one of the Ducati duo goes arse-over-tit in the snow.

New: Ducati 80s Leather Jacket

You can always count on Ducati to come out with decent retro-styled gear. The 80s jacket is made of premium 1-1.3mm thick waterproof cowhide, featuring stretch patches at the shoulders. CE-approved composite armour in the shoulders and elbows cushion any knocks while a breathable liner keeps you cool.

Top Motorcycle News of 2009

The year is coming to a close so let’s take a look back at the top stories of 2009 in the world of motorcycles after the jump. Buell Motorcycles Shut Down Harley-Davidson made the shocking announcement Oct. 15 it would discontinue Buell Motorcycles.

Tyre warmers for the daily commute

Ducati's Streetfighter is a serious bit of kit. It's actually perfect for my daily commute, if not, slightly extravagant. It's narrow, nimble and precise.

2009 Carole Nash International Motorcycle & Scooter Show [video]

NEC Birmingham 2009 – The bikes, the babes, the kit and the people. Raptors & Rockets present the 2009 Carole Nash international motorcycle & scooter show from Birmingham, UK. Check out the video highlight list and Tor Sagen’s video walk through from the 2009 NEC show.

2010 Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO and EVO SP: First Ride

UPDATE:  Read the full review on Motorcycle.com We were invited by Ducati to the Mores Raceway on the island of Sardinia in Italy to take a look at the new Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO and EVO SP. As we were told by insiders at the 796 launch the Hypers are now one big happy family consisting of three members. The EVO and EVO SP are both seven kilos (15.4 pounds) lighter and five horses more powerful than the 2009 Hypermotard 1100.

Live from the Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO launch

I'm out in Sardinia for the launch of Ducati's Hypermotard 1100 EVO. I can't wait. I'm knackered from the transfers, been up since 5am and haven't helped myself by necking an espresso at every opportunity.

Life Size Motorcycle Cake – Go Daddy! [video]

Bob Parsons, GoDaddy.com CEO & Founder married Renee LaBelle on Saturday, October 24th at Keswick Hall, VA. Bob loves motorcycles and rides every day (he did a 5,200 mile trip before his bachelors party). He likes to go BIG (like his Super Bowl commercials), he likes to be edgy, so why not commission a life-size Ducati Groom’s Cake?!

Edible Ducati Streetfighter

CEO Bob Parsons, owner and founder of GoDaddy.com threw an all out bash at his wedding this weekend. By far the coolest part was the fully edible, full size replica Ducati Streetfighter, designed by celebrity cake maker, Duff Goldman. Complete with working lights and smoking exhaust, this 400lb cake took 8 men to lift into place and is by far the coolest wedding cake we've ever seen.