GP’s Classic Steel #69: 1971 Desmo Ducati R/T 450

For this week’s Classic Steel we are going to take a look back at Ducati’s sole endeavor into the world of  motocross, the 1971 Desmo Ducati R/T 450.

For this week’s Classic Steel we are going to take a look back at Ducati’s sole endeavor into the world of  motocross, the 1971 Desmo Ducati R/T 450.

The Italian Stallion: In 1971, Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati was convinced by its American distributer to build a big bore race bike for the US market. The result was the 1971 Ducati Desmo 450 R/T. While the big 450 put out plenty of power, its absurd weight and quirky handling made it a hard sell to American consumers.

Ducati: the very mention of the name conjures images of exotic two-wheeled dream machines from the land of Ferrari’s and Gucci handbags. They are expensive and delicate pieces of rolling art, designed for riders who appreciate their uniquely Italian character. Put simply, if you want economical and reliable, you buy Japanese. If, however, you are looking for a little more stile e l’eccitazione in your motorcycling experience, you buy Italian.

The founding Ducati brothers: Adriano, Marcello, and Bruno Cavalieri Ducati.

Today, Ducati is best known as a manufacturer of high performance street motorcycles, but they did not start out building crotch rockets for over-caffeinated Italian youths. In 1926, Antonio Cavalieri Ducati and his three sons, Adriano, Marcello, and Bruno founded Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati in Bologna, Italy to produce small electronics parts and radio components.  Ducati was successful from the beginning and by 1935, had opened a second factory in Borgo Panigale, with the goal of establishing an industrial and technological center in Bologna.

The R/T’s 436cc Desmo single put out a very impressive 38 horsepower in ’71. This was far more than most of the machines it had to compete with and unfortunately, far more than its flimsy chassis could handle. When you added in its near 300-pound dry weight, it became clear the big Duck was no machine for the faint of heart.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Ducati’s manufacturing capacity would be moved to war production in support of the Axis war effort.  As a result, Ducati would be repeatedly targeted by allied bombings raids during the war, but would continue production, in spite of having the Borgo Panigale factory razed to the ground in a 1944 attack. After the conclusion of the war, Ducati would look to diversify its business by capitalizing on the huge demand for cheap, reliable transportation in war-ravaged Europe. With many roads damaged or destroyed, and a populace desperate to get back on the move, there was a huge demand for inexpensive motorcycles and scooters all over Europe. Seeing an excellent opportunity, Ducati began looking for a way to get into this burgeoning industry.

While today, Ducati is thought of mainly as a motorcycle manufacturer, for the first twenty years of their existence they were a producer of electronics and radio equipment.

While Ducati was tied up with war production, a small Turinese firm by the name of SIATA (Societa Italiana per Applicazioni Tecniche Auto-Aviatorie) began developing a small pushrod engine for mounting on bicycles. In 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this small motor under the name of “Cucciolo” (Italian for “puppy,” in reference to the distinctive exhaust sound). The Cucciolo was sold alone and needed to be mounted on a bicycle by the purchaser. Even with this do-it-yourself design, the Cucciolo proved to be a tremendous success (over 200,000 were sold in its first five years of production), spawning a cottage industry building frames specifically for the small motors.

The key difference between the Ducati and its four-stroke competition, was its unique “Desmodromic” valve train. The Desmo top end positively opened and closed the valves, without the use of conventional valve springs. This prevented “valve float” and allowed higher sustained engine speeds than conventional motors of the day.

In 1946, Ducati would make its first forays into motorcycle production by partnering with SIATA to produce the Cucciolo motors. With the small motors a run-away success, Ducati would quickly make plans to introduce a machine of their own. In 1949, Ducati would release its first complete motorcycle- the Ducati 60. The 60 used the 48cc Cucciolo motor and could attain a top speed of 40 mph (not exactly a 1199 Panigale R). After the success of the 60, Ducati would expand their portfolio to include larger 125cc, 175cc and 200cc offerings, eventually splitting the company into two distinct entities; one for electronics and one for motorcycles. Ducati Meccanica SpA would focus solely on their ever-expanding motorcycling business, leaving Ducati Elettronica to handle their electronics endeavors.

Ducati would like you to have believed the R/T as some kind of thoroughbred, but in actuality, it was a fragile, overweight, under-suspended, ill-handling handful. On the bright side, however, it certainly was pretty.

