1993 Ducati 888 SPO For Sale on eBay!
Coming in on the heels of Mikes French Drama Lama 888 SP5/Strada is this Merica 888 SPO. This Ducati is certain to please WhyzeeF and Luke because this one lacks a LE number plate on the triple, but . . . it does have that pesky No 1 tail plate . . . Hmmmm. Oh! I know, that’s because Ducati won the WSB championship in 1992. They followed 92’s championship season up by winning both the WSBK and AMA Championships in 93′ with the 888. So, this number plate actually means something! 🙂
From the seller-
In case you are not aware 888SPO was sold only in the US market. The SPO was a combination of the high performance SP5 and the European- specification Strada. Apart from a different EPROM, the engine of the SPO was identical to the Starda. The SPO shared more with the SP5 when it came to the chassis. There were only 170 produced for the 1993 model year with another 120 equipped to meet California emissions. This is not a California example. There were another 100 released for 1994 with only a few cosmetic differences including a production number plate on the triple clamp.
This SPO presents well and for a good reason- It’s averaged around 400 miles a year since it crossed the pond. As the seller mentions, there were around 390 of these imported in 93′ and 94′. Not super low numbers by Italian manufacturers standards, but low enough to make them sought after and highly collectable. These have been slowly creeping up in price over the years and this one seems to be leading the way and pushing the envelope with a BIN price of $18,500. If you’re interested in this one and want to compare pricing or condition you can search our archives and gain a lot of insight on these.
Ciao!
dd
those days of Laguna Seca watching Doug Polen drop the Kawasakis like they were standing still !!!
Red! I want red, there’s no substitute for red
Red! Paint it red, green ain’t mean compared to red
You don’t know what it does to me
My crimson intensity
I’m haunted by the mystery
The mystery of red
Red knocks ’em dead
Some like it hot, I like it red
Red is my lover, got it covered
Red is my number, sure as a coma
Red is my drummer, and I hear red thunder
Move over brother
Red’s a mother****er)
(Red! Red!)
that’s’ what I said…
(Red! Red!)
Come on to bed
(Red! Red!)
Gimme’ that expensive spread…
Ha I’m not impressed. It’s not that I have something against Italian steeds but they are notoriously unreliable and fragile and why people are drawn to something just because it’s made in Italy, I’ll never understand. I recently came across a first oil change comparison between several different motorcycle brands. All of the Italian bikes had a tremendous amount of gunk in the oil on the first change while the Japanese bikes were extremely clean. The conclusion was their manufacturing processes were much superior.
Well I spent seven years racing a Ducati 750 bevel in the 90s in Britain Ireland and the Netherlands and thrashed it mercilessly without any serious blowups, did seize it once, on the rear cylinder, freed the piston out with a hammer and raced again the same day, so they are not fragile.
Also raced a small Honda 400 four before that, it blew up quite regularly, although in fairness I was trying to keep up with other Japanese two strokes, so that wouldnt help.
My son has a 916 which we took to trackdays for years, never changed anything aside from oil, belts and tyres.
They will take a good spanking, which makes it all the worse that so many of these bikes end up in glass cases with sugar thrown at them.
What a waste…