DUCATI - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed

(Motorcycle engine roar) - It's the Italian two-wheeled stallion from the country of lasagna that makes motorcycle lovers vibrate with its leather pants. They rose from the rubble of their bombed factory during World War II to become the greatest Italian motorcycle manufacturer of all time! (motorcycle engines roaring loudly) They build racing bikes, then they turn on a headlight and turn signals and call it street legal. (Motorcycle engine roars) Grab your leathers and put on a helmet because this is

everything

you

need

to

know

to catch up with Ducati! (energetic, bouncy music) (horse neighing) (lightning strike) If you're a biker boy or biker girl, I'm sure you've drooled a little while fawning over one of the city's sexy two-wheeled steeds. company. but before Ducati started making some of the best motorcycles in the world, they were already building something pretty unattractive.

Radios. Radios were the smart phones of the old days. It's like Twitter but for your ears. Literally everyone had a radio, so naturally there were entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on this new electronics market. Three Italian brothers named Adriano, Bruno and Marcello Ducati were some of those entrepreneurs. Adriano was a very talented physics student, he worked in this newly developed field of radio and had some patents to his name. So in 1926 Adriano and his two brothers formed the Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati, something that really rolls off the tongue. Great brand. Working out of a small factory in Bologna, Italy, Ducati began manufacturing smaller electrical components for radios until eventually selling complete units.

Another complete unit is Nolan. In 1935, the Ducati brothers built a new factory that was considered one of the most modern manufacturing facilities in the world and employed over 7,000 workers by 1940. Around this same time there was also this little war that was starting to gain ground. Maybe you've heard of it, it's called World War II. This German dictator, who I will not mention, but his name rhymes with Fitler, had forced the Ducati factory to manufacture military radios for the accessing powers. Now in a war radios are very important! This is how you communicate, this is how your enemies communicate, and one way to prevent your enemies from communicating is to bomb with an absolute sound (beep) the factory where they are building their radios and, in October 1944, American bombers B-24 Liberators carried out Operation Pancake.

It took 15 minutes and 750 bombs to bring down the modern Ducati plant, ending its radio manufacturing days forever. (upbeat music) During the war, German soldiers forced Italian soldiers to return to Germany to fight on the front lines. Now Ducati would take in the escaped Italian soldiers and give them uniforms and badges showing their draft date a year before their arrival and the German soldiers would show up at the factory and say: where are the escaped soldiers? And Ducati would be like: I don't

know

what you're talking about, man. These guys have been here forever. Very cool. After the war, like many European countries, Italy was left with the task of rebuilding itself.

So they set their sights on the cheap transportation market, the only problem was that Ducati had no experience in building anything transportation related. So they went to the Italian tuning shop, Siata. Siata was building a little clip-on four-stroke engine that would turn your boring pedal bike into a terribly bad (bleep) motorized bike. The engine that Siata built was called Cucciolo, which translates to puppy in English, and they did it because the engine sounded like a puppy. (barking) No, he doesn't bark. (engine humming loudly) It had 1.5 horsepower and got 180 miles per gallon. It wasn't fast but it was economical.

Siata couldn't keep up with demand, so Ducati struck a licensing deal to start building the puppy-sounding bicycle engine. And once Ducati took control, they started producing 25,000 units a year. Ducati would continue to build the Cucciolo and improve its quality and functionality and in 1950, Ducati built its first true motorcycle, the 60 Sport. (motorcycle accelerating noisily) Now using a 60cc pullrod engine that made two and a half horsepower and reached 40 miles per hour, it was the first to use Ducati's own frame with a built-in gas tank. Three-

speed

transmission and front and rear drum brakes. Court! Ducati would continue making these types of motorcycles and mopeds well into the 1950s, but in 1954 they hired a man who changed the direction of the company forever.

