Its a '99, as Joe said its got the genuine Ducati flaking paint. I always thought the bare heads were SPS specific. But like you say it depended what they had in the parts box the day they made the bike. I was lucky mine came with carbon fibre bits and not the plastic version
Just had a flick thru some part numbers.... there are 3 different numbers. One covers '97/98 916 SPS, the third covers 2000 SPS, however the middle number from 1999 covers 996, 996S, 996SPS and also the BP and S for the US market. I don't have anything more than that but to me, that looks like in 1999 the 996 range used the conventional cases as I've never seen a BP with sand cast cases????? Might explain the paint as well????
At the end of the day its how much money you want to spend have a look around and go for what you really want even if that means saving up a bit longer. To my mind anything that gives a bike that bit of extra exclusivity is a good thing I know we don't buy a bike thinking about when we are going to sell it but, you've got more chance of a return on your investment.
