1956 Ducati 125 Trialbero
The first Desmo!
With Phil Aynsley
As mentioned in my previous column, Fabio Taglioni’s first Desmodromic design to see the race track was the 1956 Ducati 125 Trialbero (three camshafts).
It was an exceedingly successful introduction to a system (desmo) that Ducati has (uniquely) employed ever since!
To avoid the Italian media spotlight (not to mention the competition’s scrutiny), Taglioni joined two race mechanics in a small van for the long drive to the distant Swedish GP for the bike’s debut at Hedemora.
The company’s star rider Degli Antoni proved the bike was up to its task by winning the race, lapping every other bike and setting a new race record time in the process! A local rider on a 125 Bialbero was second.
The 125 Trialbero, unlike later versions of the Desmodromic system, used (as the name says) three camshafts.
The opening cams were on the outer two shafts and the closing cams on the central shaft.
A bevel driven shaft provided power to the central camshaft and transfer gears from there to the outer camshafts.
Very unfortunately Antoni was killed during a private test session at Monza in August, prior to the Italian GP. His replacement Alberto Gandossi could only finish in fourth place.
Ducati sat out the 1957 season but returned for ’58 and only narrowly lost winning the championship to MV Agusta’s Carlo Ubbiali after Grandossi placed fourth after crashing and remounting in the Swedish GP.
Ducati did finish the season in style however, on home turf at Monza, where they took the top five places.
In the end Ducati riders finished the season in second, third, fifth, sixth, eighth, 10th and 11th.
While the 125 Desmo only made 3 hp more than the Bialbero (19 vs 16) it had the ability to use much higher revs, particularly on the over run, being safe up to 15,000 rpm.
The bike seen here is a restored 1957 model.
There is still more to the 125 Desmo’s story but I’ll save that for a future time.