By the mid-1950s, Ducati was tired of making boring, tame, small-displacement motorcycles. There was something called the race of all races, the Motogiro of Italy. 300 kilometer endurance race that tested the

speed

and durability of the machines and men who participated and for any motorcycle manufacturer that won, it would be a guaranteed increase in sales. Ducati's rival Mondial had just won this prestigious race with its 125 Racer. On his team there was a young engineer named Fabio Taglioni. Now Fab played a big role in the success by helping Mondial win the coveted race, but Mondial shut down the young Taglioni by not inviting him to the post-race party.

Big mistake. Then, doing the most Italian thing he's ever done, he left the company the next day, but he didn't tell anyone why. I'm pretty sure it's because he wasn't invited to a party. The CEO of Ducati approached the newly unemployed Italian engineer and presented him with a proposal: to work for Ducati, not only manufacturing racing motorcycles but also to save the company from bankruptcy. Look, you've got the skills, kid, the skills to pay the bills. I

need

you to build me a racing bike. Yes I can do it. Plus, Ducati is about to close, so we're really counting on you.

Wait, I just started working here, are we closing? No, we will not close! You just said we're closing. We're not closing, we're fine, we're rich! Arrived! Bye! (bikes rumbling) At that time, Ducati was struggling to stay afloat and that's why they needed to win the Motogiro d'Italia. Taglioni accepted the challenge and was hired as Ducati's chief design and technical director. He got to work and built Ducati's first racing vehicle, the Grand Sport Mariana. The name of the sauce! The bike weighed less than 180 pounds and could run up to 120 miles per hour. We're in the 50s, that's scary!

A year later, Taglioni built a 125 cc version with rider Juliano Maogi in the seat; The 125 Mariana took first place in the 1956 Italian Motogiro. Wanting to improve his racing machine even further, Taglioni began work on another motorcycle, a motorcycle that would shape the company in a way that still stands to this day. from today. In 1956 he built the 125 Desmodromic Racer. The Trialbero. What made this Racer unique from the Mariana is that it used a camshaft to open and close its valves. Set your learning limits because we are going to the Tech Talk zone. (upbeat tech music) Now, to understand why Taglioni used desmodromic valves in his engine design, you must first understand how the more common spring-return overhead valves work.

The valves are opened by a cam and closed by a return spring. In the early days of engine design, engines would explode due to valve spring failure. This was a problem in the beginning, when the metal used to make the springs was bad. Instead of using springs to return the valves, a desmodromic system replaces those springs with cam lobes and collars. Pull hard on the valve to close it, perfectly synchronized with the rotation of the crankshaft. So why is that better? Well, for starters, you don't have to worry about the springs failing and the motor exploding.

The second thing that desmo systems avoid is valve float. It's inefficient and you lose power and Mr. Fabio was a racer at heart and he was always looking. That's right, he's still not there. Okay, yeah, do the auditions. (machine whirring) - I need more power, honey! - More power, baby! - More power, baby, more power, baby, more power, baby, more power, baby. - More power, baby! - More power, honey. - More power, baby! - No, none of those people are right. Some of them were pretty good, especially the kids, they were very cute, but it's not the same anymore.

If you have any information that leads to the audience member's location, please post it on Instagram or Twitter, #uptospeed. Taglioni did not invent the desmo system, but he did implement the technology in his engine design. Ducati still uses it in all of its engines today. The new 125 desmo Grand Prix, Trialbero Racer, debuted at the Swedish Grand Prix at Hedemora in July 1956. It generated 19 horsepower at 12,500 RPM. It could rev up to 15K. An engine revving that high in 1956 is crazy, man! The official rider, Degli Antoni, took the new desmo-powered racing bike and lapped the entire field on his way to victory.

It was a damn slap! Ducati continued to use racing as a way to sell motorcycles, and in 1959, they hired a promising young racer, Mike, The Bike, Hailwood, as one of their factory riders. The 19-year-old Oxfordshire lad had the skills to win and his father, Stan Hailwood, had solid faith in his son's racing ability. So much faith that he went to Ducati and asked them to build his son a motorcycle that would dominate the competition and they told him, okay, but to make it financially worthwhile, you have to buy 2,000 of them. So, like any good dad, Stan said, sure, put it on my Oxfordshire Express.

