Ducati’s amazing 1,260cc V4 Apollo
The unknown Ducati
May/June 2009
By Alan Cathcart
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Ducati’s 1,260cc V4 Apollo.
Kyoichi Nakamura
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Few motorcycles ever built have enjoyed as mythical a reputation as the Ducati Apollo, a failed Italian attempt at a Harley-style cruiser for the American market.
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Back in the late 1950s, Ducati was one of dozens of small Italian manufacturers struggling to overcome the success of the Fiat 500 minicar, which stopped the postwar boom in Italian biking. This collapse in sales forced Ducati to focus even more on their export markets, particularly the U.S. This meant even greater dependence on its U.S. importer, New Jersey-based Berliner Motor Corporation, which was selling roughly 85 percent of Ducati’s total production; brothers Joe and Mike Berliner effectively called the shots at recession-hit Ducati.
Joe Berliner was convinced of the potential of the U.S. police market, especially since U.S. anti-trust legislation required police departments consider bikes other than Harley-Davidsons. Official police department specifications were increasingly standardized across the U.S., favoring the large-capacity Harleys. Requirements included an engine capacity of at least 1,200cc, a minimum 60-inch wheelbase, and the use of 5 x 16-inch tires. In 1959, Berliner contacted Ducati chief Giuseppe Montano to see if the firm was interested in producing a machine for this market. Montano and Ducati engineer Fabio Taglioni agreed, certain they could produce a more efficient and modern design that Berliner could sell at a reasonable cost.
But Montano encountered skepticism from the government bureaucrats in Rome who controlled Ducati’s finances, and negotiations dragged on. A deal was finally struck in 1961, resulting in a joint venture with Berliner underwriting the development costs of the new model. In return, Berliner would dictate its specifications. Apart from meeting the standardized U.S. police regulations, the brothers’ only stipulation was that the bike have an engine bigger than anything in Harley’s range, then topped by the 74ci/1,215cc FL-series Duo Glide models.
A recipe for performance
Taglioni decided on an air-cooled, 90-degree V4 engine. The valves (two per cylinder) were operated via pushrods and rockers with screw-type adjusters, while the horizontally-split, wet sump engine featured a single crank running in a central support. Perfect primary balance meant no need for a counter balancer to eliminate vibration. Ignition came via a 12-volt battery with four sets of contact breakers and four coils feeding the four 14mm sparkplugs. Taglioni considered water-cooling, but rejected it on the grounds of complication and bulk, and likewise politely turned down Joe Berliner’s suggestion to incorporate shaft drive, which he mistrusted, in favor of a duplex chain final drive.
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