Dr.Taglioni Designer of "Difficult Bicycles"
Dr.Taglioni Designer of "difficult bicycles"
MR. FABIO TAGLIONI SITS QUIETLY IN THE MEETing room in Bologna, smiling at us. He's come to talk, to answer our questions, but his English is no better than our Italian. The language skills of Ducati's public-relations woman falter when technical terms are used, so we just sit, matching smiles with Dr. Taglioni.
Finally, we are joined by Mr. Sandro Rubbini, an engineer and linguist; and Dr. Taglioni, the father of so many Ducati engines since 1954, can now talk about his latest 750cc version of the Pantah engine, as used in the Paso.
“There are many refinements; larger valves and ports, improved ignition, better valve guide materials, increased oil flow for better cooling, and the Weber carburetor. The Weber is important. For one thing, it gives us access to Weber’s great experience in meeting automotive emissions standards. It is also a good alliance for the future, as Weber is working on electronic fuel injection, and we are very interested in fuel injection.”
Engineer Rubbini, whose own responsibility is seeing the Paso homologated for European and American markets, likes the new carburetor as well. “The Weber is more difficult to calibrate initially, and we are newcomers at this,” he says, “but it is much more precise when you are finished.”
Dr. Taglioni continues, “The cam profile for the Paso is new also, at least for production. The cam was developed for the 600cc TT2 racing bike several years ago, but we found it gives good results in the larger engine. With the Paso, we have 67 horsepower at the
rear wheel, maybe 75 at the crankshaft.”
Taglioni goes on to discuss new projects at Ducati. “We must water-cool the Pantah engine. In city driving it will stay cooler, but more important are homologation requirements—water-cooling will help us meet the noise laws. Also, it is easier to keep down pollution with smaller differences in temperature within the engine.” Earlier, Dr. Taglioni had told how he had designed the Pantah engine with liquid-cooling in mind; there is already a boss on the cases where the water pump can be placed.
“And, yes, we are studying four-valve heads for the Pantah,” he continues. “I can’t say much more, but they do use desmodromic valve gear. We must test many things and then we will see.”
Taglioni has been calm and impassionate so far, but he comes to life when we ask him about the direction motorcycle design is taking. He answers with a long discourse in Italian, speaking with more energy, even with some bitterness on this subject. Rubbini is hardpressed to keep up the translation. “Progress is to make a good motorcycle that is not expensive. The Japanese make bad policy because they fight each other. Every day, the Japanese study a new accessory for motorcycles—but there are no accessories for motorcycles. The Japanese are building cars. Motorcycles are something else, something completely different.
The Doctor pauses, then looks at us directly. “The Japanese motorcycle companies want to make an easy car; I want to make a difficult bicycle.” —Steve Anderson
