Hi all, Newbie here (about to post in newbie section). I've been to look at a late 1998 996 bip which has under 12k miles of which only about 500 miles in last 6 years! Bike looks generally very clean and rides well. Usual stuff like forks, tyres, pads, shock etc in good nick. Price is cheap compared to what I see on biketrader etc and we don't get many of them around here so I am interested. Belts changed 6 years ago so, although practically no mileage since, obviously now need doing. Not much documented history at all to the bike other than being local and currently owned by obvious enthusiastic who had a number of other bikes including another 996. It did have a c. £5k engine rebuild (by local dealer) ten years ago for some reason! I am considering buying it. Any observations generally? Clutch is noisy which I presume is normal. Pulling lever in changes the noise a bit. Anything to be concerned about? Cheers all in advance. RW
Belts will need changing for sure mate; the clutch noise is pretty normal, although at 12k It probably will soon need a new set of plates. Should be okay but budget for a full going over as soon as u pick up and don't ride it much as 6 year old belts probably won't be great. Interesting that it had a rebuild; possibly main bearing failure, which isn't common but also not unheard of.
Clutch sounds normal. Budget for a full service including all fluids, belts and new tyres too. That wont come cheap and i reckon you are looking at circa £700 for that lot.
A rebuild costing £5,000 and not recently must have been pretty comprehensive. Main bearing failure is a possibility and I have had two bikes that this has happened too, probably poor maintenance by previous owners. It might have dropped a valve, possibly even through belt failure. If the receipt is available it's worth seeing what's been done for that sort of money and also who did the work. A thorough going over should see it back in shape, and it will need a comprehensive service to make sure all is well. If I had purchased it I would have stripped the bike and completely rebuilt it and given the engine a good check over at the same time. Good luck.
as said, it would be good to get a detailed breakdown of the engine rebuild just to see what failed/what was replaced. Also what is total mileage since rebuild as this would help me decide. Depending on time of year bargains can be had for 3K and under on occasion as it seems the 916 and 748 seem to get more attention from buyers.
Yeah £5K is a lot, I wonder what the dealer price for a brand new engine would have been as surely almost cheaper to just replace it. I guess not if it was post production. Best of luck, I think you have enough different people saying go for it, providing it all matches up
Regen. Best thing to do might be to get the dealer to come and pass his/her experienced eye over the machine, tell them they'll obviously be getting all the servicing if you get one, never know, they might even remember the bike and why the big bill was needed. Get a good one and you'll love it, get a rough one and the highs will be equalled by the lows. Yorkie, is that chinese bodywork on it? The fit and finish look pretty good but there's no nose or tail vents which kind of shows a history of some sort. I've been desperatly kidding myself I don't want another one for the road, but I sooo do.
Original stuff, the bloke that refreshed the paint over-sprayed the mesh. I was going the replace the mesh for my mate but he decided to sell it instead, he's not even ridden her! Sorry for crashing your thread RW. Yorkie
No worries Yorkie. Any details of the one your mate has for sale? What does he want and where are you based? RW
Id be worried as to why the previous owner didnt change the belts every 2 years. Sure its got low mileage, but it should have had 3 belt changes in the time since the last one was done. And with no history (or not much history) it doesnt sound like the owners have been too caring for it. You can check the mileage/year roughly speaking by running the MOT details through on the DVLA website. That will show you all its previous MOT`s and mileage along with any advisaries. That can help prove the mileage and see if there was anything MOT inspectors were warning about. If you do have any previous garage details I normally call them up to see if they can verify what they did - although 10 years back might be a bit too long ago. £5k engine rebuild is something major. Mine had rockers replaced etc and that didnt come anywhere near to that. Even my old 748 which had a valve drop destroying half the engine wasnt a £5k rebuild. When i bought my current 996 last year I gave it a major service myself. It set me back about £500 for the parts although I did replace more than I really needed to. You can get belts, oil filter, fuel filters, oil, plugs and all the bits for a service from Ducati for about £220. Most indi`s were quoting me about £500 alone to do that work so I saved a nice bit of money doing it myself.. On top of that for the sake of it, i did brake pads, brake fluid, chain & sprockets. Ive been keeping an eye on 996`s for a year or so now and there are a few out there for sale, although a lot of dogs too! Good luck!
Chris, Yes it is an 'S'.Regenwulf, The bike is with me in Hampshire (near Andover), with the V5 and other bits.Looking for £4500 ono.PM me if you want any other info.Yorkie
this won't be around for long :- 2002 DUCATI DUCATI 996 BIPOSTO YELLOW | eBay no feedback but looks like a genuine bargain
The 996S has dealer servicing up till 2009 it then had its last big service at 14332 miles in 26/04/11. The mileage currently stands at 15649 miles, not a lot of use really. Yorkie
i've seen that ad when its gone live. was deffo something dodgy about it... i recon you buy it, turn up with the dough and they take it off you with the help of the knife or a gun
