The pinnacle of Ducati 916 SP investment is the first year and second year machines. These were mostly built at Verase, due to the fire at Bologna, and came with plenty of Cagiva stamps on various components. These 1994 and 1995 motorcycles preceded the SP3, which was the first of the SP series with the numbered plaque on the top fork yoke. These first two years of production had no plaque on the top fork yoke and looked very much like a Strada with a white painted on number place holder on the rear of the seat unit. Very few had the white apron on the nose cone of the fairing, until the SP3 came out. These early machines are very often faked and the factory have no information to help owners identify real machines, whatever they tell you.
Incredibly rare Italian classic motorcycles
These machines are incredibly rare Italian classic motorcycles, in 1994 they only built 310, in 1995 401 and these numbers have come direct from the factory. We have also confirmed these numbers through various other reliable sources. It is interesting that the factory know how many they built, but cannot reliably identify the genuine machines. Both the 1994 and 1995 motorcycle was identical and was essentially the same as the SP3, except these had no numbered plaque. The SP3 in 1996 had a production run of 497, but this was still a very limited production run. This makes these first 916 SPs, prior to the SPS, incredibly rare, as I pointed out in this article I wrote about them in 2021. More SP3s survive than the 1994 and 1995 models, because the first two years of the SP series were mainly snapped up by race teams. Many Ducati specialists have never seen these not numbered first two years of production machines, because once they were raced, they were trashed and discarded.
Ducati 916 SP3 is more common
The Ducati 916 SP3 is more common because the race teams had their fill and those first two years of production had satisfied the race teams need for these bikes. Although plenty of SP3s were still being bought by race teams, these early SPs were being upgraded with old discarded Corsa parts and 955 kits. Finding one of the early first two years of production SPs is really difficult and they are at the top of the 916 SP investors’ wish list. It’s believed that there are probably only about 50 of the 1994 machines left worth buying. First year of production is always the most desirable of any successful series of classic car or classic motorcycle. Even finding a decent SP3 is severely challenging today. In terms of high quality examples, all of the Ducati 916 SP and 996 SPS series are extremely difficult to find. Most of what is in the market is awful, no matter how pretty they appear. I will be writing about an example of a Foggy Rep bought from a very well respected source and showing the restoration job we’re having to do to it. The bike looked lovely, but once the bodywork was removed a whole other story was present that requires a full frame off restoration and sourcing a lot of very rare parts.
Many SPs had varying specification
Many SPs had varying specification, as did some Stradas which came with SP con rods and other engine internals. Obviously, this was only discovered years later when the Strada engines were stripped. Ian Falloon, in his interview about 916s on my video page, talks about how he visited the factory to find 2000 916s on axle stands without wheels and asked Massimo Bordi what was going on. He replied that they couldn’t pay Brembo and could no longer source wheels. Cagiva had bought Ducati in 1985 and everything was run by the seat of the pants until September 1996 when Texas Pacific Group bought a 51% stake in Ducati to bring stability, which you can read about here. They eventually bought the remaining 49% in 1998 with a clear exit strategy.
Ducati authentication is meaningless
Ducati authentication is meaningless for these early 916 SPs, as they do not have any differentiation between an SP and a Strada in their records. In one of my interviews with Ian Falloon he explains how the factory do not have records that differentiate between a Strada and an SP for these early models. During the Cagiva years, records were at best highly sketchy. We bought some 916 SPs in the grey market and delivered them to the UK in 1994 through to 1998 when TPG took full control. Each year we acquired more of them and they were always bought via faxed bids. Whenever we got invoices for machines they never had engine numbers on the paperwork, only chassis numbers, whereas all of the machines sold officially had engine and chassis numbers on the invoices. The bikes, although definitely SPs all were invoiced as 916S. I have had early SPs denounced by the factory as being a Strada frame with no record of the engine number, yet the engine number was within 33 digits of the chassis number and the chassis number was either side of two early 1994 SPs we had previously sold. Conversely, I have seen authentication letters from the factory of early SPs with a VIN outside of our records, with one injector per cylinder and the V4 Desmo letters badly ground off the head and painted over. It was definitely a Strada dressed up very poorly to look like an SP. If you have an SP within the chassis number range with the correct engine number and Ducati say they have no record of the engine number, don’t despair. If the chassis number is within 200 of the engine number and it’s definitely an SP, it’s because it was one of the many grey marketed out of the factory to pay suppliers so they could continue the production line.
The pinnacle of Ducati 916 SP investment
The pinnacle of Ducati 916 SP investment is definitely these enigmatic very early 1994 and 1995 not numbered machines. Many people wonder if they even exist, because they have never seen one before. So few made it to the public and the rest got destroyed by race teams or written off and even stolen and broken for spares when they had no value. Many of these machines now need restoring as time has really taken its toll on the finish and they If you want to really acquire something exceptionally special in this fantastic range, then these are the ones to find. If you are serious about owning an investment grade Ducati 916 SP, expect to pay a premium which is what ever the owner decides, contact The Motorcycle Broker.
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