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
Wed, 11 Jun 2014
Just days after Ducati officially confirmed it will introduce its new Scrambler this fall comes a spy video of the new bike undergoing some regulatory testing at Ducati’s Bologna factory. Filmed by spy image agency BMH Images, the video provides a fairly good glimpse of the Scrambler, albeit with all sorts of testing equipment and at times a large aluminum shroud (listen to it scrape the ground at the 16 and 43-second marks). Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Mon, 09 Jun 2014
The first ever World Superbike round in Malaysia offered a plenty of drama including both factory Kawasaki riders crashing out on the first lap, a red flagged second race and an overall impressive outing by Aprilia. Under pressure for his lack of results so far this season, Marco Melandri impressed, earning the double for his first career wins on the RSV4 Factory. Aprilia riders led every lap in both races at Sepang, including the red-flagged initial start for Race 2, with Sylvain Guintoli joining his teammate on the podium with a pair of second-place finishes.
Mon, 09 Jun 2014
Ducati officially confirmed it is launching a new Scrambler model for 2015. Ducati gave its factory workers in Bologna a sneak peak of the new Scrambler prototype, but the rest of us will have to settle for the teaser image above and a video. We’ve been waiting for Ducati to reveal its new Scrambler ever since the company registered for the trademark in April 2013.
Thu, 29 May 2014
As a motorcycle manufacturer, you know you’ve made it big when animated animals want to ride your products. Such is the case with Ducati and its cameo appearance in the movie Madagascar 3. Admittedly, I have yet to see the third installment of the hugely popular movie series in which the gang of zoo animals gets stuck on an island, but I suppose the cameo will appeal to those moto-parents who were dragged to the theater by their kids.
Wed, 28 May 2014
Just over six months after Ducati revealed its Monster 1200 at EICMA, the Italian manufacturer announced another new liquid-cooled member to its naked roadster line. Sharing the same 90° V-Twin engine as the Hyperstrada and Hypermotard, the new Monster 821 shares many design cues with its 1198cc sibling. The 821cc Testastretta 11° engine, claiming 112 hp and 65.9 ft-lb., is housed in a steel trellis frame similar to that on the Monster 1200.
Mon, 26 May 2014
Bryan Smith edged out Kenny Coolbeth Jr. by a mere 0.041 seconds to win the AMA Pro Flat Track Experts Twins race at the Springfield Mile. The ten laps of the race saw Smith and his Kawasaki battling for the lead with Coolbeth and Jake Johnson and Jared Mees sitting close behind waiting for an opening.
Mon, 26 May 2014
Tom Sykes and Loris Baz captured a pair of one-two finishes for Kawasaki at England’s Donington Park. The first race saw the reigning World Superbike champion fight his way up from 11th place for the win while Race 2 offered a three-way battle between the two Kawasaki riders and Aprilia‘s Sylvain Guintoli. Race One
#493744055 / gettyimages.com
Normally a strong starter, Sykes had a nearly disastrous beginning in Race One, while up front, Suzuki‘s Alex Lowes battled with Guintoli and Baz.
Wed, 07 May 2014
Ducati has issued a recall on 2083 1199 Panigale and Panigale S models regarding an electronics issue. The recall involves a handlebar switch wiring problem that can result in failures for a variety of components, including the turn indicators, horn, headlights, and instrument panel. The recall affects both U.S.
Tue, 06 May 2014
Ducati dealerships were rated the best in the U.S. motorcycle industry at how well they deal with potential new customers. The Italian manufacturer earned the highest score out of 17 major brands in the 2014 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, the firs time Ducati topped the annual Index since 2009.
Tue, 06 May 2014
Guy Martin, well known and very popular Isle of Man TT racer and TV personality, has announced he will be competing at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday, June 29. Despite being a rookie, Martin is no stranger to “real” road racing. In fact, he’s set quite a lofty goal for himself: to break the motorcycle course record, which currently sits at 9:52.819 by Carlin Dunne aboard a modified Ducati Multistrada in 2012.