Well I had almost a religious experience when I visited the Ducati factory in Bologna Italy, anyone that knows me knows that I have been a Ducati nut since I first laid eyes and ears on one when I was about 14 years old. Ducati are the most pure motorcycle made there is no doubt, but I am bias.
Interestingly Ducati only make two components themselves they are the crank shafts and cam shafts, they are considered the two critical components to the desmodromic valve train system that has made them famous, all other components are out sourced.
So this means The Ducati factory is really just an assembly line, a very efficient one at that, they produce 42,000 bikes a year, this equates to about 120/ day. Ducati adopted the just in time system of manufacture in 2002 it is based on the "Toyota" systems this enabled them to remain profitable and continue to push the racing side of things. No Photos where aloud in the factory so the ones you see below are from the museum. The racing dept is also handled from the factory in Bologna, however it is off limits to everyone including the production line staff you need a special tag to get in there, all we got to see was inside the door, just a tease really.
The museum is focused mainly on the racing history of Ducati, with standing next to Mike Hailwoods actual bike was awesome, along with every title winning bike that has been made and that is quite a list.
Bologna itself is a town with an incredible history dating back to a millennium before Christ, some of the new stuff was built in the sixteenth century, just amazing.
From here I head north into the alps.
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