Ducati’s first motorcycle was the Cucciolo [or “puppy” in Italian], which was basically a simple engine strapped to a bicycle, an affordable tool to get the Italian population mobile and back to work after the end of World War II. Certainly a far cry from the frameless, race-inspired exotica they’re famous for today. This NCR…
By the late 1970s, it was pretty obvious that Ducati needed to update their line: performance wasn’t really all that much of a problem, but their famous L-twin was very expensive to manufacture. So when the time came… They simply tossed the whole thing out the window and started over, with a parallel-twin that used…
What looks good doesn’t always work well: some of the most beautiful cars ever built were created by eye, without the aid of modern aerodynamics. Sleek machines like the Jaguar E-Type and the Corvette Stingray may look impossibly fast, but often try to leave the road at elevated speeds… Racing machines on the other hand…
Although the mid-1980s 750 F1 may not have represented the very best from Ducati, the TT2 and later TT1 race bikes that inspired them certainly did. Lightweight, perfectly formed, and highly effective, they epitomize Ducati’s racing ethos of the period. The original TT2 displaced 587cc and used the belt-drive Pantah motor, with the later TT1…
A practical, naked standard, the DB6 Delirio is a pretty far cry from Bimota’s roots. The company made its name building barely streetable racebikes with lightweight trellis frames, wild styling, improved suspension, and a raft of racebike details. The DB6 definitely has top-shelf suspension and innovative details, but it was designed as Bimota’s “entry-level” model.…
The 90s iteration of Ducati’s famous SuperSport wasn’t exactly a fast bike, even by standards of the day. And by the time the Ducati 900SS “Final Edition” rolled around, it likely appealed mostly to die-hard Ducati fans and collectors. Which is a shame because, although the 900SS didn’t offer cutting-edge performance, it did offer plenty…
At some point, you may get to thinking, “These modern sport bikes are going to kill me.” It’s a pretty logical conclusion. It’s bad enough we have to dodge car drivers on cell phones, off-leash dogs, deer, moose, apparently coyotes… We have to watch out for road debris, sand, rocks, wet leaves, and sometimes discarded…
The Ducati 750 Sport was an interim model introduced in 1988 that followed on the heels of the F1. Ducati owners Cagiva hoped to capture the spirit and style of the vaunted 750SS, but buyers weren’t having it, and the bike was replaced by the long-running 900SS of the early 1990’s. The F1 was relatively…