Ducati L-twin engine

These engines had bevel gear shaft drive to the overhead camshaft, and were produced in round, square, and Mille crankcases.

In the 1980s, these gave way to the belt drive camshaft engines that have continued to this day, in air-cooled and liquid-cooled form.

A two-cylinder engine with its cylinders aligned in two banks radiating out from the crankshaft, forming a V angle, is called a V-twin.

The Ducati V-twin has the V tilted forward, so the front cylinder is nearly parallel to the ground, hence the term L-twin.

Taglioni engaged Leopoldo Tartarini, the founder of Italjet, to refine the styling aspects of the new Ducati.

Director Arnaldo Milvio and General Manager Fredmano Spairani, were enthusiastic about racing, and had encouraged Fabio Taglioni to develop the 750 V-twin.

Meanwhile, in less than six months, Fabio Taglioni and his team had designed and built their own complete bike (the industry norm for a concept to production is three years).

They used remote float bowl Dell'Orto 40 mm carburettors, and had a six speed gearbox with a dry, multiplate clutch.

Also, in June 1971, the first Ducati 750 GT models came out of the factory, distinguished by silver frames, metal-flake paint, fibreglass fuel tanks, 30 mm Amal carburettors, and twin leading shoe rear brakes.

A Seeley frame 750 cc had been tested by Mike Hailwood at Silverstone in August 1971 with a view to competing in Formula 750.

The camshaft belts were on the opposite side to the bevel gear shaft drives on earlier engines.

The engine had been developed for Taglioni outside Ducati by Armaroli, and featured the reversed head layout found in the later Paso where the inlet ports face each other.

In 1971 and 1972, the 500s, and later the 750s, were raced and displayed throughout the western world as part of a major publicity exercise to promote the Ducati name.

The bike was distinguished by its slim green frame, gaping bell mouths on 40 mm Dell'Ortos, half fairing, fibreglass sports fuel tank with clear fuel-level strip down the side, and single seat.

The GT had shorter rear shocks to lower seat height for the American market, but it meant the bike would ground out more easily when cornering.

The crankcases had been redesigned by Giugiaro, along with the rest of the bike, with a squared off look, quite unlike the flowing lines of the 750.

[8] The new boss De Eccher saw Ducati's future in US exports, and had engaged Giorgetto Giugiaro to do the external design work on the new 860 instead of Tartarini.

A hasty re-design of the fuel tank and seat was undertaken to create the 900GTS - a model destined to help the company regain some ground.

In 1974, Australian importer Ron Angel entered a "Ducati 860 SS" in the Unlimited Production event at the Easter motorbike races at Bathurst, on the mountain.

There was an investigation into the bona-fides of the bike by the governing body - the Auto Cycle Union of New South Wales.

Ron Angel had previously brought Spaggiari's bike out to Australia after Imola, and Blake had ridden it in competition where the rules allowed.

The only new Giugiaro cased bevel models after this were the Mike Hailwood Replica, a cosmetic version of the NCR racers,[10] and the S2.

Larger riders found it small, and the 16-inch (410 mm) front wheel restricted tyre choice.

These used 40 mm Dell'Orto carburettors, hotter camshafts, a two into one Verlicchi exhaust, 4 piston Brembo calipers with fully floating discs all round, and an aluminium swingarm.

With the release of the 906 Paso, an air-cooled version of the engine was put into a 1988 750 Sport frame, and the resulting bike called a 1989 900 SuperSport .

The 900 SuperLight appeared in 1992 as a limited edition model SuperSport with monoposto seat, upswept exhaust pipes, vented clutch cover, fully floating Brembo front discs, carbon fibre bits, and lightweight Marvic wheels and guards.

It was not a race bike or a tourer, but a naked boulevard cruiser crossed with a traffic light dragster.

The 900 SuperSport and SuperLight received uprated Showa forks, and in 1995, an oil temperature gauge was added to the instruments.

The 1000DS motor has a 992 cc air-cooled 90° V-Twin, based on Ducati's existing liquid and air-cooled engines, with twin-spark plug heads, pressure fed plain camshaft bearings, redesigned crankshaft, higher oil pressure and volume, and new alloy clutch basket, drive and driven plates.

The Multistrada 1000DS uses Ducati's signature trellis frame with fully adjustable 160 mm travel Showa forks up front, and a single-sided swingarm, with an Öhlins fully adjustable rear shock coupled with a rising rate, height-adjustable suspension system at the rear.