Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128212
the company's engineering guru, and it was almost inevitable that sooner or later his creative C.V., ranging from the triple-camshaft desmodromic twins and singles, which Ducati went Grand Prix racing with in the late '50s, through to the 864cc V-twin desmos, which were the pinnacle of his streetbike portfolio, would include a four-cylinder motor. In fact, there were three of these in all, the most recent being the stillborn Bipantah project, terminated in 1982 on the eve of Taglioni's retirement, while the first was his only transverse in-line design, the four-cylinder 125cc GP contender, which he created in 1964 but was never raced. Concurrent with this came undoubtedly the most famous of the trio - the Apollo 1260. Few motorcycles ever built have enjoyed as mythical, as fabled a reputation as Ducati's legendary but abortive V4 Apollo project, the Italian marque's failed attempt to produce a Harley-style cruiser aimed at the American market. As the largest motorcycle ever built by Ducati, it's a critical component of the ducatista dogma, which, because only two examples were ever built, has remained an enigma. But now, thanks to the generosity of the Japanese owner of the sole surviving known example of the two Apollo prototypes built back in 1963, this 1256cc behemoth, which is the direct forerunner of all the 90-degree Vtwins produced by Ducati during the past three decades, is now on display in the factory museum in Bologna for today's generations of ducatisti to marvel at and - well, if not to admire, at least to appreciate that Ducati's dinosaur really does exist, other than in the pages of history books. And in my case, thanks to the cooperation of museum curator Livio Lodi, I even managed to make a short road test on the most mysterious motorcycle built in Bologna these past fifty years. This is its story. WHAT IT WAS ... Back in the early '60s, Ducati was one of dozens of relatively small Italian manufacturers, each struggling to overcome the savage attack on its crucial home market, leveled after 1955 by the Fiat 500 minicar, which in its hundreds of thousands brought an end to the postwar boom in Italian biking that was originally brought about by the war-ravaged country's need for basic transportation. This collapse in sales forced first Gilera and Moto Guzzi, then Ducati a year later in 1958, to withdraw from Grand Prix racing - a sure sign of distress in such sport-mad country - and = Heavy bike heavy steering: The Apollo is less than a willing turner, thanks to its 16-inch wheels and ancient bias-ply tires. Editor Cathcart had to proceed with caution on the only Apollo known to exist! cue I e n "" _ S • MAY 7,2003 45