So gather ye round for a tale of tears and joy.

Tears over the last 7-8 years of ownership

Hating the way it rode after selling the blade, it was slow, heavy, rock hard, and frankly agricultural.
breakdown1 - clutch slave cyl jammed
breakdown2 - rectifier - caught fire
breakdown3 - rectifier - burned out in france . . .
breakdown4 - burst rad, flicked a stone up
breakdown5 - burst oil cooler, rubbed against V panel
Breakdown6 - well sort of i got it home after the clutch nut fell off.
Service history means nothing, a full stamped up book doesnt cover the galactic mileage and track use / abuse
major service every year at cost
engine feeling "loose and fast" and being caught just in the nick of time before it exploded (Jun 09)
All the "ducati's are shit brigade who have never even ridden one let alone owned one for any period - nobbers.

Joys of the last 7-8 years of ownership

Learing to ride it like a twin should be ridden, short shift at 6 and grunt in the next gear.
replacing front end for a later maxton sorted setup and ohlins from a 748R - ah so thats how you get them to handle is it ?
New (well to me) engine built like it should have been from new, with lots of SP parts, high comp pistons, 748 and RS hybrid box, chris mayhew heads = rapido engine
such a delight to work on, some serious engineering gone into this, granted the components might be made from chocolate, but at least its easy to fix.
still looks superb and is ageing well
sounds like nothing else.
that frame is like a sodding girder, never ridden anything as rigid as this.
All the "ducati's are shit brigade who have never even ridden one let alone owned one for any period, have no idea what they are missing

anyway allow the pictures to speak. behold some italian goodness

So current spec is something like this

1995 916
Started life as a strada, converted to bp with subframe, seat unit, P1.6 ECU and bp left hand loom.
Lightweight high capacity battery and tray conversion
original equipment dogshit factory rectifier (at time of writing is still working after 2 years - so anytime now lol)
Rear ohlins from a 748R, valved and sprung by maxton.
Front 996S forks valved and sprung by maxton
60mm calipers.
Carbon airbox and high capacity air tubes.
MS production undertray
Marchesini 5 spoke alloy wheels (to be replaced with stregthend mag items later this year)
Engine as follows - now
Cases 916SP
Crank - 916SP lightened and balanced.
slightly lightened flywheel
749R starter motor
748SP gearbox with 2nd and 5th i think from a 02 RS
All new bearing and seals and gaskets
low mileage (7k) std 916 barells
High comp pistons
Chris mayhew cut heads.
Aftermarket clutch slave - so no need for an arm like tyson to shift gears.
lightweight alloy clutch - hmmm jangly, needs to be replaced with a slipper soon.
Std 45mm headers, Now 45mm collector with 50mm carbon cans (the full 52mm Ti system was that loud it failed its mot - the tester was deaf !!!! and it still failed lol) it grunts better low down with the 45mm tbh
Ultimap chip to suit

Hope the wife does not catch me looking at this porn !!

You have already given into the dark side nigel, infact maybe you can desctibe better than i, whats the appeal of the ducati ? its not the fastest, most reliable, lightest, but is the most expensive, so why are they so addictive ?
fooked if i know but i always keep going for the ducati keys on a run out.

From my breif time with my Duke, the chassis is amazing, front end gives so much feed back and confidence.
Also the grunt, to the MV to Scarbrough today and unless you ride it like a tw$t it feels gutless after so long on the Duke. (until it hits 11500rpm then its madness)
Cant wait to race the 996 in a few weeks now!!

By way the old girl looks top draw Paul.

She does look stunning paul, cant beat a 916. Dunno why there so addictive but nothing made me smile like seeing my old duke sitting there when lifting the garage door.

Aly, cant remember if i told you at the time but according to the original owner of the 853 the front end is internally ohlins.

a thing of beauty sir!
i only had the 600, but i wish i hadn,t sold it!!..ted

Very nice bike and spec.

I would do nasty things to be able to afford a nice 996/998.

Paul, I want a go on this thing next week.

fack off, i seen how you treat your blade.

nah you can but i promise you wont like it, it will be the most alien horrible thing you have ever ridden after the blade. takes more than a quick blast to feel at one with the old girl, took me around 6 months