What you’re looking at here is certainly not the nicest 2005 Ducati 999R that I have ever seen, but it is still a 2005 Ducati 999R, and that gives it a couple free passes and a trump card or two. Knicked though parts of it may be, it is still every bit the 135-horsepower carbon-clad repliracer that it was 14 years ago. Built to be the barrel-chested alpha male of superbike racing, the 999 series was quick to prove its mettle. It carried off three World Superbike Titles and a British Superbike title between 2004 and 2006, spawning a raft of special editions in the process. The wins also helped make up for its, uh, controversial visage.
2005 Ducati 999R for sale on eBay
The 999R separated itself from the base bike and the 999S with an engine that not only had sexier internals — titanium connecting rods and a knife-edged crankshaft among them — it had a different bore and stroke in sandcast cases. Wear items and big-ticket repairs on this bike will be a real thing when the time comes, but will be worth it.
As I said earlier, this one has some blemishes and its fair share of dirt, but does appear to be a real-deal 2005 Ducati 999R. It looks like it has aftermarket footpegs, and there is a weird rub mark on the stamped VIN. Despite the dirt, the seller says it has only covered 1,324 miles, and it appears to be in ready-to-ride shape.
From the eBay listing:
You are purchasing a
DUCATI 2005 999R MOTORCYCLE
SOME SCRATCHES AND BLEMISHES GREAT CONDITION. ONLY HAS 1324 MILES. BUY AS IS.
ALSO HAVE MATCHING BIKE 2005 DUCATI 749
VIN# ZDM1UB5W15B013308
WE CAN HELP YOU ARRANGE FREIGHT TO ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. (MUST ADHERE TO AND COMPLY WITH E BAY RULES)
WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF SHIPPING CONTACTS, SHIPPING CRATES AND PACKAGING MATERIALS TO PROPERLY PACK YOUR MOTORCYCLE FOR SAFE DELIVERY
BIKE IS BEING SOLD WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR CUSTOMER TO PICK-UP. BUT FOR EXTRA CHARGE WE CAN HELP YOU SHIP IT ANYWHERE.
WE DO HAVE CRATES IN STOCK, CALL US TO GET A QUOTE. WE SHIP ALL OVER THE WORLD.
M. VANN’S COLLECTION
At $28,000, the price is tied for the highest ask I have seen for one of these with a zero-mile FILA Edition bike from a few weeks back. Low-mileage non-special-editions have recently been changing hands in the high teens, but there’s always exceptions.
Cycle Cat rearsets and bar ends. Strange that the Termignoni exhaust, what appears to be the full system is missing the correct carbon fiber heat shield which covers both pipes slightly higher up and instead has a carbon fiber heat shield for stock or half system pipe held in place with a hose clamp.
Ridiculous asking price btw.
I’m with Classico, crazy price. Why would anyone buy this when they could have had the Filo one which was perfect/100% stock. The two don’t even compete. This thing would have to be in the teens and to be honest, I’d avoid it based on the mods and condition. I’d want to know who has owned it and what have they used it for?
I actually prefer the 2005 999R to the 2004 Fila liveried 999R (if that’s the one you mean?) due to the upgraded engine and box swingarm and the lack of decals, it just oozes class. I think the 999 series is aging really well and the 2005 was the year to have. I really love these bikes and enjoy riding and working on them. I think the 749/999 series was the best chassis Ducati had for track and race purposes (and not too terrible on the street!) but the demand was strong to revert back to Terblanche styling cues and mono swingarm plus starting to get outgunned by the 4 cylinder liter bikes in racing.
It looks like this one got the full Cycle Cat treatment – rearsets, bar ends and possibly the clip-ons which are definitely aftermarket. I always preferred the Ducati Performance rearsets for these, or Acculine if you wanted a bit more adjustability. Regardless, the mods are minor and easily reversed if you choose, and can find stock parts of course.
Looking at the exhaust and carbon heat shield situation some more, I believe it is the proper Termignoni 57mm full system which should have the DP race ECU installed as well. I think what happened is that with the full system, you really need to space out the right side rearset 10-20mm to clear the pipe which this was isn’t so the carbon heat shield didn’t clear the rearset and so it got cobbled together like it is.
I really don’t know where they came up with that price!
So I can help here a little. I recently purchased the 237 mile 916 SPS from the same selling dealer, thanks to it being featured here (thanks raresportsbikes.com!!!!!). It turns out that a Doctor in El Paso recently died, leaving his wife a fairly large (30+ from what I can gather) bike collection, including quite a few Ducatis. Generally characterized I would say that they are all fairly rare, fairly low mileage, not particularly well stored and with various after-market mods. They also had an MH900e and currently have a 900SS for sale on ebay, with more to come. The selling dealer is experienced and friendly, but not particularly a Ducati expert IMO.
The pricing strategy seems to be based on advertising $10K high and see what happens. To be fair to them, they got a great price for the MH900e.
For me, I could see the advertised price was too high for the “98 916 – even though it was a very low mileage SPS – it had a couple of non-standard mods, one ’97 panel on a ’98 bike and was generally scruffy. But I figured the price was a punt and no one would be bite, so I waited for the clock to run down on the auction and contacted the selling dealer via ebay, offering what I thought was a fair price.. After some back and forth with the widowed owner, we came to an agreement. Bike shipped and received. I’m in the process of going through everything, but apart from being a bit untidy, it really is an honest bike. Plus, even though I beat down on price due to the incorrect fairing panel, they actually located the correct one and shipped it to me for a free exchange. So I’m a very happy camper with a very low mileage SPS that I get to work through and make pretty again.
I think this 999R is in the sam category – honest bike. Needs cleaning up. Priced too high.
I’m certainly keeping a close eye on the selling dealer for more potential “dirty gems”
Oliver, thanks for your input.