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 Welcomes Sex Pistols Guitarist Steve Jones into the Family

Ducati North America announced today that avid motorcyclist, Sex Pistols guitarist, and host of LA radio’s beloved “Jonesey’s Jukebox” Steve Jones, has taken delivery of a new customized Hypermotard S at Ducati headquarters. Known for his genre defining music and straight talk, Jones recently expanded his bike collection to include the rambunctious Ducati Hypermotard S due to its aggressive styling and exceptional fun factor. Steve had been eying the model since first riding one at Ducati North America headquarters earlier this Spring.

Are these the coolest aftermarket Ducati Streetfighter pipes?

Visordown brings you the first images of the new Streetfighter exhaust by Chain Reaction Moto. CRM consists of a man in a shed and and a very understanding woman who have a reputation in the US for really well designed and functional exhausts. Taking on the Streetfighter was no small challenge, but we reckon he's done a fantastic job with the underseat style.

Best Helmet Designs from the 2009 MotoGP Season

Unlike with most athletes, motorcycle racers’ faces remain hidden during competition. Except for promotional events or pre- and post-race interviews, the faces of our racing heroes are shielded under protective helmets with tinted visors. You don’t see the same human emotion in their faces like you can when soccer players score a goal or baseball players hit a home run.

2010 Ducati Hypermotard 796 First Ride [video]

UPDATE: FULL REVIEW HERE! So much for predictions. Weather during the month of October in Bologna,Italy, can typically be cold and wet.

2010 Ducati 848 Nicky Hayden Edition [video]

With a new contract with Ducati in hand, Nicky Hayden returned to his home in Owensboro, Ky., for the MotoGP’s mid-season break. So what has the Kentucky Kid been doing on his time off? Riding his own Ducati 848 Nicky Hayden edition bike, of course!

Introducing the New 2010 Ducati Hypermotard 796

Big Red (the Italian one) is at it again. Ducati today announced an all-new model, the Hypermotard 796. The Hypermotard 1100 now has a sibling.

Calling die-hard Ducati fans

Do you don your Ducati jacket on a Sunday morning, grab your Ducati lid and then roll out of your drive on your Ducati? If this sounds like you then we've got a must-have laptop for you; the new Toshiba Ducati U500. It features a couple of Ducati logos, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card, a Core 2 Duo 8700 processor and 4GB of RAM.

Fila-Ducati Monster Shoe Concept

The above shoe rendering was created by Industrial Designer, Oliver Henrichot, who is based in Portland, OR, the concept was inspired by the Ducati Monster.  There is no word if it will ever make it into production but its still an amazing design. Hit the jump to see Henrichot’s Buell Scoop concept.

"It's up for auction but I want £48,500, no offers"

THIS 142-MILE BEAUTY'S up for auction on eBay right now, with the bidding standing at £20,000. The road-going MotoGP replica comes with additional extras including: a full factory Termignoni hand made Titanium System with carbon undertray, rear seat cowl and dECU upgrade (rear exit and side exit pipes), factory Ducati carbon hugger, Ducati Double Race Screen, factory fitted Digital Quickshifter, factory race quick release fuel cap and comes with a two-year warranty. The owner has a Ducati-related number plate which can be negotiated into the deal.

Visordown mag, issue 2 just landed

The latest issue of Visordown mag just arrvied in the office, fresh from the printers. And it's looking great! This month we've got the new KTM 990SMT up against Suzuki's Kayabusa, Honda's VFR800 and BMW's K1300GT - which one is the daddy for sports touring?