Hi, I've decided to buy a 999, ignoring the difference of opinion about how xpensive it is to maintain. I'm not getting any younger and I've always wanted one (Love twins and enjoy being different) My KTM RC8 was nicked and got the chque today so Ibuying anew The advice I keep seeing is "get the newest you can afford" and was wondering if that is the definitive answer? So far I've got it down to 3. A 2006 for £5250 (Bayliss livery, termi's,) with 8500 miles on the clock, a 2005 with 11k (Xerox livery, carbon termi's) for £4700 and 2005 for £4,700 with12,500 miles on (Standard bike) . All 3 claim to have had the belts done in the last year and service history. I'm drawn to the Bayliss TBH but not sure if I'm being flash rather than practical. Any advice or suggestions what should I be wary of?
Defo go for the black swingarm bike and defo try to get one with some kind of termi system. ps check the Baylis bike for crash damage, I always would with a non standard paint finish. you could also buy my 749 that I have for sale. (had a 999 before and is not much real world difference) My local dealer also has a nice 999 for sale if you are anywhere near Colchester
Anything after 2005 should have the facelift nose one and the later swing arm so check to see if it isn't an older model registered later, common issues are front coils which fail but should be fixed on later bikes, service history is essential and nice to haves are termi's etc, as has been said check the bike over for TLC and any crash damage.
Check for some black swingarm anomalies as well, some red bikes ended up with the older silver frame and wheels
I've never got why people are obsessed with the black swingarm thing... I've a 03 's' model with the better deep sump engine, ohlins etc and it's a great bike. My non Ducati friends love the shape of the older grey swingarm. Personally if it was between a newer std model and an older 's' then I'd go older. Obviously s/h is a good bonus but the valve clearance service is the more expensive one to look out for (6k and 12k). If its an 's' then check the forks arent weeping, decide if you want a mono or bip model, get termi's (you'll end up buying them anyway), and tbh unless its an official Ducati replica then I'd avoid race paint.
Defo 2005 0n, it has the better swinger, and the 05 update has the S engine as std , there never was a bayliss rep (only xerox) so I would steer clear of that and go for a std later model bike. Ideally the R but if your sponditious wont stretch go for an S with Ohlins or a 2004 749R which has the updated swinger and carbon bodywork.
Great bike. Good choice! That seems like an awful lot of bike for the money. i prefer facelift model too - had both.
mine is a 03 S with black swing arm but with all the R bits cost me just over 5k but the last owner spent over 4k on it so its got all the good bits and cost me nowt lot of bike for the money i love mine even though its not as pretty as a 1098 or 996
Been said by many above, but, ignore the year of registration, and ask more about the Model Year of the bike. There were lots of 2003 and 2004 bikes that were regisitered 2 or 3 years later. Check that the replica's are based on ducati bodywork, and not cheap and nasty Chinese body work. You can do a really nice race rep in decals for less than £200, so, would not let the race rep be the deciding factor. I'd buy the bike with the best history, best expensive bling (as this costs lots to add later) such as Termi race can etc and then chosen model year.
