As you are not a ‘collector’, does it matter to you what the MY is ? If it doesn’t, this to and fro discussion is irrelevant. Enjoy your new to you ride. Andy
You’re absolutely right, this is irrelevant to the purchase that was just made and we may be high jacking this thread a little. Still, from a strictly historical stand point, and for those interested in the Ducati Tamburini era, it seems important to correct some inaccurate things that are being written here. This has absolutely nothing to do with collectibility, but rather accuracy. Folks should read Falloon and Poels books to get a better idea of 916/996 model years. It is all very clearly written and IMHO, there is no need to invent things that did not exist. There are other areas that are way more difficult to understand (see SPS/FR/FR2 recent topics) to start mixing things up with well known Biposto facts. Just my 0.02…
Trouble is, neither Falloon or Poels are infallible and with Ducati’s propensity for parts bin assembly, there are times where models don’t meet the accepted norm. I’m all for getting as much information out there for those with an interest but we must recognise even the most knowledgeable of us might be wrong once in a while. Andy
Again, you are right. But as far as the 916/996 biposto switch over is concerned (1998/1999), things are pretty clear cut. I am really surprised this comes as news, as there are a bunch of knowledgeable people in this forum… MY very rarely (if ever) run from 1st Jan to 31dec.
If you lift the seat unit there should be a date stamp on the underside, but if it has a non original mono seat then that would clearly not give you the correct month/year of manufacture. My January 98' registered 916 Bip is actually a 1997 bike built in June of that year....worth a gander.
Have to laugh at someone disagreeing with Doogal when he says he bought his brand new 996 in 1998 becsue they never started until 1999…he bought it in 1998
Guys, I am starting to think this has to be a prank… I mean are you for real? I bought my 2013 Mustang Boss 302 in July 2012. I remember the date because it’s when my son was born. So I will repeat: in automotive industry, early model years X are often produced and even sold in late year X-1. So, once again, Doogal bought a MY1999 996 in late 1998. Now, chaps, this is the best I can explain in English…
Guillaume’s not saying Doogal didn’t buy it in ‘98, Guillaume is saying Doogal bought a model year 1999 in December of 1998.
I have to say that I totally understand what you’re saying and don’t really understand how there’s any question over the simple fact of the 916 ended in 98 and the 996 started in model year 99. Tres simplement!
I can confirm it’s a 99 mate I sold it to him. Spent a fortune getting the suspension and painting done, and Louigi was worth every penny. With the 50mm termis included you’ve a good deal there
Completely agree. A bikes "model year" must logically be the year it was first distributed & available for sale. Ducati (or any other manufacturer) can say whatever they like, but it doesn't make it true -neither does repeating their claim. I just had Spock on the com channel and he agrees!
Indeed MY normally launches 3-6m before the actual year, so a MY 1999 may probably be purchased early as Sept back in those days. But that’s not when they are produced: they are produced in 1998. I had a MY 2016 multi I bought in 2015
It seems logical to me that a company such as Ducati starts manufacturing a given model to a determined spec for the upcoming model year well in advance of that model year in order to build enough units to satisfy anticipated demand. Therefore, in this case, some ‘99 model year 996 were manufactured ‘98, and even distributed and available for sale in late ‘98. But it IS a 1999 Ducati 996. There is NO such thing as a 1998 Ducati 996. Even if it was manufactured in 1998. I’m with Guillaume on this one, I fail to see how this is confusing, unless it’s a case of the Brits having us foreigners on for a laugh. Which is fine if that’s the case..
I have a 2016 MY Skoda Superb that was produced during ‘15 and registered Nov ‘15. Because it was registered after august it’s got a 65 registration. But it’s a 2016 version (MY) car. So there are three different things at play here, at least in the U.K. So any confusion is not really anyones fault. a) manufacturers plan their model introductions years in advance and start rolling them off the line in the previous year than the nominated MY otherwise they’d not be able meet any demand when bike sales pick up again after winter. b) In the U.K. the registration plate letter delineating year used to change in August, until about 2000 when it changed to August and March. That means the letter of registration does not necessarily mean the year it was registered. c) there was a c but I’m tired and have lost interest. Oh yeah, imports. There was a time (they’ve stopped doing it now apparently) that the DVLA registered an import with the year it was imported/registered NOT the year it was made, which is why there are loads of grey import 400s around (or were) with impossible plates (like M plated NC30s) which were only made until 92 or so. So the moral of the story is it’s all a bloody mess and if you’re after parts make sure you know your MY, everything else is irrelevant.
So we are buying bikes from the future! Dearlers will be offering 2030 bikes soon, it just will look like a 2023, with a higher price tag. I wonder what great new thing will be next!
