It was about 5 years ago I had the repair done and I'm fairly certain it cost £180 but it all depends on the size and depth of the dents and ease of access inside the tank, so take the fuel pump assembly out before sending it off. Andy also offers welding and a life time anti corrosion treatment for the bare metal inside the tank (I think later 916 tanks were factory sealed) which doesn't involve painting the inside of the tank with some gunk that will eventually crack and peel over time.
If i’d have known this, i’d have popped round yesterday for the tank and brought it back to Yorkshire. Yesterday I was working 2 mins away from your place.
I forgot to say, if you ring Andy and send him photos of your tank he'll send you a quote pretty quickly, so you'll know the financial damage before you send the tank away.
FYI Sold at £5239. Admittedly with 33K miles but still a nice, genuine, original 916, one of the first complete with original fairings and Elephant stamps all over it. Don't sweat over the potential value of yours, just use it as intended
As said I've no idea of when all the changes to the tank were made but was under the impression from the Ducati mechanic that the length of the fuel tank was changed very early in production. According to the VIN sticker under the seat unit my 916 was made in May 94, and the triple digit Vin number 'suggests' it's one of the first thousand 916's made. I've found the easiest way to tell the early fuel tank and later fuel tank apart is to measure the width of the flat from the crease below the 'DUCATI' decal to the beginning of the radius, with the earlier tanks being much wider in this area - see photo's
Interesting... that’s about the same size difference between the road steel tank and the MS Production carbon fibre tank. The carbon fibre tank is about 2” wider at the widest point taking the capacity up from 17 to 21L.
Cool! @ducati dad i could pop down to yours on Monday evening to drop some bits off for Andy and pick the tank up?
Erm, You also forgot to mention it was a CAT D (insurance write off) registered motorcycle, which will significantly affect the value of any vehicle, (no matter what the later owner of the bike 'suspects' the actual original damage was). I think I have to be a little cautious with my future use and modifications of this particular bike. I can understand 94' Varese 916 Monoposto asking prices ranging from nearly £7k to £15k at the moment because no matter what make, model or 'factory special' that classic vehicle collectors seek, the most coveted (valuable) machines will always be the earliest examples, reason being that 'early examples' have the thing that most collectors value the most - historical provenance. So common sense tells me that keeping the mileage down and foraging for original bits for this particular bike would pay dividends. Thing is, I'm not the type of person who has motorcycles solely as 'garage art' or an investment, so I'd still prefer to sell this bike and buy a cheaper 916 or 748 that I'd feel less guilty about riding into the ground.
Yes indeed the first model year production tend to be the most collectable - but I thought you said yours was a 1995 bike?
