Ducati 916 SPS #774 Restoration | FerrariChat

Ducati 916 SPS #774 Restoration

Discussion in 'Motorcycles & Boats' started by sherpa23, Jan 27, 2018.

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  1. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    May 28, 2003
    9,992
    Rocky Mountains
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    Bastuna
    I know that I should probably put this on one of the Ducati forums but I thought that it might be cool to share here for my like minded people on Fchat.

    Long before I owned Ferraris, I used to own Ducatis and I used to do some very cool Ducati things. I even owned one of the factory team race bikes and I used to run that on the track. Last year, after years away from motorcycles, I ended up with a Ducati 1098R by accident and after one ride through the awesome Colorado foothills, I decided that after so many years away from motorcycles, I wanted to build back a collection of rare limited and homologated Ducatis. Long story short, I decided to do my favorite WSBK homologation model from each generation and two from the 916 era (916SPS and a 996R/998R) and stop at the 1199 Superleggera because that's the only Superleggera that's actually built to WSBK spec. All get ridden so nothing is just "for show" so getting top quality bikes are super important. At this point, I am almost there. I have 1994 888 SP LTD #95 with 5k miles, 1998 916 SPS #774 with 6k miles, 2006 999R Xerox #69 with 3k miles, 2008 1098R #262 with 1k miles, and 2014 1199 Superleggera #213 with now about 700 miles. This is the story of 1998 916 SPS #774....

    Several months ago, I hunted down and bought a rare 1998 Ducati 916 SPS that had been hidden and put away in a storage locker and not used for 18 years. Actually, I bought two (the other one had only 7 miles on it) but that's another story entirely. The 916 SPS was the street bike that Ducati made to homologate the 996 WSBK championship bike ridden by Carl Fogarty, Troy Bayliss and the like. They are very rare in the world with only a few hundred made each year of their limited run but especially rare here as they were never legal for the US, although a handful were sold here (complete with titles) under expressed condition that they were for closed course use only (wink wink, nudge nudge).

    I found #774 with 6k miles and its mate with 7 miles. Everything was there and in nice shape but it was clear that if I wanted to ride it, it would need to be completely gone through. I shipped it back to Colorado and took it to Boulder Motorsports were we started disassembling to see what we had. Very quickly, we realized that this bike deserved a full refurbishment and restoration, including a complete engine rebuild, just because it deserves it and wanted it to be basically a brand new bike that I could really ride and enjoy. Every nut and bolt was undone and the entire bike was redone. The engine was blueprinted and rebuilt to race spec with slight modification: all parts isotropic superfinished, new Pistal pistons, and a few other small things like mild head work and crank treatment.

    Anyways, I won't go on and on about it. I'm just going to post some pics. I'm going to try to get them in order. The bike should be completely done in the next few weeks.

    Pics to follow as I will post them from my phone...
     

    Attached Files:

  2. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
    9,992
    Rocky Mountains
    Full Name:
    Bastuna
  3. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    May 28, 2003
    9,992
    Rocky Mountains
    Full Name:
    Bastuna
  4. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
    9,992
    Rocky Mountains
    Full Name:
    Bastuna
  5. Ducman491

    Ducman491 Formula 3

    Apr 9, 2004
    1,591
    Mentor OH
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    Jason
    That is awesome! Beautifuly done.
     
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  6. 360C

    360C F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    I bought a 996 SPS brand new in 1997, I've still got it today. I haven't ridden it for years, I think it has around 3000 km's on the clock.
     
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  7. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
    9,992
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    Bastuna
    You should ride it. They’re awesome bikes.

    Here’s a question: does yours say “996 SPS” or “916 SPS?” They all have the 996 motor but I don’t think any market had them called the 996 SPS until 1999 (although they sometimes had different names in different markets). 1997 was the first year for that motor and model and I thought that the entire world market had it as 916 SPS. It would be great to know.
     
