Book excerpt: A definitive account of the popular Ducati Desmodue - the reliable, affordable, high-performance motorcycle range that boasts one of the most successful Italian motorcycles of all time, the Ducati Monster, and is still in development today. Including full production histories, comprehensive specification details and owners' experiences, this new book covers the history of Ducati and the rise of the brand in the 1970s and Grand Prix racing with Fabio Taglioni's desmodromic valve engine design. The world-beating TT2 and TT1 racers are covered along with the best-selling Ducati Monster, the Desmodue 900SS and the SportClassic range. With the Scrambler, and new Ducati factories in Thailand and Brazil, the Desmodue story is brought right up to date - a story based a wonderful corner of Italy, some very special motorcycles and the astonishing people who made it all happen. Fully illustrated with 211 colour photographs.