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

Meet AMA Superbike Rider Geoff May At D-Store Chicago May 30th

This weekend, the AMA Pro Roadracing circus makes its way to Road America for round two of the series. Before festivities on track get started, however, here’s your chance to meet Dainese-sponsored rider Geoff May as the D-Store Chicago will be hosting a meet and greet on Thursday, May 30, starting at 4pm. The event will include raffle prizes, with proceeds benefitting W.I.N.G.S., an organization providing integrated services to families, in an effort to end domestic violence and homelessness.

Women’s Sportbike Rally Invades Deal’s Gap September 6-8

The annual Women’s Sportbike Rally presented by Draggin’ Jeans is returning for the eighth time to the Smoky Mountains the weekend of September 6-8 for fun, friends, riding and raising funds for the fight against Melanoma. The event headquarters and activities also return to the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort at the foot of the famous “Tail of the Dragon.” In addition to the beautiful riding in the area, there will be plenty of event activities for all attendees and their guests to enjoy. There will be Friday and Saturday evening festivities, the Sportbike Night and the Sportbikegirl Pit Party, which will feature games, raffles, door prizes, entertainment and camaraderie.

Three-Time World Champion Wayne Rainey Honored At Quail Motorcycle Gathering

Saturday, May 4 marked the 5th annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering in Carmel, California. With such a diverse collection of historical, rare and outrageous motorcycles, the Quail is an event we thoroughly enjoyed attending last year. To commemorate the occasion, this year’s guest of honor was none other than three-time 500cc Grand Prix world champion, and local area resident, Wayne Rainey.

Audi Announces Ducati Q1 2013 Sales Results

Ducati sold 9,817 motorcycles in the first three months of 2013, according to the first quarter report from parent company Audi. The first quarter sales result represents a 5.2% decline from the 10,360 Ducati motorcycles sold in the same quarter of 2012 when the company was owned by Investindustrial. Sales were down in Europe where the economy continues to struggle.

Ziggy Marley To Perform In Southern California For Charity

On Friday, May 10th, motorcycle and music fans alike can gather at Newcombs Ranch Roadhouse at the base of the Angeles National Forest, where Ziggy Marley, Bob’s eldest son, will perform a concert to benefit the Chepstowe Basic School in Port Antonio, Jamaica. But beyond trying to raise funds for impoverished school children, Ziggy is also promoting a six-part documentary series, sponsored in part by Ducati, where he and his brothers Rohan and Robbie ride Ducati Multistradas through Africa. The film, entitled Marley Africa Road Trip, is directed by David Alexanian, who also directed Long Way Round and Long Way Down. View the trailer below.

Ben Spies to Miss Jerez MotoGP Round

Pramac Racing announced Ben Spies will sit out the Jerez round of the 2013 MotoGP World Championship after suffering from chest pains at last weekend’s Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Spies cut short his 2012 season, missing the final two rounds to go under the knife last October to repair  ligaments in his right shoulder. During the off-season Spies signed with the Pramac Ducati satellite team and worked towards coming back for the 2013 season opener at Qatar.

Claudio Domenicali to Replace Gabriele Del Torchio as Ducati CEO

Current Ducati CEO, Gabriele Del Torchio, is leaving the company to take up new professional challenges. Replacing him is Ducati General Manager and Member of the Board of Directors at Ducati Motor Holding, Claudio Domenicali. Domenicali joined Ducati as a project leader in 1991.

Austin Kicks Off MotoGP Weekend!

  This weekend, the MotoGP circus makes its way to the United States for round two of the world championship, held at the stunning new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the first time the track will host a world championship level motorcycle event. Expect to see the world’s fastest racebikes reach speeds over 200 mph on the 1 km (0.62-mile) back straight, and bring ear plugs — these bikes are loud! Fresh off a 1-2 finish in the season opener in Qatar, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi are looking to carry the momentum to CotA.

AMA Pro Racing Announces Basic Twins Flat Track Class for 2014 Season

AMA Pro Racing announced a new class for Flat Track racing designed to provide a new stepping stone for up-and-coming Pro-licensed racers, replacing the Pro Singles class in 2014. The new class, to be called Basic Twins, is more or less a revival of the Basic Expert Twins division that ran during the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but dropped when the Pro Singles class was introduced for 2009. The new class will give young racers a chance to showcase their skills on Twins, easing their transition to eventually enter the Grand National Expert Twins class.

MotoGP to Hold Official Test in Argentina; South American Nation Returning to Calendar for 2014

Dorna Sports announced there will be a MotoGP test at Argentina’s Circuito Internacional Termas de Rio Hondo in July to allow teams to prepare for the track’s expected addition to the 2014 MotoGP calendar. Argentina was actually supposed to join the MotoGP tour this season, but the round was scrapped because of a dispute between the country and Spain after the Argentine government seized control of a Repsol subsidiary. Repsol is, of course, a prominent sponsor of several teams including Honda‘s factory team.