I spent some time walking the Ducati factory today. The shorthand of this entire write up? I want one!

Of course I want a lot of things; a Yamaha T-Max scooter, Honda NC700X motorcycle, BMW GS800, my very own GOVECS GO! Fast electric scooter, so a Ducati would have to get in a long line of two-wheelers I would one day like to own. For now I’m thinking of a way to trade my Supermoto for a touring bike so that I can get some traveling done.

Ducati’s factory is located in Bologna, Italy, a quick 558km (346mile) ride from our GOVECS headquarters in Munich through the Brenner Pass that carves its way straight through Alps. The Brenner Pass is really beautiful and almost makes you forget that you just spent 300 kilometers of mountain driving one way. Today I did it twice. So while I’m happy to write about it now I’m also happy to be sipping on a cold bottle of Becks beer to ease up a little from all the mountain riding.

When driving to Italy I was passed by a Lambo, although trailer driven. Funny thing is that even when on a trailer that dude was still passing EVERYBODY! I can only assume the car was headed back to the nearby Lamorghini factory in Modena for repair? It would make sense.

The Ducati factory prides itself on still handbuilding every motorcycle. And I saw just that. Different lines setup per different vehicle model, all starting with the frame, engine, and guts hanging off, finishing at the end with a line of about 4 or 5 test riders waiting for the end test station to become available. All completed machines in this hall were just metal parts mind you, plastic fairings are assembled later in a different hall as it was explained to me that they kept getting scratched up when initially mounted altogether on the bike and then transported from hall to hall.  Obviously I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the factory, but I did take a few in the Ducati factory museum located on the first floor. Of course I forgot my Nikon in the car so you will have to settle for my cell phone pictures instead.

Ducati provides a very good lease program for its employes wanting to own a Ducati motorcycle. And just for them it also provides parking along the factory fence. Ducati only!

I will end this post with a quick rant regarding Italian highway toll system. It fucken sucks! Every time I drive in Italy I wonder if one of my 3 credit cards will be accepted at the toll booth, or did I bring enough cash with me to cover the toll just in case no card is accepted, or if the machine I stop by even has the option of paying with credit and then cash. Today was no different and for some reason my Visa wasn’t accepted even though I paid with it just 100km before via the same system!  Yeah Italy, you suck at taking money from people. Unless you took some radar photos of me today and decide to throw them away, then we’re cool 😉