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  8. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
    9,992
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  9. joker57676

    joker57676 Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 12, 2005
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    Deplorie McDeplorableface
    I cannot like this series of posts enough. Awesome.
     
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  10. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
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    Mark. I have even more. :)
     
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  11. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
    9,992
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    Bastuna
    Here is the frame as it sits right now. The forks and shock have been rebuilt. We are waiting for some new wheels and some other small parts.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
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  12. zstyle

    zstyle Formula Junior

    Jun 28, 2007
    531
    Fountain Hills
    Full Name:
    Jon
    Good looking facility and bike. I went through the same process on my 2001 SPS when I bought in 2015.
     
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  13. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
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    Thanks, Jon. I think that you and I are probably on the same trajectory with usages as well. It will see a lot of my winding Colorado roads during the prime riding months.
     
  14. 360C

    360C F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    I should ride it more, you're quite correct; but commitments get in the way and interests change over the years. I've also got a Desmosedici with something like 1500km's on it and a very rare factory 1995 955 Corsa race bike that was campaigned locally by Frasers Motorcycles with factory support. Probably best that I don't ride too much these days as my skills would be very rusty and I'm sure it would end badly.

    My 996 SPS has been modified very extensively with factory Corsa parts when our local factory supported team shut up shop. It is essentially a full blown Corsa race bike with a street gearbox and is way more exciting to ride than my Desmosedici even though it is comparitively slow. The sound is absolutely to die for!
    To answer your question though, I thought it was "badged" as a 916 SPS even though it had 996cc capacity. When I went looking for some photos though I saw the fairing says Ducati 996, so I'm not sure. I'm intrigued to know now so I'll keep digging and see what I can find out. It was one of the first imported into Australia when they were initially released.

    I have attached a few photos of my bikes for your interest, not meaning to take over your thread.
    Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
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  15. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    This is awesome. Don't apologize as you're not taking over my thread; you're adding to it.

    I love all of these but especially the Corsa bike. I think that yours might be the last SBK bike before they went with the extended magnesium swingarms. Also, you have the sweet GP7 exhaust on the Desmosedici. Very awesome stuff. Thanks for posting.
     
  16. 360C

    360C F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Thanks :)

    The Corsa is a very special piece of kit. They only made about 60 examples of the 955cc Corsa in 1995 for use by Ducati factory anointed privateer teams. It was a carbon copy replica of Carl Fogarty's 1994 WSB Championship winning factory bike. You're correct on the swingarm, it was standard length and later models had a longer magnesium version. My bike was one of 4 run by Frasers in 1995/1996 and the team won the local Shell Superbike series on them. They were also used in the Phillip Island rounds of the WSB Championship in those years and I think as backup bikes in the 1997 WSB round. After that the team folded and I bought the bike and gave it a last nut and bolt restoration in late 1997/1998.
    Rode it for a bit and put it in my home office where it has been ever since.

    The Desmosedici has the factory GP7 exhaust; but other than that it is completely standard.

    My favourite bike to ride is probably the "Hot Rod" 996 SPS though. Small, very light, big power (for its day) and the sound track is like nothing else short of a factory Corsa.
     
  17. rdefabri

    rdefabri Three Time F1 World Champ

    Jun 4, 2008
    33,571
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    My absolute favorite bikes ever - the 916 / 996 / 998 bikes...this is an awesome thread!
     
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  18. joker57676

    joker57676 Two Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 12, 2005
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    Deplorie McDeplorableface
    Sure is.
     
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  19. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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  20. Dave rocks

    Dave rocks F1 World Champ
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    Nov 23, 2012
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    Orchard Park, NY
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    Dave Lelonek
    Beautiful bike, beautiful shop :)
     
  21. Caeruleus11

    Caeruleus11 F1 World Champ
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    Jun 11, 2013
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  22. sherpa23

    sherpa23 F1 Veteran
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    May 28, 2003
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