In 1954, a man would arrive at Ducati that would change the Italian manufacturer’s fate forever – Fabio Taglioni.   Taglioni’s big idea was to control “valve float” (a condition in four-strokes where at high rpm’s the valve spring is incapable of “re-cocking” and seating the valve before the next rotation of the camshaft) by having the valves positively opened and closed without using conventional springs. If left unchecked, valve float can cause a catastrophic collision between the valve and piston, a huge problem on a high-rpm performance machine. To fight this, Taglioni purposed using a “Desmodromic” (from the Greek: “desmos” [controlled, linked] and “dromos” [stroke, course, track]) valve train. Several manufacturers had experimented with this system since the early part of the twentieth century to varying success. The best known and most successful of these was Mercedes-Benz, with their W196 straight-8 Grand Prix racecars of the fifties.  The W196 or “Silver Arrow” would give the Desmodromic valve train its first big success, capturing two Formula One titles during the decade. With Taglioni’s arrival at Ducati, this innovative technology would make its way to the two-wheeled racing world as well.

Fabio Taglioni, father of the Desmo Ducati.

Tagioni’s version of the Desmodromic valve train would share the same principles of earlier designs, but differ in its execution. Unlike the large and bulky four-cam Mercedes system (itself based on a design by Norton motorcycle founder J.L.Norton), the new Ducati system would use only three cams and be far more compact. This would allow its practical use on small and light motorcycles for the first time. 

All the bodywork on the R/T was made from brittle and delicate fiberglass instead of plastic, Even with rubber mounts, cracks and breakage were all to common. Simple chassis flex and motor vibration was sufficient to crack the Ducks delicate tank and fenders in short order.

In 1956, Ducati would unveil its first Desmodromic racer to great success.  Thanks to is Desmo valve train; Ducati’s 125cc Grand Prix machine could safely operate at an astounding 14000 rpm’s without failure. Using this high rpm advantage to the fullest, the Desmo 125 would capture victory in its first ever GP with Delgi Antoni at the controls. A year later, a crash at the Ulster GP would be the only thing that would prevent the Desmo Ducati from capturing the 125 World title in only its second full year.  With these early successes, it became obvious that there was a lot of potential in Tagiono’s innovative powertrain. For Ducati, it looked like the Desmo was here to stay.  

Before actually producing finished motorcycles, Ducati would get its feet wet building small 48cc motors designed to be mounted on bicycles. The “Cucciolo’ ” (Italian for “puppy,”) would be a run away success for the Ducati, selling over 200,000 units in its first five years of production.

Throughout the sixties, Ducati would continue to use the Desmodromic system on their Factory racers, but not offer them on the production machines. These Desmo race bikes were famous for their phenomenal top-end performance, but also notorious for their erratic low rpm manners and near impossible starting procedures. This, of course, made them highly unsuitable for a consumer machine. It would not be until 1968, with the introduction of the Mark 3, that the Desmodromic system would make its way to a production Ducati. By then, Ducati had redesigned their original Desmodromic system with helper springs to aid with valve seating at lower rpm’s. This finally made kickstarting possible and allowed the motor to actually idle for the first time. With the introduction of this new and improved 450cc Desmo single, the stage was set for the Ducati prancing horse to make its brief endeavor into the rough and tumble world of motocross.

In 1949, Ducati would offer their first “finished” motorcycle, the Ducati 60.

 

Ah, the good old days: The R/T made due without modern conveniences like a kill switch. Instead of a nice button on the bar, it was necessary to activate the motor’s compression release to shut down the fun.

In the 1960’s Ducati was being distributed into the USA by a trading house by the name of Berliner. At the time, Berliner was interested in capitalizing on the exploding US off-road market and requested that Ducati produce a purpose built off-road racer. Prior to this, Berliner had been trying to break into the off-road market with an odd assortment of converted Ducati “scramblers” of varying sizes from 150cc to 180cc. These little four-stroke singles were down on power compared to the lighter two-strokes, as well as being too big to race the 125 class, but too slow to be competitive against the 250’s. This convinced Berliner that what they needed was a true big-bore machine for the US market. Enter the 1971 Ducati Desmo 450 R/T.

Brace for impact: The ’71 R/T came mounted with a set of Marzzochi forks that were supposed to be “copies” of the highly regarded Ceriani units found on many factory racers of the day. Copies or not, they were far too soft for any serious off-road work and would have been better suited to a Harley than a Husky.

Unfortunately for Berliner and Ducati, the 450 R/T was a few years late to the part in 1971 (or technically 30 years too early). By that time, the heyday of the big 500cc four-stroke MX’er had come and gone in America and abroad. Two-strokes were the hot new thing and BSA’s were decidedly out of fashion. The ring-dings were lighter, better handing and far less demanding to ride that the brutish thumpers. There was no doubt the booming four-stroke put out plenty of power, but suspension and chassis design of the day had a real hard time handling it.

