Spotted this today ducati748 s p s motorcycle | eBay Apparently an 82 year old guy selling an 1998 748SPS for £3500 starting price on eBay. 6,000 miles from new, might be of interest to someone seeing how rare they are. Comes with spare wheels, paddock stands and spare fairings. The photos are not so great so it's hard to tell how good it is but it seems genuine enough on the face of it. The Termignonis are correct and it has an MPH speedo. Might be a good buy for someone.
Wow. He would have been in his 70`s when he bought it back in 2005. Thats pretty impressive going, but explains why he`s hardly used it. I cant imagine many pensioners thrashing a 748 about. Buyer would also need to factor in belts/major service/plus rockers checked if its been standing for 8 years. Id be checking the chasis number with ducati before bidding - they are pretty good at getting back to you detailing exactly what the bike is and when it was sold. If I knew my wife wouldnt chop my bits off id be considering it myself!
Sofia at Ducati is b***** marvellous at checking Mirrors are yellow-replaced? Shouldn't they be black? Logo on seat unit seems strange font But what do I know? Look at my record!
Smacks of scam to me. Don't know whether hacked account, stolen pics from another ad or what but its a bit Del Boy isn't it?! One careful lady owner then a vicar, only used on sat morning...Check out his other items sold. If it looks to good to be true, it normally is But if I was in the market I'd call and go have a look
bottom bike in this advert has the same phone number as in the bay advert, gives a name/email addy, and implies ( states) it is the details for the actual owner/customer. don't know if it helps or hinders, but the info may be a useful adjunct to someone looking to establish sellers credentials, via an alternate route... The Norvil Motorcycle Company - Second Hand Bikes & Bits
So I called and spoke to his wife who was an old lady. I didn't speak to him as he was in the garden and I didn't want to drag him out of what ever he was doing when I have no real intention of buying it. I said I would send him an email and she said she would let him know to expect one. Seems genuine from here. Will get the frame number.
It looks on the face of it to be a genuine SPS, the photos are quite blurred so it's not that easy to tell. I would say it was worth a look if anyone was genuinely interested. He has got some of his figures wrong as only 100 models were imported into the UK for the three years they were available. In 1998 40 were imported and worldwide more than 200 were produced, so I am not sure what he is basing his figures on. He doesn't state whether it's a genuine UK model. He does mention the original Yellow cover being with it and they are very rare in themselves but the stand it is sat on is not the old style DP one which came with the bike. Agreed font is incorrect on the seat and it looks like the sidepanels are also possibly incorrect as it doesn't read 748. His listing implies that he has spare bodywork ("Complete set of matching fairings in box.") and I wonder if that is the original set. It looks like the battery is still good as you can see the alarm light is on in one of the photos. Also agree the mirrors should be black and unpainted but they were an extra at the time. What is genuine are the Termignoni's and the front discs. The originals did not have stickers on them. If it was to pan out it would be an amazing buy for someone. He sold this as well, so he must be some sort of enthusiast. "This engine came off a crashed bike at 3000 miles? Bought engine 8 yrs ago for winter project for show purposes only. Having said that, it is in running order and in very good condition"
if you check the link in my post above, he seems to be selling a norton dominator as well ( or sold) as there is no date i could find. Wonder what else he has in his barn.....?
[email protected] is the email I used when I was validating a possible SPS last year. They replied reasonably quickly.
Thanks, I used the contact page on Ducati.com in the end. Hopefully it will come back as a positive result. Whilst investigating this I found something mentioning letters in the frame number. This bike doesn't have those letters and I'm not sure if it is true, so I shall wait and see what Ducati say. Also the seller has been on to me, he listed the bike in the wrong section so if you are interested the ad may change soon.
The seller has changed the auction and increased his initial bid as he had it listed in the wrong category initially. Ducati 748 sps motorbike | eBay
Well the spare bodywork is definitely not original, maybe the bike has been resprayed at some point as the fairing font matches the seat now and neither of those are the original script. It looks like something has set him off asking for more money as a starting price etc. I doubt if it's going to be a steal for someone as it looks like he is going for top dollar on it now. I do suspect it may not sell if he is asking too much so the price might revert.
Ducati have been on the blower, the frame number I was given was not on their system, I don't know what it really is. Sorry this isn't much use if any one is interested.
