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 Diavel AMG Special Edition Live at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show

Your trusty Motorcycle.com news monkey is knee deep in four-wheeled madness helping out with our sister site Autoguide.com‘s coverage of the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, but thankfully there are some two-wheeled goodies on display here in Germany as well. One of the highlights is the special edition Ducati Diavel AMG, the latest product of the partnership between the Italian motorcycle maker and Mercedes-Benz’ performance arm. Look for a full gallery of pictures after the jump.

2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 Unveiled

Ducati revealed its new Streetfighter 848, adding a smaller-displacement version of the original 1099cc Streetfighter first introduced in 2009. The 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848 uses an 849cc version of the 11-degree Testastretta engine first introduced with the Multistrada, which should mean a similar 15,000 mile valve inspection intervals. The design is similar to the larger Streetfighter including the dual exhausts on the right side.

James Toseland Announces Retirement from Racing

Two-time World Superbike Champion James Toseland announced his immediate retirement from motorcycle racing due to a debilitating injury to his right wrist. Signed with the BMW Motor Italia racing team, Toseland has been limited to just seven of 20 races in this season’s WSBK Championship due to the wrist injury initially suffered during a private test at Spain’s Aragon circuit in March. After undergoing an operation for the injury, Toseland made two attempts at returning to racing, first at the Miller Motorsports Park round in May and again at the Silverstone round in July.

Trailer for Fastest

This is the trailer for the latest MotoGP specific documentary from filmmaker Mark Neal. The documentary, narrated again by Ewan McGregor, follows the 2010 and 2011 MotoGP campaigns of Valentino and tackling his new rivals in the youth contingent of Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Ben Spies. Going behind-the-scenes Fastest charts the high and lows of last season, including Rossi's career-threatening crash at Mugello and his spectacular return to racing just 41 days later at the German Grand Prix, and shows his debut on the Ducati for the 2011 season.

2011 AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Champion Danny Eslick

Danny Eslick won his second career AMA Daytona Sportbike Championship, adding another #1 plate to the one he won in 2009. The Geico Powersports RMR Suzuki GSX-R600 rider won three races this season and added another five podium finishes to win the title by a 275-256 margin over Monster Energy Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin. Eslick clinched the title after finishing sixth in the first race of the 2011 season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

2012 Ducati Diavel AMG Special Edition Announced

The marketing partnership between Ducati and Mercedes’ AMG division continues with a new special edition version of the Diavel. The 2012 Ducati Diavel AMG Special Edition is equipped with AMG’s signature 5-spoke wheels, an AMG-style exhaust with engraved end-caps, an Alcantara-upholstered horizontally ribbed seat and carbon fiber radiator grills with aluminum trim. The AMG special edition model will come in the same matte black color as the Ducati Diavel Carbon it is based on, but with AMG’s “Diamond White Bright” stripe and trellis frame.

848s head to Castle Combe

The penultimate round of the 848 Challenge is being held at Castle Combe this Saturday as part of the Fowlers Probike National event. The event is celebrating 60 years of motorcycle racing at Castle Combe with a huge variety of races including 125s, 350 and 500cc solos of the British historic Grand Prix Championship and of course the  Ducati 848 championship. In the 848 Challenge, Leon Morris leads the championship and just needs a couple of podium finishes to see off the hard-charging Mike Edwards who's currently in second place.

Capirossi Announces Retirement at Conclusion of 2011 Season

Loris Capirossi announced he will retire at the end of the 2011 MotoGP season, closing off a quarter century of racing including 22 years at the Grand Prix level and three World Championships. “It’s an important moment in my career, and the decision I made has come about after a lot of reflection,” says Capriossi. “I’m happy that after 25 years, of which 22 were in the world championship, I’m at a point where I can still have a smile on my lips as I part ways, even if it’s difficult to think that I won’t be riding a bike next year.” The announcement was made during a press conference at Misano for the upcoming San Marino Grand Prix, the final Italian stop of the 2011 season.

MSF Begins Year-long Real World Motorcycle Safety Study

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has started what it calls the first-ever naturalistic study of motorcycling, with 100 motorcycles equipped with data logging equipment to record real-world riding situations over the course of a year. The information will valuable data that will help shape the MSF’s rider education and rider training program and other safety initiatives. “Our priority with this research is to observe the participants on a day-to-day basis,” says Dr.

Remus launch slip-on for Ducati Diavel

Remus have launched their Hypercone slip-on kit for the Ducati Diavel. It's almost 5kg lighter than the stock exhaust and helps the Diavel gain 5bhp over the stock system too. The slip-on reduces what some designers call 'the visual weight' of the stock twin-stacked exhaust.