The Ducati’s unique Desmodromic valve train used a bevel gear running from the crankcase to power its twin-cam top end. With its extremely short stroke and light flywheel, starting could be a real chore, but power was impressive once the big Duck caught fire.

Thus was the problem for the Desmo Ducati, which used a modified 450 roadster model motor bolted to a specially designed off-road frame. Much like the Suzuki TM400 Cyclone that would also make its auspicious debut in’71, the 450 Ducati made far more power than its chassis could safely handle. The 436cc single belched out gobs of torque from the first crack of its quick-turn throttle and pulled like a freight train all the way to its impressive top-end peak. With a light flywheel and tight internal gearing five-speed trans, getting the thoroughbred Desmo hooked up was a mighty chore. Throttle application was most times met by massive wheel spin, followed by a spectacular wheelie as the knobbies clawed for traction.

In an interesting twist, Ducati designed the R/T with four different mounting points for the Desmo’s top shock mount. This allowed riders to change the ride height and leverage ratio quite easily. Unfortunately, none of the four settings could remedy its faulty frame geometry and abysmal shock performance.

Not helping matters was the Ducati’s odd frame geometry and bizarre weight bias. Having absolutely no experience with motocross frame construction, Ducati had placed the big heavy motor too far back in the frame for proper weight distribution. The rider compartment was also oddly designed with the rider cockpit too far back for proper handling. With so much of the weight over the back of the bike, the Desmo was nearly impossible to tum or slide. Massive wheelies were the order of the day as the rider fought to keep the front end in contact with terra firma. High-speed stability was even worse, as the torque of the motor and chassis’ strange frame geometry conspired to eject the pilot at speed. Even with the Ducati’s standard steering damper cranked down, high speeds were best attempted by riders with a paid up life insurance policy. 

Although Ducati had been using the Desmodromic valve train on its Factory racers since the mid-fifties, it was not put into actual production until the late sixties. The 1968 Mark 3 would be the first production machine to receive Desmo top end.

Suspension on the big Duck was a mixed bag of barely passible and woefully inadequate. The front forks were built by Marzochi in Italy, but were based on a Ceriani (the most respected name in suspension at the time) design. They offered 7 inches of travel (good for the time), but were set up too soft for the 450’s prodigious 285 pound (Yes, you read that right. The Ducati tripped the scales a nearly 300 pounds!) dry weight. Adjustability was limited to swapping out the stock suspension fluid for different weight oils to improve damping. As with many “scramblers” of the day, the R/T’s front forks were little more than street bike units with knobbies bolted on.  Predictably enough, this yielded less than excellent results when taken off road on a 300 pound motorcycle.

Butter soft: Although the Ducati’s wheels were a copy of an Akront design (the most well respected wheel smith of the day), they were actually built by Borrani in Italy and far less sturdy than the Spanish originals.

Muffler, I don’t need no stinkin muffler!

In the rear, the Ducati featured a set of non-adjustable shocks bolted to a steel swingarm. The sole interesting  feature of the Desmo ‘s rear end was its adjustable shock mounts, which allowed four different positions for the upper shock attachment. With this, the rider could change the ride height and leverage ratio of the rear suspension to suit conditions. Unfortunately, however, none of the positions worked particularly well.  Shock damping was nearly nonexistent and any aggressive riding was met with a clank and a swap.  Under breaking, the rear end would hop uncontrollably as the woeful damping tried to harness the big Italian’s substantial girth.  With its absurd weight and abysmal suspension, speeds were best kept to a minimum on the Italian lead sled.

In 1971, the $1189 Ducati Desmo 450 R/T was an Italian exotic for the berm-railer set. As with many of its four-wheeled countrymen, it was lovely to look at, but difficult to live with. Too powerful for its chassis, and ill handling in the extreme, it was a machine best admired from afar.

History would prove that America was just not ready for an overpowered, under suspended, porky Italian exotic in 1971.  After one year and lackluster sales (reportedly less than 100 total units), Ducati would pull the plug on the Desmo 450. The motocross world had moved on to two-strokes by ’71 and the big heavy thumpers were just no longer competitive. As it stands, the Ducati Desmo 450 R/T will forever remain an Italian footnote in American motocross history. A vestige of a time gone by; an exotic anomaly from the Ferrari of two-wheeled motorsports.

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