And 2,000 of the newly designed 250 Desmo Twins were built. Not only was Stan Hailwood a great dad, he was also the first Ducati dealer in Britain. (motorcycle accelerating loudly) Now Ducati would go on to make cheaper road bikes into the '60s, producing some of the fastest half cars money could buy. The Ducati Diana or Daytona as it was called in the United States was a $719, 24 horsepower road-going beauty! Based on the Diana, they launched the Scrambler. Yes, those modern-style Scramblers that hipsters love today are updated versions of the Scramblers of the '60s. In 1964, Ducati built the Mach 1, which was the fastest production 250 in the world, reaching speeds in the access of 100 miles per hour.

They built their first production desmodromic model in 1969, with their Mach 3D, a 350cc single-cylinder that went 112 miles per hour, and they built a motorcycle to try to kill Harley Davidson. They called him Apollo. The Berlin brothers approached Ducati to create a rival motorcycle to sell to police departments in the United States. Now that Taglioni was tasked with building the bike, he came up with a 1,257cc air-cooled two-valve V4 that generated 100 hours of braking, almost double that of similarly sized Harleys. The bike had so much power, honey, it would destroy the tires. The material used to make tires in those days was not strong enough to withstand all the hrspris so they detuned the bike to 80 hrspris and that was still too much so they detuned it to 65 hrspris.

After all that detuning, the Apollo was now underperforming. Ducati didn't have success with the V4 concept, but it did have success with its first production Twin, the 750 GT, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Ducati was in financial trouble and, in 1969, the Italian government took complete charge of the company. Honda had appeared on the scene with their super popular CB750 and Ducati quickly realized that they also needed a 750 size bike to compete against the popular Japanese superbike. So the company turned to, as you may have guessed, (bleep) Fabio Taglioni, its Lord and savior, to design such a bike.

The 750GT used Taglioni's new L-twin, named for the 90-degree angle between the cylinders and also to differentiate itself from Harley's V-twin. The 750GT's rigid chassis and quality suspension gave the bike an edge over other superbikes, but it still lacked power. (motorcycle engine roaring) So Taglioni went and developed a desmo version of the motorcycle, the 750 Imola desmo and in 1972, at the Imola 200 race, British racer Paul Smart and Italian racer Bruno Spaggiari won the first and second place. about his new Italian stallions. (The motorcycles hum loudly) The Imola 200 is the European version of the Daytona 200, so having a Ducati as the winning bike was a big deal.

In 1974, you could walk into a Ducati dealership and spend a few lira on a 750 Supersport, a production bike built on the foundation of the Imola racing bike. In 1974 only 401 units were manufactured; It was more or less a racing bike withheadlight and turn signals. It could be considered the most important production bike in the company's history and by far the most sought after. Look them up, they are super expensive. Ducati would close the 70s on top with his boy, Mike, The Bike. After a self-imposed 11-year retirement, Mike Hailwood decided to get his leg back on Ducati, this time at the Isle of Man TT.

Aboard his Ducati 900 SS, Hailwood shocked the motorcycling world by winning the Formula 1. His 900 SS became his number one selling motorcycle, but in Taglioni's eyes, he knew that to prevent the company from closing in the coming years they needed to continue evolving, which is why Donut brings a lot of new shows . You guys in 2020, to make sure you don't miss any of them, hit that notification bell, baby! Taglioni knew that his conical engine design was too expensive to be viable any longer. He developed a new cufflink that used the same 90-degree L design, but replaced the expensive bezel system with a cheaper, easier-to-manufacture rubber strap.

