You know in Club racing that “guy” with all the money, I mean he pulls in with his badass trailer and Range Rover, has a pit set up that mimic’s the 2009 Honda Repsol MotoGP Team and then pulls out some insane $100k race bike. Well in 1994 we had a guy like that, nice guy though but one day he shows up and pulls out an ex Doug Polan Ferracci 888(955) AMA bike. We were all like “WTF”??? I remember just how rare it was to see such a bike so we all just stood around while someone wheeled the electric cart over to start it. “Ching, ching, ching, ching…BaBAM!!” as it fires up. The rumor was it had 150hp and in 1994 that was huge, so in the spirit of “my wanker’s bigger than yours” this guy pleasantly dices around all day for last place.
Well I’m back again talking about 888’s, seems like these things come in cycles, when you want to buy one there never around, then when you don’t, there everywhere. It’s one of my favorite Ducati’s and their best performer until the 916 came out. LTD’s or “Limited” were the last 888’s produced for the street but not a whole lot different from the regular 888 SPO ‘s other than some carbon bits and a few other misc cosmetic items. In ’93/’94 you could also buy for racing their SP4 and SP5 versions which were basically copies of the bike they raced in World Superbike. Ducati offered so many “trick” bits for these bikes and at the time Fast By Ferracci Ducati was at the top of their game for racing and tuning here in the US. Their presence at each AMA Superbike event was just about on par with Ferrari’s F1 efforts. Located in Frankfort IL, here’s a pretty nice example on EBay, click to view.
From the ad:
#61 of 200 made & only 75 sold in the US. Original wheels, Ohlins shock.
12,000 mile service done 4/30/08, including valve adjustment & timing belts.
I believe I am the 3rd owner. The only mods I am aware of are the rear sets & a Corbin seat.
There are small areas of chipped paint on the lips of the fairings where your toes would hit when feet are on the footpegs. These were present when bought & I have added a couple. There is also a crack on the underside of the right fairing which has been repaired & is not visible on the outside, also on pics. Always garaged & never dropped while in my posession.
There are no mechanical issues whatsoever. I am selling the bike because my back arthritis cannot tolerate the riding position.
The bike is for sale locally so I reserve the right to end the auction at any time.
Will deliver within 100 miles of the Chicago Metro area in an enclosed trailer
Conclusion; these things give me major “wood”. This one seems to be a really nice clean example for the miles and maybe with a bit of paintwork, a set of stock rear sets, the bike would really shine in my opinion. If you wanted major “Starbuck” posing points try to locate a set of Termignoni carbon cans to finish it off. Keep checking this sale and see where the price goes, it could be one hell of a deal.
Ciao for now, Jay
You guys actually had this one posted in March from Craigslist. The price was $8,800.00 and I went to check it out. The pipes do not apppear to be correct, they are not hi-rise but the more concerning item was the oil I found when taking off the side fairings. There was a coat of oil inside that must have accumulated since the service indicated which was less than 2,000 miles. I never did explore it further to see what the cause of the oil was in the fairing since I figured there is never a good reason for it. I don’t want to disparage the owner as she was very nice but I would have it checked by a mechanic before purchasing #61.
Didn’t meet reserve @ $6,766