Underrated Ducati-Badged Cruiser Outran Japanese And American Bikes, Then Bombed On Looks And Price

In the 1980s cruiser boom, Ducati’s badge showed up on a bike that didn’t actually come from Bologna. The Ducati Indiana, introduced in 1986 after Cagiva acquired Ducati in 1985, was built in Varese and used a frame closely related to the Cagiva Elefant adventure bike, adapted with cruiser-oriented geometry. On paper, it looked like an Italian underdog with performance to match: a racing-derived V-twin inspired by the 1973 Ducati GP500 Armaroli could run the quarter-mile in about 13.2 seconds. Despite strong acceleration and braking, its reputation suffered because of perceived shortcomings in looks and price.