What Is Ducati?

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The 2021 Ducati Multistrada V4 uses a conventional spring-type valve train. Is it a Ducati without desmo? (Ducati/)

Ducati recently announced that the 2021 Multistrada V4 will arrive with a conventional metal-spring valve train in place of the original Panigale V4′s traditional desmodromic valve drive. The two engines share a common bottom end. For the many who regard desmo, or direct valve operation without springs, as inseparable from the idea of Ducati itself, this is shocking heresy. Let us consider an alternative point of view: That Ducati is not a single signature technology, but rather a series of revolutions that continue.

True, the late Dr. Fabio Taglioni used his springless desmodromic valve drive to elevate Ducati—previously a modest manufacturer of radios and small motorbikes—to the first rank of technological achievement in motorcycling; first by defeating MV Agusta in stunning 125cc race wins in 1958, and then in 1972 by Paul Smart’s Imola 200 victory over all comers on the 750 bevel-drive desmo V-twin.

Paul Smart’s victory at the Imola 200 was one of the first significant wins in Ducati’s desmodromic valve drive legacy. (Ducati /)

There was more to come when Taglioni himself realized that the maturing technology of fiber-reinforced cog-belt drive could bring Ducati to a great many more potential riders. The bevel drive to the cams had been a production bottleneck, requiring time-consuming hand-fitting to achieve best results. That was acceptable in an earlier time of hand craftsmanship, but if Ducati were to survive and compete in a world of tightly cost-controlled mass production, the old, experienced fitters in wire-framed spectacles would have to be replaced by the Ducati Pantah’s new set-it-and-forget-it belt drives. It was done, and cog-belt cam drive would thereafter be seen as a Ducati signature technology—until belts had to be replaced by chains to keep the Panigale V-twin reliably competitive in World Superbike. Performance is sacred. The means of delivering it evolve constantly.

By this point, Taglioni, in the eyes of the Ducati faithful, had become eternally The Master. Yet there was more beyond, as Massimo Bordi, asked by Ducati to realize his own vision, replaced Taglioni’s air-cooled two-valve tradition with the water-cooling and four-valve heads of the “Ottovalvole” engines that would win 14 World Superbike championships.

Ducati is not a single signature technology like desmo; it is revolution and change when it makes sense to do so. (Ducati /)

When the eight-valve twins became resoundingly successful Bordi’s name was grudgingly added to the hagiography, and his able acolyte, Gianluigi Mengoli, in time became chief engineer. Very well, then, but Ducatis must eternally be 90-degree V-twins, making the glorious sound we all know well.

New requirements came with Ducati’s 2003 entry into MotoGP, where to make the necessary power the company again broke with its own tradition to set aside the V-twin in favor of a V-4. It made so much power that Honda’s MotoGP engineers were stunned.

Seen in retrospect, each time Ducati has broken with its own tradition, it has done so out of absolute engineering or economic necessity. That is what it is doing now as conventional valve springs replace desmo in the V-4 about to power a new Multistrada.

For a long time, the desmo system in production bikes required frequent attention to keep clearances in spec. Some owners took pride in this as proof of distinction, but others saw it as an annoying interruption of their riding. Desmo service intervals were therefore extended by an R&D program to 18,000 miles. But now we learn that the interval for Multistrada V4 will be twice that: 37,000 miles. Multistrada V4 makes its peak power at 10,500, an rpm level that is well-served by metal valve springs. Why do this? New motorcycles are expensive, and each of us has a financial sticking point. The better Ducati can control price while continuing to deliver the performance, style, and finish riders expect, the greater its potential market share. The new Multistrada V4 will make “only” 170 hp. If you require more, the Panigale V4 desmo awaits you.

The Multistrada’s 37,000 miles between valve adjustments is double that of the longest interval achieved on a desmodromic valve drive. (Ducati /)

I remember seeing the photo of a Porsche 911 on the wall of present Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali.

“That is what Ducati must be,” he said to me then. “The affordable exotic.”

What the history tells us is that in each era, Ducati appears to be something different. It has been “the desmo people,” the “bevel-drive people,” and the “90-degree V-twin people.” But each such identification with a particular technology is in fact just one still photo of an always-moving evolution.

Ducati’s great engineer, the late Dr. Taglioni, came to Ducati originally because he wanted to realize his concept of valves that were both reliably opened and closed by the force of cam lobes operating through levers. This was progressive and revolutionary in a time of unpredictable valve spring breakage. More importantly, it worked; the new-technology 125 desmo Ducati single of 1958 came 1-2 against the full strength of MV Agusta in Belgium and Sweden.

That, combined with Paul Smart’s 1972 Imola 200 win on the bevel-drive desmo 750 V-twin plus the company’s 14 World Superbike championships since, is the legend of Ducati desmo.

When Ducati joined MotoGP in 2003, and when Casey Stoner became MotoGP world champion four years later on an 800cc V-4 desmo Ducati, Taglioni’s valve drive was shown to be at least the equal of the F1-inspired pneumatic-spring systems of the competition—while revving to 20,000.

Motorcycling now has tightening emissions, safety, and noise standards to meet, adding new costs yearly. In addition, despite encouraging growth this year in US motorcycle sales, the market is no longer large. As a result, emphasis has shifted away from complex and powerful bikes to simpler and lower-priced twins. The manufacturers who survive will be those able to please both the market and government regulators at prices riders can pay.

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