The Cagiva Alazzurra

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1986 Cagiva Alazzurra
1986 Cagiva Alazzurra
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On the Market - A 1985 Cagiva Alazzurra.
On the Market - A 1985 Cagiva Alazzurra.
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Contenders - A 1982 Yamaha Vision 550
Contenders - A 1982 Yamaha Vision 550
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A 1983 BMW R65LS
A 1983 BMW R65LS

Cagiva Alazzurra
Years produced:
1985-1987
Claimed power: 55hp @ 8,500rpm (claimed)
Top speed: 107mph (period test)
Engine type: 650cc SOHC, air-cooled V-twin
Transmission: 5-speed
Weight (wet): 197kg (435lb)
MPG: 41-47
Price then: $3,750
Price now: $1,500-$3,500

What’s an Alazzurra? Or a Cagiva for that matter? In this case, consider it a Ducati motorcycle rebadged.

“Badge engineering” is a familiar term in the automobile industry, loosely defined as the rebadging of one make and model to create another. Think of a Chrysler sedan from the Eighties, and it will undoubtedly have one or two nearly identical siblings. And while this is the kind of marketing one might expect from decades past in Detroit, it wasn’t common in Bologna, even during their toughest times.

In 1985, Ducati had just been purchased by Cagiva Motorcycles. Cagiva, then the largest Italian motorcycle manufacturer, was primarily making mopeds and small street bikes at the time, and many of them were two-strokes. To expand into the middle- and heavyweight street bike market, it needed four-stroke engines. As the March 1985 issue of Rider magazine said, “There were several reasons why Ducati’s engine manufacturing facility was the logical candidate to supply Cagiva with motors: The physical plant was already there, the product was good, and it was the only segment of Ducati’s operation that had been profitable.”

Cagiva’s owners, the Castiglioni brothers, had a new direction in mind for the company, and it included widening the scope of the company’s products beyond that of just sport bikes for enthusiasts. Two years before Cagiva purchased Ducati, Ducati had agreed to supply engines to Cagiva motorcycles for two models, the Elefant dual-sport bike and the Alazzurra, a bike very similar to the earlier Ducati Pantah. It was 1985 before the two bikes hit the production line.

  • Published on Nov 26, 2007
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