You've missed the point of a bespoke department Bradders. There would not be 500 of the things floating around, it wouldn't be a superleggera or a 916 sp etc. Man buys 1199 for example. He goes to bespoke and asks for full works bike spec and unique paint job. Corse mechs build it, corse works rider signs off the handling and corse engineers monitor the build and make sure his tank mounted frappucino holder doesn't foul the fuel cap. It goes down on ducatisti records as a bespoke chassis build therefore giving it provenance, thus making it more than some collection of well put together bits. And what's more even if the vehicle was polka yellow and vomit green stripes it would be a recognised factory paint job and thus the formulation logged. Customer gets fluffed, bit of lunch and he's happy that Ducati have built something just for him. A man bought into the Ferrari FXX experience. He paid their bespoke dept to turn it into a road registered car. For an undisclosed fee they did. Another wealthy man gave a few gull wing SL merc vintage cars to AMG bespoke dept with the brief make it drive and handle like a modern car. They did, packaging current tech suspension and power plant and altering the chassis to handle it. Any custom builder could do that, difference is that the VIN number has been updated in the records and they are now officially recognised by merc. He probably paid ten times what each car was worth for the privilege. That's the sort of customer these guys attract. It's a bit more than the bolt on bits catalogue the dealer chucks at you. Capisci?
No I get the point. In a car manufacturer, where even small volume is larger than Ducati and where they have the value in the vehicle to do these things, there are enough punters with cash to do a bright pink paint scheme to match her shoes with upgraded carbon discs etc In bikes there aren't. So you end up with a Desmo and SL type of set up. £54k is a lot for a bike. Its nothing for a ferrari or bentley
albeit we've derailed Glids thread as to why you can't buy it in primer, its a interesting topic The way the car boys look at it is how much over the asking price or % of the price of the car will a customer be prepared to pay for exclusivity? The percentages aren't that much different really as lets take stock 1199 say £20k ? (I'm not up with current prices) owner goes one better and puts full system, forks, and other stuff on there - 5k? so he's already spent circa 25% of the bikes value. So the SuperLeggera is weighing in at 54k, twice the price of the stock machine and some, that's really no different to some bloke buying a super car from xyz and doing the price of the car in bespoke options. So what makes this desirable in the must have stakes? Kope has proved that with enough resource and contact you can get the bits and build it yourself - and great applause to the man to be in a position to do that and have done it. I'm going to put my money down here and say that had Ducati (with both SuperLeggera and Desmosedici) NOT put a cut off limited run quantity on the things, the first years production would still be there sat waiting to move. Supercar manufacturers will admit that desirability comes from the notion you have limited availability. However, and this is a big however, I now touch on your comment of "in bikes there aren't..." I disagree, in so far that I believe there are - the arrogant cock ends of the Ducati Wallet racing club , sorry , sporting club are testimony to that. "I paid 50k for the bike and i'm wondering what else I can do to it" whilst some old ex courier rips them in two on the track in a beaten up cx500. I think that we as motorcyclist are more in the camp of wanting to do it ourselves, wanting that build to be our build and not handed to us after a six months of waiting. Motorcyclists by nature are more hands on than their supercar loving bredrin. However I do wonder on the back of this how many takers there would be if say Ducati Corse and the likes of HRC threw their doors open to this notion. I could see a corse built Superleggera with WSB tackle on there being probably twice the cost again if not three times of a Superleggera, but I bet if you said there were ever going to be two, they'd be sold in the blink of an eye. (and then bubble wrapped and put in a collection never to see the light of day again). Many of those SuperLeggera's will be treated that way ready to go through an auction in ten years time with zero miles and in mint concourse condition for a tidy profit. which is a crying shame. Even in supercar circles, the percentage of customers willing and capable of doing such things are very small by comparison to the volume of sale, which is why the price they pay for their exclusivity is proportionately high!
Isnt what you describe exactly what MR are doing with that SL? For 'bikers' who like to do this, is it the buying exclusive or the being partof the process of whats going to be done, when the parts come from and who does the work? I know enough who own exotic cars and its more the owenrship than the build. Whether thats mad paint scheme, monogrammed leather or ex-race product. And how many who like fast exclusive cars as % also have a bike licence? I for one look forward to sharing the track with Kope and maybe the alien fella at some point, same as I do with those who have pierbon specials and belong to the ducati wallet club
I'm not knocking them Bradders, fair play to them. I love them personally as where I work relies on those people having a burning desire to spend and be individual. AS for Kope, don't you dare start to think this is some hate campaign - I love his conversion work, its very inspirational as are some of those other individuals. My personal hatred of the sporting wallet club comes from nothing more than a personal experience when I first started riding and just thought all two wheeled riders were a friendly bunch. It was a nice day at box hill, I rolled up with my then new SS and saw a load of blokes in top of the range dainese/Alpinestar/arai gear all with 916 sp.'s. Tried to go and talk to them and I just got blanked after they realised what I rode. Yet the bloke with his Bimota Tesi bought me a coffee and spent a good hour telling me what a great crack this motorcycling lark was. It was never about the money, it was about the attitude. Yet we deal with the uber rich every day, and they are great guys, spends five million on a new toy and asks how your weekend was. as for the SL are you talking about the merc or the duke? if the merc then the bespoke comes from the fact that a fifty year old car was 'factory' modernised. It would be the equivalent of an 888 owner getting his bike brought up to current WSB spec irrespective of cost. Both have provenance and are genuine ducati bikes as the factory has done the work, making them one offs in their own right - that is the difference of who does the work. It is official because the factory/marque has had a hand in it and the chassis details on file are updated accordingly.
SL Duke, is there a other?! Lol I just dont think the factories have the kit, or the skill, to do the kind of things Bentley or JLR etc can do with ease, Cost appropriately and turn the right buyers on. Its not that long ago if you wanted a custom defender you we t to a custom builder, not LR
Can't see how it would be. Not like they sell a bike thats suitable for sub 18 deg and a hint of moisture either, is it
bottom line is this - The vehicle must be sold in a finished state. If the vehicle is in primer then it isn't finished. If the vehicle is supplied unpainted in a raw state then it is classified as a BODY IN WHITE (BIW) and isn't a finished article. We used to have loads of customers wanting unpainted / primed cars to do their own livery or paintjobs on. We couldn't sell them as they didn't constititute a finished product. It's all to do with quality gateways, end of line processes and final vehicle audits before the product goes out of the door. All motorcar manufacturers follow these methodologies and processes and now that WAG own ducati they will too. But then all I do is sweep floors so what the hell do I know.
