Can any of you Ducati experts out there shed light on a little decal issue I am having. I need new decals for my 1997 Ducati 916 fairing. The ones on my 916 do not look at all like the part listed in the official Ducati parts catalogue. I have owned the bike from new so I know it does not have after market replacements on it. The other decals on the bike, nose and tank, match the style I have on the fairings. This is what they look like close up. They are a glittery darker red border surrounding a glittery grey centre. The replacement parts look like this (this is a picture of a 1994 Strada), they have a solid untextured gold border. Also the letters of the 'DESMOQUATTRO" part are separate, while mine are part of a single decal. Here is a picture of the decals on a 1997 916SPS.... Can anyone explain the difference? Thanks in advance.
I found some pictures of other 916 with my type of decal. Like this 916SPS... https://silodrome.com/ducati-916/ The pictures show the decals as having a reddish border and not the much brighter gold untextured border.
It’s appears the first pictures bear no resemblance to a standard Ducati ‘factory’ decal set, looks like if they are a ‘single piece they’re printed on a clear vinyl. The second set of photos appear to be the authentic Ducati factory decals whereby the letters are printed then either computer cut or more likely ‘kiss’ cut. As to why the difference I have no clue, if you’ve had the bike since new then you have a very limited edition set, maybe only fitted to the SPS.
Red outlines are a bad copy for sure. Here's the decals on my '95 if it helps. These guys in aussie make replica sets...https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com.au/ulk/itm/254292830582
As I previously said, this was a brand new 916 delivered to me with those decals and I have kept the bike since then. The tank, nose and seat styles are exactly the same as both fairings. It has never had work done on it. If they are a 'bad copy' then Ducati did that 'bad copy'. Your decals are also different from the official decals now supplied from their catalogue. Yours has the same glittery texture that mine has. The official ones have solid plain gold with no texturing.
Here's my '98 registered 916, looking at back of panels they are from '97 and no evidence of being repainted.
And here's the other panel also with no evidence of being repainted Personally I think we need to remember that these particular bikes come from a time when they were assembled with whatever parts were available and differences between two machines of the same model have been seen before.
Yes both panels are lacquered but the "desmoquattro" n the first is individual letters and on the second they are on a strip.
Your 1st picture shows the ones that are supplied from the Ducati catalogue. It's interesting that yours is slightly later. I'm beginning to think that although I bought mine in 1997 it was in fact manufactured a year or more before then and that between there was a date where the 'official' style was changed, probably when the stock of older style ran out.
It may be the light but does the border look different to the other side? It certainly looks so in the pictures.
Chris see here https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/dating-a-frame.68924/ here https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/selling-or-think-off-748r-wanted-for-next-year.63200/
Thanks for that. I'll have to go and have a look. I found the date marks on the panels and they were manufactured in Sept. 1996.
So this kinda backs up that there are potentially 3 styles of early 916 decal; 1 - Solid silver letters with solid gold border (supplied from Ducati official catalogue) 2 - Textured silver letters with glitter textured gold border 3 - Textured silver letters with glitter textured reddish border I have #3 You have #1 and #3 TNR has #2 Do I have this about right?
Further research lead me to this: "Each year 916 had different color graphics (color around the lettering) as the graphics were sourced from different companies." So that does indeed validate your findings.
These Ducati decals were on a ‘95 Monster tank I sold recently. They looked to be original decals and paint.
My '95 has same decals - impossible to find now, bought some last year which were guaranteed to match as OEM but they were the later solid (no glitter) bronze outline
