916 Paint Code

ICI do a paint chip for the colour. If you find a motor factor that carries motorcycle paint colours then you can compare it to your own. Failing that you could try RS bike paints.

RS Motorbike Paint Colours - Motorcycle paint, bike paint, Kawasaki Honda Yamaha

 

I am having my '94 frame and wheels painted as well. After much searching and comparing with the PPG colors from those days, I chose RAL 1035. This is a pearl, metallic paint that is finished with a semi matt clear coat. You won't believe yours eyes because of the the deep metallic colour and the pearl effect that makes it look the perfect bronzy gold but when light changes it turns a bit more grey'ish.
RAL 1036 if definitely a lot more gold'ish, I guess many would like that even better. ( but not me)
RAL 1036 Parelmoer goud | RALkleuren.com
Scroll down a little bit, and you'll see the colour.

 

From a later year but a gold is listed, not sure if the same though?

 

The picture is bad, but these are from the year you are looking for. Comparing these to modern paints gave the RAL 1035. Maybe you do not know the RAL system in the UK, look at the names used for the original paint, that helped me a lot. I choose the second from below.

 

I don't think the Bronze has changed. So the PPG code 339.7017 may be the one you need. The paint codes for frames are never listed inthe owners manual for some reason. Any paint supplier with a colour scheme should be able to knock you up a small amount or match your paint for you if you have a part for them to match against. As above, they'll probably have some swatches to go off. I had some Paint for an old Vespa mixed last year and they had swatches for an obscure Piaggio colour from 1974.

250ml of basecoat usually costs about £12 to £15 from the supplier I go to. The gold frame has matt clearcoat too, in case you already didn't know. I've never refinished Ducati wheels, but would imagine they are the same.

I don't know if this is a job you are attempting yourself or you want the code for a painter. RS Paints will give you a good match, but are very expensive. They will also not give you the paint code, but the paint will come supplied with their own reference. They can supply in a tin for professional refinishing or in an aerosol for smaller jobs. I found a can of 916 bronze frame paint in the garage that I must have had for 15 years (below) when I scratched the frame of my 916. An aerosol was fine for touching in a spot repair on the frame, but I wouldn't do anything bigger with one as they don't offer much control. They aren't as bad as you would imagine as the nozzles supplied create a mini fan pattern, unlike most of the stuff you'll probably see in Halfords. The beauty of the aerosol is that the paint will keep much longer for you. I bought a 1/4 of a litre of Ducati Anniversary Red about 6 months ago for a job and it's just a solid lump in a plastic tub now.

 

A thing to note about RS bike paints is that they are water based and as also noted if not used within a certain period then evaporation is likely to cause them to dry out. This happens less quickly with solvent based paints and if properly sealed in the tin they can last a lot longer.

I used the RS system to repair a panel on a CBR600RR and it worked out very costly as there was a base layer, black in this case, a pearl layer and then a finishing layer (gold) on top of that, after which lacquering is required.

The gold for the frame on a Ducati frame would be best sprayed using a proper gun system and finished using matt clearcoat, that's if you are undertaking a whole frame. If it's just a touch up you could use an aerosol and a brush to carefully build up layer of paint and then rub it back using very fine wet and dry used wet. There are specially shaped discs to allow this to be done without rubbing one spot harder than the rest. They attach to a small pad that can be "twirled" with the fingers to allow even rubbing over the area.