Lost In America

Lost in America

Why the Ducati Indiana didn’t play in Peoria

EUROPEAN CRUISERS ARE NOTHING NEW—IT JUST SEEMS that way. A decade before BMW unveiled the R1200C and Moto Guzzi revamped its V11, another of Europe’s most prominent manufacturers toed the cruiser waters with a V-Twin that looked more like those coming out of Milwaukee than Mandello del Lario.

That bike was the Ducati Indiana.

The year was 1987, and the Cagiva Group, which had only recently rescued Ducati Meccanica from the brink of bankruptcy, was looking to expand its U.S. market share. And what better way to do so than to build an Americanstyle cruiser? Heck, they already had a V-Twin!

Unfortunately, Ducati’s engineers-or perhaps its marketing department-detuned the brilliant Taglionidesigned, Pantah-derived 650cc desmo. Mild cams and smallish 32mm Bing carburetors (the similarly powered Alazzurra and Elefant employed 36mm Dell’Ortos) were fitted in hopes of boosting bottom-end power for a “torquier” feel.

Still, the Indiana drew more praise than criticism from magazine road testers. But it failed on the sales floor. Why? A couple of reasons: 1) Buyers didn’t have much faith in Ducati following its recent financial woes; and 2) the Indiana was too small and too expensive, selling for $4295 at a time when an 883 Sportster not only cost $3995, but was guaranteed to be worth that much on tradein under the terms of Harley’s “883 Ride Free Guarantee.” Recalls long-time Ducati North America employee Dan Van Epps, “The Indiana was a pretty nice motorcycle, but people either loved it or hated it. It either never had a time, or it was way ahead of its time.”

Nor is that time likely to come again. Asked if Ducati will ever produce another cruiser, Van Epps replies, “I don’t think so. I think we’ll focus on bikes that are natural extensions of what we do, bikes like the Monster and the ST2.”

By the time the Indiana was discontinued in 1988, only about 500 examples of what Cycle magazine christened the “Hoosier Cruiser” had been sold in the U.S. This is one case, however, where limited production hasn’t translated into collectibility. Like the flawed 500cc parallelTwins of the mid-’70s, the Indiana was one Ducati that purists were glad to bid arrivederci. -Brian Catterson