Hello From Australia

Hi, my name is Rowan and I live in Queensland, Australia. Thanks for having me on the site, I've been busily reading everything I can as there's a lot of great info here.

I have owned a 2014 899 Panigale since, well... 2014. And it's been the greatest motorcycle I've ever ridden on the street. Bulletproof and so much fun. To me, 120-150 hp is that 'goldilocks zone' of enjoyment while sharing the road with traffic. I hope to keep riding it for a long time.




I have also recently purchased my dream bike from my youth, a 1998 916 SPS. In Australia there must not be many SPS models around, because I had been looking for years for a half-decent example and when this one came onto the market I acted pretty quick and bought it sight unseen from the other side of the country (Australia's pretty big). It has a lot of nice period-correct modifications like the SBK Ohlins fork kit, Brembo billet clutch master cylinder and the Brembo P4 30/34A callipers. But it also has a few mods that are rather questionable, like the older Cagiva body fairings, the front Nissin Brake Master Cylinder, and that the reservoir pots were held up by thick gauge wire.




So at first glance, it's had a bit of a rough life and I'm never going to win a Concours meet with this thing. But I'm currently working with a great Ducati tech, and he has the bike at the moment for a deep maintenance check-up and thorough inspection to see what we are dealing with. I also gave him a few boxes of extra parts I have bought like Carbon Termi's, black Samco hoses, Brembo Billet Brake Master Cylinder, and some other small trinkets. I still haven't ridden it yet, so hopefully, everything goes well.

I'll make a post in the Superbike section when I finally get it on the road.

That's me.

 

The only sport I follow is MotoGP. And Silverstone was awesome.

 

That's the Ohlins 318 SBK Kit (Billet Aluminium Lower Triple Clamp with FG43 Forks). And the Brembo's are 40mm calipers, the P4 30/34A (20.4756.5262)


[not my pic]

Once I get it back I'll do a walkaround of what was done, what's stock and what's not.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, appreciated.

Yeah, everyone loves a 916. Even just unloading it at the mechanics a few people came up for a chat.

Sounds tempting, but I might hang on to this one.

 

Brissy is a great spot. I ride around that part of the world (Bris/Gold Coast/Darling Downs) and it's great. But it gets pretty hot in the leathers during Summer, and I tend to hibernate until the temps go back down.