Hi, I'm based in the UK and have just bought a 1994 model Ducati 916 to add to my Italian exotica collection. On sifting through all the original Italian documents I noticed that the bike's first owner was Aprilia. They held on to it for over four years and I'm fascinated to find out more about the history; Why did they buy it? As inspiration for the RSV? Did they fit the Bitubo rear suspension? It's a lovely bike but the original owner has made me very curious ! Does anyone on the forum know about it? Cheers, Gareth
That sounds really cool. The rear shock looks fairly old in design so they may have done. I know that Honda bought a 996 to test the frame strength when making the SP2, it was in an interview by Edwards. So it's probably fairing common. The RSV would have been in development around 1995 so good chance they used it for back to back tests There are some bits on your bike that don't look original though. The frame should be gold so perhaps it's been sprayed. No bother but there is a story there Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It doesn't help you but the previous owner of the ST4s which I had was Triumph Motorcycles. It seems they bought it to assess the ABS when they were developing the Sprint ST. I bought it with 1,000 miles on it a worn out front tyre.
Gorgeous bike, either way! As others have said, it is not uncommon for factories to buy an example of the leading competitor in the field they are aiming to enter, so as to run back to back tests, copy or adapt some aspect of the engineering to either save time, or improve on what is accepted as the best available
so you are the guy who bought that bike. I've seen it being for sale for the last 2 years. wanted to buy it myself but decided against. so is it actual SP or not? i had my doubts
All major automotive companies have departments that's sole purpose is to strip competitors vehicles and store all the parts for reference. They also bench mark of course which is very likely here. Most get scrapped after stripping. They used to buy each others vehicles but I have heard they now just give them away on a mutual basis in a lot of cases. Nice twist to it's history - was it a Biposta originally as this would make sense? If not it could be just a toy for a Director at the time. Seems a little early to buy for the RSV project by a year or so but projects do get delayed as the 999 Ducati did.
Hi Gareth, do you intend to restore it or leave it as is?. If the former there are a number of aftermarket bits to replace with OEM unless this was a trick bike from the outset. Also the frame colour needs to be bottomed out, amongst other things the wheels look like trick versions of the 3 spoke Brembo. I would recommend sending Ducati a request to start your history. Give them the frame and engine numbers and they will tell you what you have got, when it left the factory, where it went originally and the build dates and whether the original motor and frame are still together. 1994 models in unmolested form are becoming very expensive and it looks lovely as it is but if you are collecting/investing there is some work to do.
Tidy looking bike but as Denzil et al say it's had a few mods done, I would wonder if it had been in an accident the forks are from a later bike and the tanks got the later graphics
Bit strange that bike got newer forks and calipers on it too!! Didn't the race bikes use that frame?? Could be something special
They could be newer forks in that they have the treatment on them but the brakes are original for that model 'goldlines' you can tell by the ribbing on the calipers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
These are similar to the later ones that were fitted from around 1998 although these have the TiN coating used on the R and later S spec models. The difference and easiest way to tell are the brake hanger brackets are very different, early brakes are not compatable with later forks without machining or an interface plate
