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

Effenbert Liberty Signs McCormick to Ride Ducati 1199 Panigale in 2012 World Superstock Championship

Czech racing team Effenbert-Liberty has signed reigning Canadian Superbike Champion Brett McCormick to ride the new Ducati 1199 Panigale in the 2012 World Superstock 1000 FIM Cup. McCormick won the Canadian championship this season riding the BMW S1000RR, and he’ll be one of the first racers to compete on the Ducati 1199 Panigale which will make its world championship racing debut in the upcoming World Superstock season. The Panigale will be available to Superstock racers this season but won’t make its debut in the World Superbike class until 2013.

Ducati Streetfighter 848 Inspired Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG

The partnership between Ducati and Mercedes-AMG has produced some new fruit, this time a Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG inspired by the Ducati Streetfighter 848′s “Fighter Yellow” color. It’s been over a year since Ducati and Mercedes-Benz’ performance brand AMG signed a cooperation agreement at the 2010 LA Auto Show. Back in September, the two brands came together to produce the special edition Ducati Diavel AMG at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Boxer Design Superbob Concept – 158 HP Turbocharged V-Twin

French firm Boxer Design has unveiled a new 1000cc turbocharged V-Twin concept model at the 2011 Salon de la Moto show in Paris. The Boxer Superbob is powered by a 88-degree V-Twin engine claiming 158 hp at 9500rpm and 92 ft-lb. of torque at 8000rpm.

Bayliss and Marinelli Part Two: Technical Features of the 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale [Video]

A couple of days ago, we shared a fun video featuring three-time World Superbike Champ Troy Bayliss and Ernesto Marinelli, head of Ducati’s superbike program talking about the new 1199 Panigale. While that video was cute with some entertaining interaction between the two long-time collaborators, it was rather light on information about Ducati’s latest superbike. Today, we have a second, lengthier video featuring Marinelli and Bayless offering a more technical look at the Ducati 1199 Panigale.

Troy Bayliss and Ernesto Marinelli on the Ducati 1199 Panigale [Video]

Three-time World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss and Ducati Superbike Project Director Ernesto Marinelli sat down together to talk about the new Ducati 1199 Panigale in a new video released by the Bologna manufacturer. The video was shot in a split screen format with the two men answering questions about Ducati‘s new superbike. Of course, the video feature the two lauding superlatives on the 1199, but it does offer some amusing moments such as Bayliss’ “Superquadro” face pictured above and the two men doing their impressions of how the Panigale sounds rocketing down the straight of the Mugello circuit.

Nicky Hayden and Ducati’s Panigale Come to Hollywood

  (Post updated with new photographs) When it comes to throwing a party, the small boutique manufacturer from Bologna has a penchant for the glamorous. Choosing Drai’s rooftop nightclub for the U.S. unveiling of the 1199  Panigale superbike, Ducati raised the bar in motorcycle swankiness.

Zero-mile Ducati 996 SPS for sale

Funny how everytime I end up browsing the classifieds I end up on something I most definitely can't afford. Case in point, this zero-mile 996 SPS. It's been in a private collection since new and looks mint.

Pirelli Announces Ducati Panigale Will Use Updated Diablo Supercorsa Tire

  Pirelli recently unveiled the latest version of its Diablo Supercorsa tire. The high-performance tire is designed primarily for racing and performance-oriented street riding. The newest member of the Diablo family was presented during EICMA 2011 at Pirelli’s flagship retail location, PZero Moda store, opened this past September on the famed Corso Venezia in Milan.

Top 10 EICMA Show Bikes You May Have Missed

Interesting motorcycles you probably didn't see1 of 11Next Last There’s no cave deep, mountain high or rock heavy enough to have thwarted news of Ducati’s 1199 Panigale superbike launch at the 2012 EICMA show in Milan, Italy. And a few models such as Honda’s NC700S and X, Kawasaki’s Versys 1000 and CRP’s Energica were unveiled without heavy prior fanfare, but gasps of surprise weren’t heard when the wraps were taken off Triumph’s Tiger 1200 Explorer, Husqvarna’s Nuda or MV Augusta’s F3 675 among others, whose existences were revealed months in advance of the show. What we’ve comprised below is our list Top 10 Bikes unveiled at EICMA that didn’t receive top billing but are certainly worthy of your attention.

EICMA Show Visitors Vote Ducati 1199 Panigale ‘Most Beautiful Bike’

According to a post on CycleNews.com visitors to EICMA 2011 voted Ducati’s new Panigale superbike the “Most Beautiful Bike of Show” in a vote organized by the Italian bike magazine, Motociclismo. The new Duc collected 53% of the votes from nearly 14,000 participants. The MV Augusta F3 Serie Oro collected 15% of the vote for second place, with 3% of the vote going to Husqvarna’s Nuda 900R for third.