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Ducati Cucciolo

The concept of electric bicycles is hardly a new one. The Ducati Cucciolo was a 4-stroke clip-on engine  conceived during and shortly after World War II by a Turin lawyer, Aldo Farinelli, and developed with a self-taught engineer, Aldo Leoni. In the middle of WWII a designer named Aldo Farinelli developed the prototype of an auxiliary motor to be mounted on a bicycle. Ducati, which up until that point had been producing radios and electrical components, partnered with another Italian firm, SIATA, and created the Cucciolo, or “Puppy”. By 1946, the rights to Cucciolo production became exclusively Ducati’s. In 1948 Ducati came up with its first original design, the T2. It was greatly influenced by the T1 design but, with improvements in the engine’s efficiency and, above all, the logic of construction.

In 1948, the first engine designed entirely at Ducati, the T3, went into production. A natural progression from the first Cucciolo, the T3 had a three-speed gear system, and a grease lubricated valve gear enclosed in a case. In 1949, a specific tubular frame with rear suspension was developed for the T3 by Caproni of Rovereto, which was a recognized wartime producer of airplanes. A year later the sports version of the 60 was revealed, marking the company’s move into the world of competition. It had a 65cc capacity, two pairs of telescopic shock absorbers and a swing-arm fork. What is especially noteworthy was the Cucciolo’s outstandingly low fuel consumption of 225 miles per gallon.