This is not a road bike, that much is obvious at a glace: slick-shod, missing lights and signals, with just that big, redline-less tach and smaller temp gauge to distract the rider from the really important things like speed, speed, and more speed. Which is good, because this Ducati 916SPS was designed with speed foremost in mind. Although it was originally a roadbike, this particular bike has been turned into a dedicated track weapon.
While 916 variants are generally dime-a-dozen on eBay, that’s a function of how long the body style was in production, the number of variants available, and the fact that people buy these just to have, for a time, that pinup-quality machine in their garage, all the while putting very little mileage on. It takes skill and dedication to extract the real potential of a 916: they’re uncomfortable and don’t suffer fools gladly.
But while garden-variety 916’s aren’t all that hard to find, this SPS is a rare bird indeed. One rung down from the homologation “R” machines, the SPS featured lightweight wheels, better suspension, an adjustable head, carbon bodywork, and an uprated 996cc engine that later became the standard model in the Ducati 996.
If you’ve never noticed, many serious sportbikes of the era have these sort of simple, modular dashes that have the tach and temp gauge on a separate pod from the speedo and idiot lights so those superfluous bits can be easily removed for dedicated track use, as can be seen here.
From the original eBay listing: 1997 Ducati 916SPS for Sale
From my personal collection, this 1997 Ducati 916SPS motorcycle was prepared for race track in category Superbike. Just performed with coupon distribution transmission belts. It has many parts of the model racing Ducati 916RS racing. Wheels Marvic magnesium from 16.5, suspension Öhlins, tank and many parts carbon, slipper clutch, brake back even handlebar, change racing, racing valves, cams racing, electronic unit, SBK, etc. Bike is in Italy.
While there are some translation errors, I think you get the gist of what’s being offered here. Obviously: “brake back even handlebar” refers to the billet rear brake lever mounted on the left handlebar, which is a pretty cool update. Interestingly, this SPS also looks like it has a 16.5″ rear wheel, something I thought was exclusive to Moto GP bikes and not found WSBK machines. I’m also not sure what’s up with the “Rebuilt, Rebuildable & Reconstructed” title status. Is this a former road bike that’s been crashed and turned into a track bike? Considering that the seller is looking for $16,500 Buy It Now price, I’d hope not.
Obviously, this bike isn’t in perfect, collectible condition, and I personally don’t like those curved Marvic wheels, but this bike looks ready to hit the track. So, do you buy it for historic racing? Track days? Without any race history and in non-original condition, it’s collectibility may be limited. On the other hand, there are plenty of folks watching this listing, so I’ll be curious to see if the seller gets their asking price for this well-used bit of Ducati history.
-tad
16.5″ wheels were the fashion for a bit in some of the national series such as the BSB and AMA. The wheels can be found pretty cheaply on ebay because none of the tire companies (That I know of) are making the tires for them any more. Supplies of new 16.5s are getting to be mighty slim pickings, so the rear wheel on this particular Duc will shortly become nothing more than a conversation piece.