Founded in 1950 and a relatively minor manufacturer, the Castiglioni family leveraged the Ducati brand in 1985, and though they had thoughts of folding it into Cagiva, only a few larger displacement bikes were produced before they acknowledged Ducati’s greater name recognition. The Alazzurra was a sporty mid-size with a Ducati-branded desmodue aboard, and had…
We don’t normally post project or incomplete bikes here on RSBFS, but this one seemed too good to pass up: one of Cagiva’s inspired but ultimately doomed series of 500cc GP machines, the V589. Battling against the established giants, Cagiva originally experimented with an inline-four configuration but eventually followed Suzuki’s successful formula with a square…
Cagiva’s Raptor was a followup to the Ducati Monster by the original bike’s designer, Miguel Angel Galluzzi. Powered by Suzuki’s powerful, reliable and, most importantly, low-maintenance v-twin in both 650 and 1000cc flavors, the Raptor attempted to recreate the magical Monster formula for Cagiva. Unfortunately, while it was better in pretty much every quantifiable way…
Cagiva’s “Aletta Oro” S2 was designed to be a stylish, entry-level sporty motorcycle for countries where a “starter bike” is defined as something other than a 600lb, 883cc machine with no cornering clearance. The name translates as “gold wing” and the little bike offered up the usual light weight and nimble handling required to compete…
Don’t feel bad if you aren’t familiar with this mini Ducati Paso; this is only the 2nd Cagiva Freccia posted on RSBFS. This little Italian two stroke from Cagiva is called the Freccia (which means arrow). It was introduced in May 1987 and was designed by Massimo Tamburini who is now famous for the 916 and…
At a glance, it’d be easy to mistake this frisky little Cagiva Mito for something else… Looking for all the world like a 2/3 scale Ducati 916, right down to the instruments and the transverse steering damper mounted to the headstock, it’s really just that aluminum beam frame that gives the game away. Ironically, the…
Cagiva Alazzurra models have long since been considered bargain Ducatis. Much as Nissan is to Datsun (hopefully I haven’t lost our younger readers), Cagiva was the parent brand to Ducati following bankruptcy of the Bologna manufacturer back in 1985. But even before then, Cagiva purchased engines directly from Ducati for some models of their line-up.…
Update 1.4.2015: The seller has alerted us that this bike is back on the market. There have been some updates since our first post in June 2014 and all new pictures as well. Links updated. Good luck to buyers and seller. -dc Hey, speaking of British bike magazines, here’s one you’re probably not too familiar…