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

Bayliss + Panigale - Traction Control = ?

Troy Bayliss is at the world launch of the Ducati 1199 Panigale. The gritty Aussie has been keeping the world updated via a running commentary on his Twitter feed and Facebook page. He posted a couple of pictures yesterday and said: "Plenty of laps , turned everything off for extra fun , yep, I am still a kid , TB 21".

2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale Launch This Week!

The normal life of a motorcycle journalist is actually kind of mundane, as 95% of my time is spent slouched over a computer. But then there are rare days in which we are hosted in lavish accommodations in a cool location to ride some new bike no one else in the world has yet ridden. For a motorcycle enthusiast it’s a charmed life.

Provisional 2012 Superstock 1000 Cup Entry List Released – Six Ducati 1199 Panigale Entries Included

The international Motorcycling Federation (FIM) has released a provisional entry list for the 2012 Superstock 1000 Cup. Though it has yet to be included on the official FIM homologation list, the 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale is listed six times, representing three different teams. The 1199 is expected to be added to the entry list this month, as homologation is all but a formality at this point for the most anticipated sportbike of the year.

Investindustrial to Sell Ducati

Ducati may be up for sale again, according to a report by The Financial Times. The Italian manufacturer’s primary owner, private equity firm Investindustrial, is reportedly looking for a buyer in either the automotive industry or a rival motorcycle maker. The firm’s chairman, Andrea Bonomi, told Financial Times the time is right for finding a buyer.

Ducati Announces 2012 848evo Racing Contingency Program

Ducati 848evo racers rejoice. Today the company announced racing contingency programs for select series throughout the country. FreedomRoad Financial has partnered with Ducati and is offering substantial cash payments to race winners. Eligible series include CCS, CMRA, CRA, USBA, MRA, OMRRA, WMRRA, AFM and WERA, with cash payments equaling $300 for third place, $600 for second, and $1200 for first, payable via cashier’s check. Ducati and FreedomRoad Financial will support and follow racers with PR activities, including regular updates on ducatiusa.com.

2012 FIM Road Racing Homologation List Released – Ducati 1199 Panigale Not Listed

The International Motorcycling Federation has released a list of homologated motorcycles for the 2012 Superbike, Supersport, Superstock and Formula Endurance World Endurance championships. The list includes all the motorcycles that are allowed to compete in each of those world championships. Notable for its absence however is the new 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale.

Ducati to Defend Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Crown [Video]

Ducati North America announced it will return to Colorado to defend its title in the 2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Ducati riders have won the two previous years in the 1205cc motorcycle class with the Multistrada 1200, and the winning riders will be back with Ducati for 2012. Carlin Dunne, the 2011 1205cc class winner and the Hill Climb’s motorcycle class record holder will be joined by 2010 class winner and six-time overall Pikes Peak winner Greg Tracy to ride Ducati Multistrada 1200s prepped by the Spider Grips team for the July 8 event.

Ducati Makes Progress as Sepang MotoGP Test Concludes

The good news is Ducati managed to trim another second off of Valentino Rossi‘s Day Two test time. The bad news is the Doctor is still over a second behind Casey Stoner. Of course, considering how much faster Stoner has been compared with everyone else at the MotoGP test in Sepang, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Rossi Makes Progress but Hayden Suffers Shoulder Setback

Ducati continues to develop its Desmosedici GP12 MotoGP race bike, setting modest goals while trying to establish a good setup. Already trailing the other factory teams in development time for its race prototypes, Ducati continued to try to find good base settings for the GP12. Valentino Rossi achieved the team’s goal of lapping under two minutes and two seconds with a time of 2:01.886 while completing 44 laps on the second day of testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit.

Rossi and Hayden Debut Ducati Desmosedici GP12 at Sepang MotoGP Test

Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden got their first taste of the new Ducati Desmosedici GP12 race bikes at the official MotoGP test at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. It’s only the first day of the pre-season test, and Ducati spent much of its time trying to establish a base setup for the rest of the three-day test. Rossi logged 43 laps and his best time was 2:02.392, fifth fastest of the test and 0.735 seconds behind leader Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha.