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

Ducati Announces Multistrada 1200 with D-Air Integration for Europe

Ducati announced it is introducing a special Multistrada D-Air model, what the company calls the world’s first motorcycle fully integrated with an airbag-equipped riding jacket. Working with riding apparel maker Dainese, Ducati developed the Europe-only Multistrada variant to use its existing built-in sensors to detect an accident as it happens. Within 45 milliseconds after detecting an accident, the Multistrada wirelessly sends signals to the Dainese D-Air jackets worn by the rider and/or passenger, activating their airbags to reduce the risk of injury from the impact.

The 2014 MotoGP Season Is Here! + Video

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2014 MotoGP season has officially begun, as bikes have started circulating around the Qatar circuit. This season has been filled with drama as Honda and Yamaha continue to fight for top honors. Meanwhile, Ducati has switched to the new Open rules, Aleix Espargaro has been lightning quick in testing, and what’s with these new Factory 2 rules?

MotoGP to Standardize ECU Software in 2016 Season

MotoGP‘s Grand Prix Commission announced the series will adopt a standardized Engine Control Unit hardware and software programming for all entries starting with the 2016 season. At the moment, all teams are required to use a standard ECU hardware supplied by Magneti Marelli. Teams competing under the Factory option are allowed to use their own proprietary software programming while Open option participants must use standardized software.

MotoGP Approves “Factory 2″ Rules

We’re just days away from the start of the 2014 MotoGP season and one would think it’s a little late for series organizers to make any significant rule changes. At least, one would think that if one were unfamiliar with the political back-and-forths going on between the major manufacturers and MotoGP promoter Dorna. But with the season-opening Qatar round about to begin, the Grand Prix Commission approved new rules establishing a compromise between the new Factory and Open options.

Who To Watch In AMA Pro Superbike This Weekend

Photo: Brian J. Nelson Even though reigning AMA Pro Superbike champ Josh Herrin has left the series to try his hand in the Moto2 series, the Superbike field is still filled deep with talent heading into this weekend’s series opening round at Daytona. Here are just a few names to keep an eye on this weekend.

Massive Gallery Of Ducati GP14 Images

Ducati recently unveiled its official 2014 MotoGP team, including new rider Cal Crutchlow, and the controversial contender both he and teammate Andrea Dovizioso will pilot this year: the Ducati GP14. Having confirmed at the last possible moment that it will indeed take advantage of the Open class rules in MotoGP, allowing 12 engines (vs. six for Factory teams), 24 liters of fuel (vs.

Larry Pegram’s EBR 1190RX AMA Race Livery Looks Sharp!

In January news broke that Larry Pegram would be teaming up with Erik Buell Racing to race the 1190RX in AMA Superbike. At the time no official photos were revealed, but that’s all changed as Pegram posted these pictures of his completed 1190RX in full race livery on his Facebook page. These photos were captured during team testing in Florida, and the colors show off the all-American design motif.

It's official: Ducati's Diavel IS a cruiser

OKAY, it's not official. But a deserving way to gain a moniker you don't like is to go around telling people not to call you it - and Ducati has just released this promo video for the new Diavel titled 'Don't call me a cruiser'. So it's officially forever a cruiser to us.

2015 Ducati Diavel Revealed in Geneva – Video

Ducati revealed an updated Diavel at an event hosted by parent company Volkswagen for the Geneva Motor Show. The 2015 Ducati Diavel receives the latest dual-spark version of the company’s Testastretta 11° engine, most recently equipped on the new Monster 1200. New pistons increase the compression ratio to 12.5:1 from 11.5:1.

Rossi, Pedrosa Fastest In Second Sepang MotoGP Test

Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa topped the time sheets at the conclusion of the second MotoGP test at the Sepang track in Malaysia. Both clocked identical times of 1:59.999 to become the only riders to dip under the two minute mark the entire test. The hot and humid conditions in Sepang meant times wouldn’t be faster than they were in the first test here only a few weeks prior, and indeed, Rossi and Pedrosa’s time is 0.466 second slower than the fastest lap Marc Marquez set at the last test.