Started in 1978 in Northern Italy on the site of the old Harley Davidson Factory by the Castiglioni brothers. The company also owned Ducati and later MV Agusta at one part of their history. Cagiva has had a very rocky financial history, however this did not stop Cagiva from excelling at the 500cc Grand Prix and daring to take on the huge Japanese racing teams. They won a few races in 1992 & 1993.

Cagiva started with the design of a small 125cc Mito which was a fast screamer model bike (looked a lot like a mini ducati 916). Later Cagiva developed two larger trail bikes 750cc and the 900cc Elefant. These bikes were actually powered by a ducati engine and had some rally success.

Ducati designer Miguel Galluzzi helped design the Raptor which was introduced in 2000. It was a stylish naked bike powered by the 1000cc Suzuki tl1000 engine. Cagiva had to stop with racing due to money problems which they still don’t seem to have it quite under control.