+1, and at a very good price (iirc, Ducati Manchester has/had something very similar in red for around £8k)
I've just bought a 998s with a Termi 54mm full system and slipper clutch, on Fleabay for a VERY reasonable price in a private auction. I set myself a ceiling of £6k and managed to get well below that. I'm rather pleased with myself!:biggrin: Picked her up on Saturday! I've had a 916 about ten years ago and a 998 just a few years back. Sold my 998 two years ago and regretted it as soon as I handed over the keys! Hence my new Italian mistress! I think I will always have a 998 in my garage for the rest of my motorcycling existance! Agricultural and as brutal as you like - she shakes, vibrates and rattles like a tin of angry bees - no electronical gadgets - just the essentials - a speedo with a manual trip counter reseter, a rev counter with no markings for the red line, a temperature guage and a handful of warning lights....what more does a man need?!:biggrin: Faster in a straight line and safely round the twisty bits than I'll ever need on the road and I don't do track days, so I'm not going to ever come near pushing it's envelope! If you want my honest, unbiased opinion, go for a 998! :biggrin:....you KNOW it makes sense!....
im going to say this from the heart, call me biased, call me adorable..... The 998 is technically the most superior to all the other variants in every way but for me, just doesnt stretch my underpants like the 'inferior' desmo engine. (i also dont like the slab sides but thats just me, others love them).. Ive got a 1995 916 sp...the last of the 'real' hand built Dukes (Ducati Corse not withstanding)...ive owned/ridden almost all of the 9** variants and the original 916, for me, is the finest of them all, with the most beautiful detailing before they went to the letraset font. Also bikes from this era are immune to the flakey rockers (look it up) because Ducati made them in house, although they do have the aluminium gallery plug which can be prone to backing out (check google)..personally, ive never had an issue and the oil is always clean as a whistle. The early Dukes were built to a standard, and the later ones arguably were built to a price..fine though they are. The power differences between a 996 and 916 are minimal and irrelevant on the street. Buy the bike based on condition and spec. See if the owner is a real Ducatista or just a geezer who fancied himself as a bit of Foggy clone (minus the talent, nose, ego and teeth hopefully). The MV is a screamer, but when i had one and the 916 in the garage, the MV was the one i sold..like so many others who own this pairing..in fact Rob on here just sold his lovely MV..and kept his Duke. Just like i did. If you can find a nice one, with good spec, tasty wheels and all the rest of it you will be a happy camper. Prices for good, honest Cagiva era Ducatis with string service history are soaring...how many old bikes can you say that about? So yes, you'll probably pay through the nose for a really tidy one, but you WILL adore it like no other bike you ever owned before..ever. Its a bit like comparing a Jag E type to the latest F-type..916 vs Pannygoolgly..same stable, same everything, but totally different. The 916 is visceral, alive and thoroughly absorbing...she (they are all girls) will be a temperamental bitch on occasion, you'll have to keep your eye on her and cherish her..which is its own reward and is part of the enveloping Ducati experience..Your fingers will smell of oil ,polish, bank notes, parcel tape (from opening all the boxes of trick bits that somehow end up on your door step) and desperation...but on those rare occasions when you get it right, it is soooo right, and you'll be screaming into your lid with Bieber fever..fuck it, you'll be patting the tank and telling the bitch how much you love her as she rattles, whistles, growls and snorts into the next corner wondering what all the fuss is about. I had a little Ducatisti moment the other day...for once i was riding well (for my standards), barrelling into a corner, hanging off like a monkey and i got an unintentional knee down on a right hander, realising that my head was about level with the carbon airtube...i could hear the tambourine rattle of the dry clutch, whistling of the ram air, the howl of the wind round me 'elmet, the skkeerrrssccchhh of my slider on brunels finest, the flat desmo drone, the boom and crackle of the overrun..and i hear a voice shouting "I LOVE THIS FUCKIN' BIKE"...turns out it was me...dont know how i got round the corner..i could barely see it with the amount of love tears welling up in my cum to bed eyes....then:.on the gas, behind the bubble, muted wind noise...the roar of the cans as she hauled our asses to the next corner,front wheel going light, underpants getting tight... Me? i love the thing...get one, and you'll love her too. Ducatis NEVER get old.... They just become classics...but it just so happens that the 916 became a classic as soon as they rolled out of the factory gates. One of those moments that will stay with me on these winter nights..hell, it even made me go and buy a fkn gopro camera ffs!!
has anyone read last weeks MCN/comic, the Forza Italia edition.."Italian Specials That Changed The World"... whats on the cover? 748?, 996?, 998?.....no, of course not...It was the Nine One Sex. to quote the journos, "I'm not sure they've built a better bike than this", "Buy one, and you'll never miss an apex again"... hmmmm..i wouldnt go that far..im pretty good at missing apex, after apex, after apex...... gimma a pasta burner any day..
