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

2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale Unveiled

Here it is, the long-awaited and much-hyped 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale, unveiled just this morning as preparations are underway to begin the EICMA show in Milan all this week. The new flagship for Ducati was uncovered to the public alongside the entire 2012 range in a stylish press conference at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, Italy.Ducati President Gabriele del Torchio took the honor of introducing the new machine, but not before announcing that, despite global economic troubles, “2011 has been the most successful year in the history of Ducati.” “Sales of approximately 42,000 motorcycles have generated revenues of €480m (approx. $660m), a 20% increase over the previous year and just reward for our highly innovative products.

EBR 1190 Wins 2011 European Superbike Championship

Harald Kitsch and the Pegasus Race Team has won its second championship on the EBR 1190RR, capturing the 2011 European Superbike open race class title. The championship follows Kitsch’s win in the 2010 Sound of Thunder V-Twin Championship on the Erik Buell Racing racebike. While the Sound of Thunder championship was won against other V-Twin machines, the European Superbike class included sportbikes from the Japanese Big Four, BMW, Aprilia and Ducati.

Beastly Ducati superbike custom

As the new 1199 Panigale is to become Ducati’s flagship superbike, Radical has put together a special bodykit for the out-going machine that boasts improved power and less weight. Named Vendetta, the kit is a collaboration between the Radical tuning company and designers Dragon TT, transforming the existing bike into a more aggressive design. Available for the 848/1098/1198, the Vendetta kit is made of either carbon or glass fibre and consists of: front fairing with 2 high beam and 2 low beam ellipsoidal lights , windscreen, aluminum front bracket, sidepanels with incorporated indicators, bellypan, fuel tank, air funnels, single seat with incorporated leds rear light, seat under-tray and silencer adaptors Now more narrow and compact, they claim the advantages the bodykit have over the original Ducati design is more capacity in the fuel tank, improved airflow, less weight and better engine cooling.

French Moto Website Anticipates Versys 1000 at EICMA 2011

Musings of a liter-size engined Kawasaki Versys have circulated the web for a few years now, as loyalists of the likable Versys 650, as well as displacement-driven riders waiting in the wings, have pondered the potential of a more powerful adventure bike from Kawasaki that’s in the same league as BMW’s R1200GS and Yamaha’s Super Tenere. Alas, nothing of the sort has ever left the lips of Kawasaki, let alone go into production. Recently, however, the French motorcycle website, Moto-net.com, has produced convincing images that appear like photos of a complete Versys 1000, including matching hard luggage.

Asia-Only 2012 Ducati Monster 795 Unveiled in Malaysia

Ducati unveiled a new model to its Monster family specifically for the Asian market, combining the engine of the 796 and the chassis of the 696. The new Ducati Monster 795 is powered by the same 803cc 90-degree V-Twin engine as found in the Monster 796, claiming 87hp at 8250 rpm and 58 ft-lb. at 6250 rpm.

2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale Engine Details Revealed.

Today, Ducati has revealed many telling details about the all-new 1199 Panigale “SuperQuadro” engine in anticipation of the machine’s complete unveiling next month at EICMA in Milan. Needless to say, with all the hype and buildup surrounding the 1199 Panigale, much of it has centered around the completely radical and highly oversquare engine that also acts as the main stressed member of the monocoque frame. The design goals were rather ambitious — 195 hp, among others —and as such, much of what we’ve come to expect from Ducati has been thrown out the window.

2012 Ducati Multistrada 1200 – Ducati’s Top Selling Model Returns

For a company best known for its sportbikes, it may surprise some to learn Ducati’s hottest selling model is its Multistrada 1200. But it’s true: the Multistrada 1200 family, consisting of the base version, the 1200S Sport, 1200S Sport Pikes Peak Special Edition and the 1200S Touring is topping Ducati’s sales charts. It makes sense then for the Ducati Multistrada 1200 to return relatively unchanged for 2012, though it appears the Pikes Peak edition is the only version of the Multistrada to come in the 1200S Sport trim.

2012 Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP Corse Edition Announced

Ducati is introducing a new track-ready Corse Edition of the Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP for 2012. The 2012 Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP Corse Edition comes dressed in red, white and black colors (similar to the Pikes Peak edition Multistrada). Otherwise, the Corse Edition is mechanically similar to the 2011 Hypermotard 1100 EVO SP.

Ducati Teases New Monster for Asian Market

Ducati will unveil a new Monster model for the Asian market, expected to be called the 795. The Italian manufacturer has a new micro-site (http://www.monster.ducati.com/) displaying the shrouded image above along with a countdown ticking off the days until the Oct. 20 launch event in Sepang, Malaysia.

2011 World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa

Carlos Checa has won the 2011 World Superbike Championship and secured Ducati its 17th manufacturer title. The Althea Ducati rider secured the title with a win in Race One of the Oct. 2 Magny-Cours round in France, and then captured the manufacturer title with another win in Race Two.