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

Cal Crutchlow Leaves Ducati for LCR Honda

Cal Crutchlow has signed on to race for the LCR Honda team for the 2015 MotoGP season. To make the jump, Crutchlow secured an early termination to his contract with Ducati. The switch comes as a bit of a surprise after Crutchlow had confirmed he would honor the final year of his contract at World Ducati Week.

A Peek Inside The Ducati World Superbike 1199 Panigale + Video

When Ducati introduced the 1199 Panigale, it announced it would take an entire racing season to develop its World Superbike challenger before entering it into competition. Being a new design for Ducati, where the Superquadro engine is the main stressed member of the chassis, meant a significant amount of testing was required to prepare the bike for battle. In this video, former racer, and now TV commentator, Steve Martin, explains a few nuances of the 1199.

2014 WSBK – Laguna Seca Results

Marco Melandri rebounded from last week’s disappointing Portimao round to win Race One at Laguna Seca while Tom Sykes extended his championship lead with a win in a red-flagged Race Two. Melandri got taken out of the second Portimao race after his Aprilia teammate Sylvain Guintoli slid into his RSV4. Melandri looked eager to make up for that DNF, leading every lap of Race One on his way to his third win of the season.

2014 WSBK – Portimao Results

Kawasaki‘s Tom Sykes extended his championship lead while a Race Two collision between Aprilia teammates Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri provided drama in the World Superbike Championship round at Portugal’s Portimao track. Sykes qualified on the pole in a sun-draped Superpole session but the clouds rolled in on race day, forcing teams to plan for mixed weather. An overcast sky presided over a dry Race One, leading to a mix of tire choices but all of the racers switched to wet tires for Race Two that saw the scheduled 20-lap length reduced to 18 laps.

Ducati Fills Top Positions At Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Ducati riders achieved the Middleweight Division victory and four of the five top motorcycle times of the day at the 92nd running of the historic Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, held last Sunday, June 29. This year’s introduction of new rules and new motorcycle racing divisions, including the “Motorcycle Middleweight Division” and “Motorcycle Open Division,” brought with it a field of strong competitors challenging for top times. The introduction of the “Motorcycle Open Division” – which allowed fully faired liter bikes to compete in the same class as the defending champion Multistrada 1200 – made it the most competitive motorcycle class and the one in which the top five times of the day were posted.

Jeremy Toye Wins 92nd Running Of Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

On his first attempt at the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, road racer Jeremy Toye set a record in the premiere Open Class to win the category aboard a 2015 Kawasaki ZX-10R, celebrating the 30th year of the legendary Ninja brand. Prior to setting foot on the hill, Toye was confident he could get among the class leaders, aiming to beat the outright Pikes Peak motorcycle record, which was set by Carlin Dunne in 2012 with a time of 9:52.819. While that record remains intact, Toye was able to set a time of 9:58.687 to win the Open Class, finishing 6sec ahead of his closest rival, Fabrice Lambert aboard a Ducati.

2014 WSBK – Misano Results

Kawasaki‘s Tom Sykes won both races at Misano to stretch his championship lead to 39 points as we pass the halfway mark of the 2014 World Superbike Championship. The reigning champion scored his third double-win round of the season while his teammate Loris Baz added a pair of second-place finishes. David Salom on the Kawasaki’s factory EVO entry was also the top rider in the new sub-class for both races to top off a strong weekend for the Team Green.

Ducati Holding Private Viewings of New Scrambler at World Ducati Week

Ducati announced it will offer private preview viewings of its new Scrambler prototype at World Ducati Week, July 18-20. Visitors to the annual Ducatisti festival at Italy’s Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli will get an early look at the Scrambler. Not counting the spy photos that have leaked out, the Scrambler has only been seen in person by Ducati employees who were recently given a sneak peak.

2014 Hesketh 24 Officially Launched

British brand Hesketh has officially launched its limited edition tribute to its Formula 1 roots and the start of a new generation of motorcycles. The Hesketh 24 was originally supposed to be ready in February but after encountering some delays, the 1950cc V-Twin is ready to go. Hesketh is only producing 24 units, but the company says it has plans for a two-seat sport-touring model based on the same platform.

2015 EBR 1190SX Revealed

Erik Buell Racing launches its next salvo to the sportbike market with the 1190SX streetfighter. The 1190SX borrows heavily from EBR’s 1190RX superbike contender that MO’s Troy Siahaan is scheduled to test today at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although no specs have been released, the SX appears to use most of the RX’s hardware: 1190cc V-Twin engine; aluminum fuel-carrying frame; massive 386mm single-disc front brake.