Morning all. It would appear that my newly purchased may be a 916 import . I'm.noy really bothered , at 25 years old it's going to have some skeletons in the closet. Ducati have confirmed frame and engine match . However it would appear some french bikes were restricted to 100bhp. Does anybody know how this was done on a 916 and if can be verified without a dyno.
If it is the case, at least the motor will be nice and tight still. It's like getting a new bird who's only ever had the tip. Nice one
When i owned my 916 i had it dyno’d and it put out a massive 108bhp @rear wheel on a dynojet dyno back in the early noughties. Mine was a bog stock uk 916 with the front intake grills removed though i think these dynos and their settings tended to promote bigger numbers ?
Fairly sure that the drive by the French to limit horse power post dates the 916. Later restrictors were simply an insert in the inlet track that had a reduced diameter. Andy
I reckon my new (grey import) 97 Biposto was a French one as the silver sticker on the frame had the word cadre on it. (Although the importer I used had sourced it in Germany). It never felt restricted and after about 1000 miles I took it to Baines at Silverstone for a first service. (I didn't have the cheek to ask a local dealer to do it when I had paid nearly 3k under their price). Geoff Baines was kind enough to let me stay in the workshop and watch as he worked through it and gave me plenty of useful information too. If there had been any restrictors fitted he would have found them. He also asked if I wanted the headlight sorting for UK roads, I asked how much? As my mate who was a mechanic at Carnells at Doncaster had told me it was £150.00 for a new light unit. (I think they may have been bringing euro spec bikes in and changing speedo and headlights and flogging them at UK prices). "No mate, just £7 for the left dip deflector plate and a few more minutes on the labour charge". I never did change the speedo, 50 is 30, 100 is about 60 and 200 is about 125 was all I needed to remember.
The French laws used to restrict max power to 100hp, before ABS arrived on bikes. Today, with ABS, max power is no longer restricted. Regarding base 916, with 106hp, engines didn’t need to be restricted. 996, on the other hand, had to be restricted and it was done electronically (EPROM). 998s, like many other bikes, were restricted mechanically with a metallic tab blocking the throttle so that you couldn’t get wide open throttle. There never were restrictors of any kind reducing diameter or else.
If memory serves me right the basic 1997 BP was rated at 108 bhp at the crank. Properly adjusted and lubed chain through dry clutch would read about 100 at the wheel. A well blue printed motor couple % better. Seemed bloody quick in the day given a power output of around 500 bhp per tonne and braking and handling as good/ better than the competition. My bike was a grey brought in through Spain. Still my all time favourite sports bike.
If it is/was restricted then surely it would just be the eprom/chip? so if it has Termis or similar with the corresponding chip then the restriction has already been removed, otherwise fit a UK or other non-restricted chip to do so.