To this day, Ducati continues to use belts to drive its cams. (The motorcycle engine rumbles loudly) The new engine was first installed on the Pantah. The 500cc Pantah not only featured Taglioni's new engine, but also Ducati's new trellis chassis. This design allows the frame to flex in a lateral direction, which in simple terms helps the bike engage in the corners and the corners are good for racing. (motorcycle engine roar) It was only a few years before Ducati launched its 750 F1 to acclaimed success. For the first time on a Ducati road bike, it got Ducati's signature dry clutch.

If Harley V-twins are known for their plop plop exhaust sound, Ducati is known for its clutch noise. (Motorcycle engine sounds loud) It's very distinctive, some people like it, some don't, but it's unmistakable. Even F1's sales success was overshadowed by Ducati's deep financial problems. It seemed like no matter how good or how many motorcycles Ducati built and sold, they were always on the brink of closure due to financial problems. Remember, this was Italy in the 1980s, they were still under the communist regime and Ducati was a state organization and the state of Italy was not good.

Ducati needed capital to stay afloat or they would have to close their doors. Luckily for them, there was another Italian company looking to save the Ducati (beep). Cagiva. Cagiva was a young motorcycle company owned by the Castiglioni brothers. When Cagiva bought Ducati in May 1985, they knew that the Japanese manufacturers were already ahead and needed a bike in their range that could compete with the powerful Japanese four-pumps. They needed a new, powerful engine. (motorcycle engine revving loudly) The desmo Quattro, an evolution of the 750cc L-twin with fuel injection, multiple valves and liquid cooling. The new engine would form the basis of their new flagship sports bike, the 851.

The 851 screamed. It made approximately 100 hsprs, making it the most powerful Ducati ever built at the time. It set the stage for dominance of the World Superbike Championship series. Since the series was formed in 1988, Ducati has more World Superbike titles than any other manufacturer combined. The 851 was the bike that began its dominance in the series, winning the championship in 1980. It paved the way for the Ducati of the '90s and, more specifically, the most famous and beloved motorcycle Ducati has ever built. The 916. (The motorcycle engine roars loudly) The 916 can be considered Ducati's most beautiful motorcycle. Overnight, it seemingly changed the world of superbikes as we know it.

Not only from a performance point of view but also in the looks department. This Italian beauty was the queen of the ball. The shape of the bicycle was based on the figure of a woman. I'm not making it up. While the guys explained the look of the bike, the designers said that the 916 has the silhouette of a voluptuous woman. (gasping) Curvy hips! To be fair, if you ask any Italian what inspired their design, they'll probably say it was a woman. The 916 had exhaust pipes that ran under the seat, which improved aerodynamic performance, and although it didn't make as much power as Japanese bikes of the time, the L-twin desmo engine produced a more even distribution of torque, making easier to walk fast.

Combine that with its incredible handling and incredible brakes, it was unstoppable! It was the 1995 Motorcycle of the Year. They kept the overall package of that bike for the next 10 years, using the 916 as a base for the 996 and 998. During that 10-year period, Ducati won six world titles, 65 pole positions, 115 races and 306 podiums. Around the same time the 916 came out, another motorcycle was released that helped cement Ducati as one of the most beloved motorcycle brands in the world. Il Mostro, or The Monster. (motorcycle accelerating hard) The designer, Miguel Angel Galluzzi, was inspired by the street combat motorcycles of the 80s, when drivers removed their fairings to reveal the frame and engine;

They were also called naked motorcycles. If there's one thing you don't want to mess with, it's a naked street fighter. Just a little advice from big brother. Without fairings, The Monster revealed its trellised frame and distinctive L-twin engine, showcasing the beauty of engineering. Interestingly, The Monster was a special parts container. The engine and front half of the frame came from the 900 Supersport, the lower frame section from an 851, the forks from a 750 Supersport, the bike that would account for half of Ducati's sales in 2005, was more or less a beautiful Italian Frankenstein. He is alive! After years of success with its current line of sportbikes and the Monster bikes, Ducati angered a group of purists with its new sportbike, the 999.

