999 Salvage Auction 999…..what Have I Done!

Glad to enter this section of the forum hopefully you’ll go easy on me! I’ve been on the forum since 2014 when I purchased my first Ducati, an 848evo. That was sold taking a triumph Daytona in px as I wasn’t keen on riding sports bikes on the road anymore and stuck to track riding only for a couple of years then got an itch to get on the road with my mates again so bought a gen 1 Diavel Carbon which I love. I’ve always been a lover of the 999 even when no one else was. I find pictures don’t do them justice but having been close to a few in the flesh, and being one to usually go against the grain, I just found them gorgeous.
Anyway, introduction over and on to my moment of madness purchase which I’ve yet to collect! I’ve bought a couple of cars from this auction over the past year and was just browsing the bike section coming across this 999. At first glance I thought oooh, 2005, ohlins forks, mk2 nose, it’s a mk2 S (I did know it wasn’t a genuine Fila R). But, looking closer it was clear it was mk1 with Showa shock with possibly maxton spring and grey swingarm however that didn’t really bother me other than maybe setting the amount I was prepared to bid slightly lower. I checked out the mot history and found it was last mot’d in June at 15k miles and that each year it has done very little mileage each year since it’s first mot in 2008 when it had 7666 miles. It’s either sailed through or had a couple of minor failure points all it’s mots which along with how clean the bike looks led me to believe it’s been well looked after. The auction don’t give vehicles anything more than a quick sponge over, if that, so the previous owner must have really cared for it. It looks to maybe have a termi system, immaculately polished, the ohlins forks, Oberon clutch slave, a few bits of carbon like the open clutch cover and newish looking Bridgestone tyres but also a couple of yuck items like the levers and blue anodised reservoir covers.
Now to the damage and it seems to be pretty superficial, it looks like it’s just fallen over at a standstill broken the mirror and the R/H front fairing blade has disconnected from the mid fairing at the bottom. Can’t see any other scrapes, foot peg and bar end etc on that side look untouched. It was put to auction by insurance company but it is unrecorded and not categorised on HPI. The listing states it’s a non starter but that’s pretty common with bikes at auction as the battery is flat and they can’t jump pack them like they do cars so fingers crossed given that it was obviously put to auction by insurance due to damage the running of the bike will be fine. I’ve always been a fan of the fila rep but I’m pretty sure given they are mk2 fairings these are probably Chinese aftermarket which doesn’t bother me but the angles of the stickers are wrong which I think will bug me. I’m gonna wait and see the condition of them and confirm whether they are non original before deciding what to do with those. Oh and despite the Bip subframe it has a mono looking tail unit which I like.
Oh and if anyone is wondering I paid £3650 for the bike which I’m comfortable with even if I have to put more into the bike.
So that’s all for now I thought this could make an interesting thread and if it is I’ll be updating after collecting the bike next week. Feel free to laugh at my expense, tell me I’m mad, stupid or whatever I can take it and I kinda know that anyway.
Lastly if anyone does know this bike let please me know as it would be great to try and obtain some of its history.

 

Thanks how much of a bargain, if at all is yet to be seen!

Yeah upon some closer inspection you seem to be right about the exhaust which is a shame, something else to add to the shopping list. Oh I know the fairings aren’t genuine Fila as I said they’re not even a good replica! My query over them being genuine was whether they’re genuine red fairings with just a sticker kit badly applied or as I suspect more likely a completely aftermarket set.

Thanks Chris I’ve seen over the years you’re the go to man for this sort of thing so may well be in touch. The listing states it has keys but I only saw one on its own in the ignition switch so I’m resigned to it being just the one black key.

 

Just a little update as only got the bike back this evening and have stuck it in the kitchen. As suspected fairings are aftermarket so not worth repairing and a new set of more accurate replica Fila fairings are already ordered. Could not start the bike as battery was completely dead, 0.71V, so reserved a new one to collect tomorrow. It’s the same battery as my Diavel but I couldn’t be bothered getting that out!
Big bonus is I found a sticker on belt covers showing belts were changed in August and oil looks brand new. If it wasn’t for that sticker I’d be getting it done all over again! Bike is really in such clean condition, a testament to the previous owner, and does look like it’s literally fallen over at a standstill nothing is scraped at all. Found it also has updated starter cables and a full Samco hose kit. So far very pleased fingers crossed it does run with the new battery!

 

Still not counting my chickens on how much of a bargain just yet until I really get to give it thorough test but so far so good. The auction company was Copart.

 

Picked up new battery this morning and only had half an hour to pop it on and give it a try. She started up and sounded lovely although I didn’t run it long as was still in my kitchen, that was weird!
There was however some strange electrical goings on! At first turned ignition on but pressing the starter did nothing until turning on and off a few times. More weirder was turning ignition off and even removing the key the clocks still showed full display just without the backlight. Turning on and off a number of times finally turned it off fully but then I kept hearing a click and what sounded like the pump priming for just a second but repeatedly every 30 seconds or so. Turned ignition on and off a number of times but usually struggled for it to turn fully off and when it did it would do the pump priming thing. I didn’t have time to really investigate so just disconnected the battery but I’m gonna start by checking and cleaning battery terminals, check and probably replace relays and also fully charge battery as it was only reading 12.3v.

 

Thanks Chris, to be honest I wanted to delve in there to check and clean just for piece of mind anyway. Are they just 12v 4 pin relays?

 

Ha that’s entirely possible, it does seem silly to have claimed on insurance maybe they didn’t realise it would be deemed uneconomical to repair and thought they’d get brand new Ducati fairings out of it. Works out they only did 300 miles after doing a full belt service and possibly even valve clearances etc as it had just passed 15k.

 

Little update, I replaced the starter relay and checked all connectors etc they all seemed nice and clean and greased up. Unfortunately still had the problem so tried replacing the lights relay still no luck and then I found an old thread on here relating to identical symptoms which was down to an aftermarket Led rear light which I do have on mine so I unplugged that but still no joy. I then went around the bike giving things a wiggle and found it’s something to do with a big round connector just above the battery housing, or the wires out of it, which seems to connect everything towards the rear of the bike. I gave it a wiggle and the problem stopped but it will come and go with wiggling it more. The wires coming out the rear of it are wrapped in electrical tape which I don’t want to remove to investigate further just yet as I’ve still to get the bike to my storage unit where I can actually run it fully to check for any other issues.