| July 19, 2017
Take a tour of the new Ducati Museum, where art, engineering and history meet.
The contrast hits you immediately when you walk into the new Ducati Museum after doing the tour through the company’s factory in Bologna, Italy. You’ve just come from the unstoppable rush of a colorful, industrial complex to the subdued hush and stark decor of a gallery—a gallery full of motorcycles as art. It stops you in your tracks, and when you get moving again you’re slower and more thoughtful.
The museum features road and race bikes from the company’s earliest days, as well as relics of its very first years when it established itself by making radio parts more than 90 years ago.
After strolling into the reception area and past the desk, you go through a doorway and see a seemingly endless series of race bikes disappearing out of sight around a curved wall. Their illusion of procession draws you inside. To your left, a smaller room lit bright white hosts individual displays of the very earliest bikes. They stand out clearly, restored to perfect condition and shining against the white walls behind them. Most are flanked and backed by written information, video screens and artistically designed backgrounds.
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By Mick Matheson
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICK MATHESON & DUCATI
I pored over the displays, reading the history and watching the videos. I reckon everyone, bar the most well-read “Ducatisti,” will learn something new.
From bikes that were winning when singles ruled, through Paul Smart’s green-frame V-twin racer all the way up to the world championship winning bikes of Troy Bayliss and Casey Stoner, there’s so much to drool over. As much as I loved the one-off engineering details of each race bike, the street bikes held even more appeal for me.
The immaculate 851 superbike brought back memories. It was the very first test bike I ever rode as a cadet at a motorcycle magazine. That was an eye-opening experience for a young guy who’d grown up on skinny 18- and 19-inch wheels!
Standing beside the luscious 916 in the museum, I remembered the thrill of being at the international launch of the model, and knowing that this was a bike that would change motorcycling. I was astounded at how much better it was than anything else on the road at the time. It’s still one of the best-looking motorcycles ever built.
Remembering these older superbikes made me reflect on the fact that I could feel the same unmistakable Ducati DNA in the Multistrada Enduro I’d just spent four weeks on touring southeastern Europe. Ducati has remained true to its roots without neglecting the technological change needed to stay at the sharp end of our sport. The museum certainly highlights this achievement.
Further around there are trophies, racers’ leathers and other bits of memorabilia to finish off the experience. If you were to waltz through the museum, you’d be in and out of the relatively humble space in a couple of minutes. But if you take your time to savor it all, you could spend two hours.
It helps that there are no ropes or barriers. I had too much respect to lay even a finger on any of the bikes but there was nothing else to stop me. I could eyeball every angle and each part as closely as I liked.
Ducati’s website features a virtual tour of the museum, which gives you a complete and quite detailed “walk” through. But if you’re in Italy you have to see the real thing. There’s no substitute.
It’s small but full, and as much an art gallery as it is a museum. CN
Come for a quick tour of the incredible Ducati museum in Bologna, Italy, with Cycle News contributor, Mick Matheson.