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

Misano Moto GP. Was it Divine Intervention?

I’m still buzzing from an amazing weekend of Moto GP in Misano. It took until Saturday lunchtime for the sun to get his hat on but from there on in the atmosphere at both the circuit and the nearby beachfront was first class. As usual on race day we had epic Moto 3 and Moto 2 races with respective champions elect Cortese and Marquez once again taking victories by just fractions of a second.

2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 Specs Released

When Ducati announced the updates for the 2013 Multistrada 1200 lineup this week, it was very vague on the details. We know the engine received some updates and the Ohlins suspension had been replaced with a new semi-active “Skyhook” suspension system, and of course, we learned about the new Multistrada 1200S Granturismo variant. It took a couple of days but Ducati has released full specifications for its Multistrada 1200 lineup, shedding some more light on the 2013 models.

2013 Ducati Multistrada Models

Ducati’s Multistrada 1200 has attracted all types of riders to the Italian brand by creating a model that is not only powerful and playful, but also comfortable and versatile. For 2013, Multistrada models feature enhanced aesthetics, a second generation Testastretta 11° engine, the latest ABS and, on the “S” versions, the semi-active suspension system, Ducati Skyhook Suspension (DSS). The 2013 base model Multstrada boasts Riding Mode technologies, Ride-by-Wire (R-b-W) and Ducati Traction Control (DTC) in addition to the very latest in ABS, while the Multistrada 1200 S Touring is now equipped with Ducati Skyhook Suspension (DSS), additional side luggage, heated grips and a centerstand.

None of the gear, no idea?

You know when you see the remains of a bike that's been in a big frontal impact and you think: 'My god, what kind of force was needed to rip the airbox out!?'. Well this is one of those crashes, caught on camera. I've seen a lot of crash videos, let's face it, we all have, but I've never seen anything like this.

Ben Spies to Ducati in 2013

Ducati has confirmed that Ben Spies will be riding for the Italian company in next year’s MotoGP championship. Joining Spies is Moto2 phenom Andrea Iannone. Apparently, Spies and Iannone will be competing on the Pramac Ducati team and “will be supplied with official equipment.” With Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso already confirmed for the factory Ducati Team, this announcement concretes a competitive, four-pronged attack for storming next year’s championship.

848 Challenge to continue in 2013

Press release from 848 Challenge: MSVR and Ducati UK are delighted to announce a joint partnership for the 2013 season as the Ducati 848 Challenge becomes an established feature of the British Superbike Championship. For the first time, the series comes under the organisation of MSVR with the full support of Ducati UK. The prestigious one make series has produced exhilarating racing in the past three seasons with average grid sizes of 30 riders and is expected to crown a third different champion this year as riders compete on a level playing field running equal Ducati 848 machinery.

Moto2 needs more radical bikes

Makers of fine exhausts, Taylormade Racing have built a Moto2 racer that harks back to the innovative machines like the Elf Honda 500 and Britten V1000. Since Moto2's inception in 2010 the class has featured bikes with conventional chassis but the Taylormade bike, designed by Paul Taylor and John Keogh, has a radical design featuring a carbon-fibre monocoque frame, carbon-fibre swingarm, wishbone monoshock front suspension and an under-seat radiator. However, with such radical engineering the inherent problem is that it is a risk for teams to invest in such a project.

Miguel Duhamel to Ride for Lightning-Barracuda at Le Mans FIM e-Power/TTXGP Race

Miguel Duhamel is returning to action to race in the FIM e-Power International Championship for Lightning Motorcycles. The five-time Daytona 200 winner will ride the Lightning Barracuda electric motorcycle for the joint FIM and TTXGP race at Le Mans , and Motorcycle.com had a role in setting up the connection. The topic of a rider for Le Mans came up during the preparations for Associate Editor Troy Siahaan‘s exclusive test of the Lightning race bike last month.

Roger Lee Hayden Headlining “Ride with the Stars” Track Day School at New Jersey Motorsports Park

Roger Lee Hayden and a number of current and former AMA racing stars will be guest instructors at a two-day riding clinic at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The National Guard Jordan Suzuki racer and the other special guests will join the instructors of the Penguin Roadracing School for the “Ride with the Stars” special track day, Oct. 13-14.

Karel Abraham is now a lawyer

Two days after the MotoGP race at Brno Karel Abraham received a bachelor's degree in law. When most riders were fully focussed on the race at Brno, Abraham was also studying for his law exams at his home race. The Ducati rider has had a fragmented season in 2012, missing races through injury, but he was able to get a top 10 finish with ninth in the Czech GP.