I've emailed the seller and he said it was registered in mid 1998, not sure about the tax, he's just had it mot'd so it could be an old pic, or he transported it there.
What could it be then? Didn't think the E, S, R started until 2000, before that it was Bip, SP and SPS
On my understanding BIP's were introduced in 97' but only 100 were imported into the UK in 98'. Continued then on in 99'.
748 BIP came out in 1995 they were pretty much the same all the way through, the S was really the same it was just designated this when the E cheaper version was introduced, so this 98 bike will be much the same as an S just earlier model it looks a tidy bike for the money
Its a 98 bip. 98 bikes had ducati logo on the fairing sides and not on the tank. Bips became E's for 2000 onwards and had screw fasteners instead of dzus, and fixed head bearings. Had gold 3 spoke wheels and frame until painted grey in 2002 (still 3 spoke). S had different wheels, suspenders and headers and allegedly cams. Both available as either bip or mono.
Cornish, according to Falloon's Standard Catalogue there was a batch of 100 bikes sold as 748S made in 1997, all mono of which 30 were UK spec (20 red 10 yellow), mostly sold during 1998 as a cheaper version of the SPS, little detail is available on what the differences were to the other 748s in the MY98 range however. Bikes of that MY would have had the gold 3 spoke wheels and frame.
I agree with The Hammer - a 98 bip, however the 748S from 2000 on had the same engine spec as the base model, just different wheels, Dzus fasteners and TiN coated stanchions. A few of the late bikes from MY02 (like mine) were fitted with Zeuna 45mm headers and collectors instead of Termi 45mm ones. The Zeuna ones have a single piece collector/manifold and are not interchangeable with any of the 9xx/748 Termi supplied systems. They only made it into the 2003 issue parts manual so there are not too many around. I had to replace the headers and collector on mine with Termi ones as the one piece header/mainfold has a tendency to crack around the cylinder head sealing flange.
No mate, I set myself a budget of 2100 and forced myself to stick to it, 2200 was by the looks of it a bargain, I thought I had it until the last few hours
No worries there are plenty more out there. Be patient for the right bike and avoid anything you have doubts about.
Is this outside your budget? Sold by, i believe, a Ducati specialist who has serviced it from new. Ducati 748 BIPOSTO | eBay
just won this 748 on ebay, DUCATI 748E x reg | eBay what do you guys think, have i got myself a dog??
Still on the road, pattern fairing = high potential of a down the road incident and maybe cat c but at that price its a steal
Looks clean enough in the pictures but very hard to tell in detail. So long as it has some sort of service history you'll hopefully be fine and if the winning bid figure is correct then you can still afford to spend some to get any problems attended to. Let us know how you get on.
As bradders says pattern fairings could indicate a write off at some point, worth checking. As it was not declared in the ad feel free to walk away without obligation regardless.... If you're not happy, don't do it. Certainly cheap tho - apologies if I'm telling you stuff you know - hope it pans out
