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 Having
brought the 916SP3 from a friend, it started the old hankering for
the Ducati V twin thing all over again. You'd have of thought I
would have learned my lesson when I had the 748SP, but no, I still
had this thing in my mind. And you'd think I would be happy with
the SP3 ....
Anyway, I saw a nice 996SPS for sale at Pro Twins over at Godstone,
so they they took the '02 Blade, gave me £5200 for that which was
the deposit for the SPS. I then sold the SP3 for £5000. The SPS
was £9000 so I had change. The deal was done, or so I thought.
I picked it up on the Saturday, after having to wait 4 hours for
it - they found it did not have an MOT. It was also serviced, new
belts and all that. As I say, 4 hours later I left for home. It
was the hottest day of the year, so I just stuck it in the garage
and collapsed in the garden.
The next day was Sunday and I thought I would take it out for a
test ride, so I met up with a few of the chaps and we set off. It
was so hot we had to stop a few times to cool down, so we had chance
to look at the new Duke. First off John noticed the front tyre was
a 60 profile instead of a 70. Then we started to notice stone chips
everywhere.
When I got home I decided to strip the fairing off and have a good
look at the bike. The oil cooler was leaking quite badly, the panels
had all been re-painted, the exhaust was covered in stone chips,
as were the fork legs. There was minor damage to the fork top adjusters,
the bar levers, the steering damper - even one of the mirrors. All
in all this did not look like a mint 2000 mile bike ....
The next day, Monday, I called Pro Twins. I was not best pleased
as you can imagine. They said they would come and pick the bike
up that day. That turned into the next morning, but the chap turned
up, had a quick look round and said that they would repair the damage.
I asked had it been in an accident, and he said not as far as he
knew, but he took it away and I phoned the head man. After some
prompting he admitted it had been in an accident but had been repaired.
If I had been told at the beginning the bike had been in an accident
I would never have had bought it. Pro Twins promised they would
put everything right to my satisfaction, but by then I'd had enough
so asked for my money back.
So, my latest encounter with Ducati was a bit of a disaster. And
the moral of this tale? Never believe what you are told, but have
a good look at any secondhand bike and reject it if it doesn't look
honest. I think I was a bit blinded by desire.
Never mind, onwards and upwards ... on Saturday I pick up my new
bike, a brand new GSXR1000 - so back to Jap fours. Happy days.
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The
SPS was the culmination of the development of the original 916 as
a roadbike. Producing a lot more power than the billy-basic model
and endowed with extra grunt over the SP, the S really is the one
to get if you want the full-on Ducati experience. Bearing in mind
you can pick up good secondhand ones now for under £8,000
it's not really worth buying a lower spec.
The
motor delivers huge amounts of grunt, and with the thumping drive
of the V-twin giving the rear tyre a chance to grip, the throttle
can be wound on early exiting bends, so the SPS is a difficult bugger
to pass on a twisty road or track.
It's
also worth running the bike with the steeper head angle set, although
the bar clearance to the fairing is a bit tight. But steering response
is much improved and allows you to turn with those pesky 750s. Gets
a bit flappy over the bumpy stuff but, hey, what are steering dampers
for?