"Ducati exceeds the demands of even the most fanatical enthusiasts and riders…"
On the track, Ducati has amassed a string of World Superbike Championships unprecedented in the history of motorcycle racing. For the road, Ducati offers a range of the most highly sophisticated and sought-after bikes ever created.
Names like Diana, Darmah, Pantah and Paso have entered the lexicon as exemplars of premium performance and timeless Italian style. Contemporary classics such as the Monster and ST4 have become benchmarks in their respective classes. The World Superbike Champion 996 is a modern masterpiece of motorcycle design and has entered the permanent collection of museums around the world.
It all started more humbly. In 1926, the Ducati brothers founded a small electrical appliance business in a suburb of Bologna, Italy. Their breakthrough came in 1946. The Cucciolo ("Puppy" in English) was no more than a 48cc four stroke engine bolted to a bicycle frame. But the Italians loved it and more than a quarter million Puppies were sold in the next decade.
By the 1950s, Ducati was building ever more ambitious bikes - first the 98cc ohv single - the Marianna - and later models developed by famed Ducati engineer, Fabio Taglioni. Taglioni's great innovation was undoubtedly Desmodromic valve gear, a system in which cam driven controls eliminate valve springs - improving power output and overall engine efficiency. To this day, Desmodromics is used in each Ducati built.
Superior performance has been the hallmark of Ducati for decades. The first Desmo Ducatis were 125cc Grand Prix bikes, runners-up in the 1958 World Championship. The legend was born. The 250 Mach 1 fed the cult. Easily the fastest 250cc roadster available at the time (1964), many Mach 1s were handily converted into racers. By 1971, Desmo valve gear became available on Ducati production models when 250, 350 and 450cc versions of the single were produced with Desmodromic cylinder heads. But 1972 was the turning point. A new bike, the 750 V-twin, scored a sensational and unexpected victory in the Imola 200 and launched the modern Ducati V-twin dynasty. The world was wowed.
Under the dynamic leadership of the Cagiva Group, Ducati achieved its next watershed. In March, 1987, Marco Lucchinelli triumphed on an ottovalvole 851 prototype in the Daytona Battle of the Twins. Then in 1990, Raymond Roche, riding a Ducati 888, took the World Superbike Championship. For the first time, a Ducati V-twin had the speed to match a Japanese four cylinder. Motorcycle racing would never be the same. For over a decade, this same basic Ducati Motorcycle - which evolved into the 916 and 996 models- would rule the track at World Superbike and raise the pulse of enthusiasts everywhere.
Throughout more than fifty years of superior engineering, competition testing and cutting-edge Italian design, Ducati has built an enduring motorcycle legacy. From the fastest sport bikes to the meanest Monsters, Ducati exceeds the demands of even the most fanatical of enthusiasts and riders. The marque of champions - Lucchinelli, Polen, Roche, Corser and Fogarty - is the motorcycle you've been dreaming of.
^ top
On the track, Ducati has amassed a string of World Superbike Championships unprecedented in the history of motorcycle racing. For the road, Ducati offers a range of the most highly sophisticated and sought-after bikes ever created.
Names like Diana, Darmah, Pantah and Paso have entered the lexicon as exemplars of premium performance and timeless Italian style. Contemporary classics such as the Monster and ST4 have become benchmarks in their respective classes. The World Superbike Champion 996 is a modern masterpiece of motorcycle design and has entered the permanent collection of museums around the world.
It all started more humbly. In 1926, the Ducati brothers founded a small electrical appliance business in a suburb of Bologna, Italy. Their breakthrough came in 1946. The Cucciolo ("Puppy" in English) was no more than a 48cc four stroke engine bolted to a bicycle frame. But the Italians loved it and more than a quarter million Puppies were sold in the next decade.
By the 1950s, Ducati was building ever more ambitious bikes - first the 98cc ohv single - the Marianna - and later models developed by famed Ducati engineer, Fabio Taglioni. Taglioni's great innovation was undoubtedly Desmodromic valve gear, a system in which cam driven controls eliminate valve springs - improving power output and overall engine efficiency. To this day, Desmodromics is used in each Ducati built.
Superior performance has been the hallmark of Ducati for decades. The first Desmo Ducatis were 125cc Grand Prix bikes, runners-up in the 1958 World Championship. The legend was born. The 250 Mach 1 fed the cult. Easily the fastest 250cc roadster available at the time (1964), many Mach 1s were handily converted into racers. By 1971, Desmo valve gear became available on Ducati production models when 250, 350 and 450cc versions of the single were produced with Desmodromic cylinder heads. But 1972 was the turning point. A new bike, the 750 V-twin, scored a sensational and unexpected victory in the Imola 200 and launched the modern Ducati V-twin dynasty. The world was wowed.
Under the dynamic leadership of the Cagiva Group, Ducati achieved its next watershed. In March, 1987, Marco Lucchinelli triumphed on an ottovalvole 851 prototype in the Daytona Battle of the Twins. Then in 1990, Raymond Roche, riding a Ducati 888, took the World Superbike Championship. For the first time, a Ducati V-twin had the speed to match a Japanese four cylinder. Motorcycle racing would never be the same. For over a decade, this same basic Ducati Motorcycle - which evolved into the 916 and 996 models- would rule the track at World Superbike and raise the pulse of enthusiasts everywhere.
Throughout more than fifty years of superior engineering, competition testing and cutting-edge Italian design, Ducati has built an enduring motorcycle legacy. From the fastest sport bikes to the meanest Monsters, Ducati exceeds the demands of even the most fanatical of enthusiasts and riders. The marque of champions - Lucchinelli, Polen, Roche, Corser and Fogarty - is the motorcycle you've been dreaming of.
^ top
