I've recently purchased a 998S and I've noticed that although the speedometer is correctly displaying speed in MPH, the odometer and trip are recording Km. The previous owner did not mention this, so this means the bike has covered around 9,000 miles less than I thought - which is nice. I'm assuming this means my bike was a parallel import rather than the norm for 998S, but is this the case? Is there any way of confirming this? I've tried contacting Ducati.com but they seem to insist on gathering every piece of information about me short of a DNA sample before they will even confirm if they can answer my question.
The only way the speedometer will record kilometres on this model is if it is a kilometric speedo. These models had dual readings on the speedo face in MPH and kilometres but the mechanism that records the mileage will be different for the UK compared to Europe. I replaced the speedo dial on my hybrid 748R when I rebuilt it with a UK dial on a Kilometric speedo, that is another possibility. But this would require the speedo to be opened up and the dial replaced which is not an easy task and largely beyond anyone who has not had experience of doing it. The faces read the same sweep of the dial and in the same way. You probably just have a kilometric speedo fitted. What is the main readout on the face. UK speedos have the MPH readings around the outside of the dial with kilometres on the inside. I assume Europe is the other way round.
The speedometer reads in mph in larger white text around the dial and kph (in smaller red text) on the inside of this. I've tried to cut a paste an image below View attachment 74182
If you have that on a 998S then it is not the correct speedo that is one from an earlier model or a different model Ducati and it appears to be from a bike prior to at least 2002 when the newer models appeared with both MPH and Kilometre speedo readings on the faces. This was due to an EU law requiring this. The correct speedo will look like the one below and the rev counter should state Ducati Corse and not Ducati Racing. Temperature gauge should be in Centigrade.
Interesting... I've attached a view of all the dials. I'm guessing that the face of the speedometer has been replaced then, but the workings of the km based dial remains hence the trip and odometer still reading in km.
Now that I can see it more clearly it's not an early speedo from a 748 etc. as the 55MPH mark is not on the face. It could be a custom face which you could discern by removing the speedo to see if it has any marks from being opened up. The way to open them up is to lance them with a soldering iron and then break the glue away from the body around the bezel with a blunt knife blade like a short letter opener. Otherwise it is from another Ducati model, although I can't tell which. Someone else could advise.
Thanks. Can anyone else clarify regarding the speedometer? Or comment if there's any other way of working out of the bike is an official UK bike.
You could examine the headlamp and check out the projector beam to see if it has a proper shaped plate to provide dipping to the left. Sometimes people make their own to alter the dip. If it was a French import power would be restricted otherwise all other EU bikes were full power models. Beyond that you could contact Ducati Italy to check where it was produced and when, you will need to provide frame and engine numbers. Do you have photos of the whole bike as the 998S had some unique features and that may help. If you check with Ducati UK they should be able to inform you if the bike is registered in the UK for warranty purposes, imported bikes would not be registered on the UK database. They should also be able to tell you when and if it were registered on what date, this should tie up with the date of first registration. If the bike were imported from new to the UK then it is not possible to tell other than if it is registered for warranty with Ducati UK, there are no entries in the V5 that would indicate this. If it was imported after being registered abroad it should have this noted although this is not always the case. It could also be an import from Southern Ireland.
Given it's out of warranty then unless it's got any kind of power restriction (French model?) then what does it matter if it's a grey import? They're all imports anyway. Worth checking the headlight dip though and you should be able to find a replacement MPH only speedo on ebay (if you want one), other than that it's the same bike. As for the dual scale speedo they were only made for the UK, in Europe they got a kmh only version and USA an Mph only version with a highlighted '55' (UK also got these on earlier models), Fahrenheit temp gauges should only have gone to USA although in the early days of 916 etc. the UK got all sorts of variations, including Kmh speedos (particularly on rarer SP models) due to the high demand and the factory fitting whatever they had on the shelf depending on which supplier they could afford to pay that month...
When I bought my 996 the dealer (non Ducati) said the speedo was MPH but measures distance as KMs. Didn't believe him, but maybe some variations/parts bin............
I guess it really makes little difference, but I would just like to know the history of the bike to make it feel more like my bike (if you know what I mean). The manual I have shows that it was supplied by Aylesbury Ducati originally, so I just wanted to try and understand if all bikes sold by the main Ducati UK dealerships as new where officially UK allocated bikes from Ducati or if some were parallel imports. I wasn't sure if the mph speed/km distance mismatch is a normal thing on 998s, or if its just something my bike has. The only real impact I can see is to insurance, I have a limited mileage policy and had to supply a mileage reading as the starting point, therefore my allowance from this point is going to get used quicker as its actually reporting in kms.
If they allow you a certain number of miles then you have that many miles irrespective of whether it reads in km. Give them the (correctly converted) mileage figure or simply explain that the given figure is km - do they actually check at the end of the year anyway?
As far as I am aware the check is only important if an insurance claim is involved and you have exceeded the limited mileage you have agreed to. A simple check of the MOT and the speedo will confirm what sort of mileage you have done, although if this was a new policy things would not tie up in the first year possibly. I have limited mileage policies and have never had them checked but it would be wise to confirm that your mileage stated is in kilometres. Although as above it shouldn't really make any difference, but full disclosure is asked for when applying for insurance especially when in doubt. If it came from Aylesbury Ducati then it would have had the correct speedo as a UK model, possibly this suggests something went wrong with the original or there has been accident damage involved. UK speedos did read out in miles on these models and every other model that was UK imported through a bona fide dealer with a proper MPH clock fitted. However, as happened in one case, bikes were being brought in from abroad and sold as new UK models when in fact they had been bought cheaply abroad and then converted to UK spec. That dealer is no longer trading due to Ducati removing his franchise because he failed to abide by his franchise agreement with Ducati UK. The imports were actually coming from Italy via a source outside the factory.
Good point - I've never been asked, although I'm sure they'll look for every get out option possible if there was a claim.
Many bikes are relocated to different markets dependant on sales. My 999R Fila shows as a German allocated bike out of the factory but was supplied new by a UK Ducati dealer and is uk spec.
Hi...I have just purchased a new to me 2002 ST4 with exactly the same clocks ...and exactly the same issue ! ( speedo accurate in mph...odometer and trip meter recording in kms ) Any further updates on this ? Cheers
Chris, welcome. 99MY ST2 clocks UK bike originally. Speedo indicates mph and kmph but odometer records KM; see the Km indicator to the right of the total distance covered. I’ve only had this bike 2 weeks but can confirm that on the road it’s Km travelled being recorded.
Thats very interesting...Thanks Paul. Mine goes to 180mph in 20mph increments and is as per the one shown by Biggins in the original post on this thread.Its definitely recording distance in kms though as a point I know to be 10 miles away showed as 16....seems theres quite a variety of speedos out there !!