The more futuristic shape of the 999 put off many die-hard Ducatistas. But that didn't stop Ducati from winning on the track. It won three World Superbike Championships in the five years the bike raced in the series. Now, if you're a MotoGP fan and curious as to why there are no pre-2002 Ducati entries, it all comes down to the engines. In the early 1970s, the racing landscape was beginning to change. In the 500 cc category, four-stroke machines dominated, but soon the technology would change and benefit two-stroke machines. Unfortunately for Ducati, they didn't have a two-stroke engine, but in 2002 MotoGP changed the rules to favor four-strokes.

So Ducati got back into the game with its first MotoGP engine, the Desmosedici. The Desmosedici are practically two L-twins side by side. It took five years, but in 2007, Ducati rider Casey Stoner rode a Desmosedici to Ducati's first MotoGP World Championship title. You could even get a road-legal version of Ducati's MotoGP bike, the Desmosedici RR. All you need is 72,500 bones and you can join the likes of Tom Cruise as one of the few owners of the motorcycle. Only 300 were sold in the United States. In terms of production, the 2000s brought a large number of new models to the market.

In 2003 we received the Multistrada, a true adventurer. The 2007 Hypermotard, a cross between a superbike and a street bike, and in 2007 Ducati went back to the drawing board and built an all-new flagship two-wheeled rocket, the 1098. (The motorcycle's engine roars loudly) Going back to the beautiful looks of its great-grandfather, the 916, the 1098, had some classic Italian styling with sharp lines, a single-sided swingarm, and horizontally placed headlights. He even did quite well in the racing game. The FIM reached an agreement for the 2008 season, which allowed twins up to 1200 cc to compete. Ducati won 12 races during that season and the world title.

Ducati took advantage of the new World Superbike rules and increased the displacement to 1198cc of rider power! The 1198 even had traction control, one of the first production bikes to have that feature. Since the 1198 spawned the 1199, the 1199 had the highest power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios of any production motorcycle when it hit the market, but like all things Ducati, that wasn't good enough, so They built a version called Superleggera. which means light weight in Italian, you just learned something. The Superleggera used a magnesium monocoque chassis, magnesium wheels and carbon fiber body panels. He did 200 hrs. (Motorcycle engine roars) He only weighed 342 pounds.

It would have held the title for highest power-to-weight ratio of any street motorcycle, but again, in true Ducati style, they proceeded to go further! (motorcycle engine roaring loudly) Its newer, younger and more modern brother, the 1299 Superleggera, went crazy with its first performances. It was the first factory motorcycle equipped with a carbon fiber frame, subframe, swingarm and wheels. Add carbon fiber body panels, an aluminum tank, and 250 horsepower and you have one hell of a motorcycle! Which brings us to Ducati's latest and greatest model, the V4. In 2018, Ducati ended an era in which its signature L-twin engine was incorporated into its high-end superbikes.

Its Italian competitor, Aprilia, launched a V4-powered motorcycle in 2010 to immediate success. It was so good that the bike was banned from racing the following year. Ducati knew, with great enthusiasm, that the best thing for them would be to start working on a V4 competitor, and thus the Panigale was born. As Ducati's first large-production street bike with a V4, it ended nearly 60 years of Ducati using Taglioni's L-twin. From an engineering point of view, it is another masterpiece from the world of MotoGP. The V4's engine rotates in the opposite direction to the wheels, which helps the bike make faster lean changes.

It has traction control, wheelie control and drift control and even fins that hang from the fairing to help keep the front end planted. Damn scams on a motorcycle, man. We have one right here! It is spectacular. Right now, you can go to a Ducati dealership and get a 200 mile per hour Screamer, one of the fastest vehicles in the world, for the price of a well-equipped Camry. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take that bad boy and do some wheelies. If you want to see more motorcycle content, let me know in the comments. Maybe we're working on a motorcycle show.

Speaking of more things, we now have a second channel, can you believe it? It's called Donut Podcasts, it has our podcast, Past Gas, on there, it will have all of our podcasts. Be sure to ring that bell to receive a notification. I love you.