AVANTI!

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Skins
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AVANTI!

Post by Skins »

‘CLASSIC MOTORCYCLES’ BY Gary Johnstone (a Channel Four Book, 1993) is a nicely produced volume illustrated with many high-quality images which fit especially well to the text, showing not just many of the machines, but also how they were used in their day. The material, generally still current, is more descriptive than expressive, hence the posting in ‘Idle Noise’ rather than ‘Apex’. The following is taken from AVANTI!, the chapter on the Italian marques:
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Italians are intrigued by the American and British image of the motorcyclist as a greasy, oily, “ne’er-do-well”. People in Italy do not see motorcycling in quite the same way as they do elsewhere. Italian motorcycles are treated with considerable respect. Laverda, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, Gilera, MV Agusta, Aermacchi, Parilla, Cagiva, Aprilia, Bimoto – all are revered names. The have status; many of them are old family firms, many of them once state industries. They have more in common with Italian design and fashion houses than with a wider heavy industrial tradition. So classic Italian motorcycles are objects of national pride. Aesthetic creations to be treasured and enjoyed not just by real enthusiasts.

Italian production has been typified by a large number of small manufacturers making many models. Because of their uniqueness, a very large proportion of these machines could be classified as classics. They are too numerous to mention, but all seem to be unified by something quintessentially Italian. The Italian classic is something that one can point to but not easily explain …

… Ducati had impressed riders throughout the 1960s with it’s range of road-going, non-desmo, sporting singles. The 250cc (15 cu ins) Daytona and it’s successor, the Mach 1 were the boy-racer’s dream. Based closely on Ducati race bikes, the 1965 Mach 1 was capable of over 160 km/h (100 mph)! But in 1968, (Fabio) Taglione went even further and produced a desmodromic single for the road. The 250 and 350 Desmo models, the latter known as the Mk3D, were the start of a roadgoing desmodromic legend.

The Ducati Mk3D was certainly unique. It was a very slender and attractive bike with a colourful paint job, but again it was expensive. Again the controls the controls and electrics of the bike were skimped. The kickstart, following Ducati fashion, was on the left of the engine, which made starting difficult. (You do not know how weak your left leg is compared to your right until you try to start a Ducati. The only solution was to stand beside the bike, and using your right foot, jump up and then kick down.) And many a Ducati rider, on a dark evening in the 1960s and early 1970s, found themselves with a sudden absence of light. More than a bit frustrating on an otherwise perfect machine; but as the Italians would say: “Who needs lights?”

This side of the Italian character comes from a culture where designers are greatly revered. An Italian motorcycle manufacturing company used to be, and in some cases still is, styled more along the lines of a fashion house than a multi-disciplinary engineering works. Costs were high because the manufacturers liked to be unique and used the make the whole bike to the designer’s specification. And while the designer concentrated on the heart of the machine, the ancillaries tended to be rushed or given
less attention. This is in contrast to present-day Japanese manufacturing, or the old British approach where you would always have one designer or outside supplier responsible for making gearboxes, one for the construction of the engine and one for designing suspension systems. Mass-produced pieces were much cheaper.

Reliability was a key factor and the sales of Ducati singles struggled to compete against similar lightweight Japanese machinery. Ducati decided, as the British did, that their market should be the superbike category. In the late 1960s, Taglione was asked to produce a 750cc (45 cu in) machine. The result was a lineage of heart-stopping, brutally good motorcycles. Taglione, through deference to cost-effectiveness and simplicity of design, came up with a V-twin version of the Ducati single. Unlike a Harley-Davidson’s 45-degree cylinder layout, the Ducati 750 GT had it’s cylinders set at 90 degrees. The front cylinder was inclined forward to a near horizontal position. The result was even cooling of both cylinders and a very narrow profile. The most noticeable feature of the V-twin engine, though, was its exceptionally high quality engineering.

Wisely, the factory backed up the appearance of this machine with an effective race presence. The V-twins won the 1972 Imola 200-Miles against all expectations. The GT was followed by an even more powerful the 750 Sport. A tourer, the 860GT1, came out in 1973. The factory also offered a beautiful handbuilt 750SS Imola Replica. However, a series of bad judgements by management had led to breaks in the availability of the machines, Just when the public wanted them most. The 900SS, the most desirable, was made in strictly limited numbers; customers queued up for their sports bikes and Ducati turned out handfuls.

However, in 1978, one man kickstarted a Ducati renaissance – Mike Hailwood. The multiple world champion had retired from racing after a spell in Formula 1 cars in 1974. This diversion ended in severe damage to his legs, but after a short period in South Africa and New Zealand he was restless. His comeback was spectacular. On a Ducati 864 cc (52 cu ins) V-twin, he stormed to victory in the Isle of Man Formula 1 TT. The next year Ducati brought out the MHR, the Mike Hailwood Replica. Queues formed again but the factory still produced the machine in small numbers. Nevertheless, the publicity gained created a long-lasting wave of enthusiasm which has carried Ducati into its present era of successful production. With new ownership, management and a fleet of race-honed machinery, featuring belt-driven desmodromic valvegear on offer, the marque goes from strength to strength …

… The Italian industry as a whole still continues to struggle against the Japanese in a shrinking market. Yet the Japanese are obsessed with capturing the qualities that they feel their machines lack. The Italian motorcycle has a mystique that Japanese mass-production has thus far failed to synthesize. Cliché or not, Italy’s cultural history allows for a dualism that seems like s symptom of severe split personality to outsiders. It has had three momentous Empires shape its psyche: its distant history of the Roman Empire bequeaths a love of the sensual and decadent; its huge Christian tradition urges restraint and devotion; the great Renaissance brought an indulgent reverence for the aesthetic. So, in every aspect of Italian society there is a curious mix of the sacred and profane, the virtuous and the lazy. In Italy, artistic perfection can sit happily next to a “domane” attitude – do it tomorrow!

The Italian classic motorcycle’s heritage comes shamelessly from the cult of the individual, from an unbalanced approach, from a glorious disrespect for economic good sense and an obsessive lust for perfection. In a world where vast project teams respond quickly and logically to ever-changing customer demands, the Italian classic now looks positively refreshing.
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redpaso
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Re: AVANTI!

Post by redpaso »

[quote="Skins
The Italian classic motorcycle’s heritage comes shamelessly from the cult of the individual, from an unbalanced approach, from a glorious disrespect for economic good sense and an obsessive lust for perfection. In a world where vast project teams respond quickly and logically to ever-changing customer demands, the Italian classic now looks positively refreshing.[/quote]

Amen to that!

very interesting read Skins.

The "Italian Classic" not many other manufacturers can legitametally claim a bike to be a classic while still in production, but that is something Ducati can lay claim to time & time again. that is why we love them :thumbup:
Redpaso
"My favourite peice of Ballet is a long sweeping corner"
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