Ducati 996 | The bikes we buy | MCN

#Ducati #996 #mcn

MCN’s Head of Content, Chris Newbigging talks us round his beautiful Ducati 996. Listen to his chat with Chief Road Tester Michael Neeves, here.

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Welcome to MCN and a series of videos where we  look at bikes that MCN staff actually own now   you’ve seen us wax lyrical about our long-term  test bikes before which we only get to keep  

For a year but a lot of people who work with us  have spent their hard-earned money on their own   motorcycles including Chris nuig in here hello  mate morning and this is his deatti now you may   know Chris from being editor of Performance Bikes  editor of practical sports bike and he’s now head  

Of content at MCN so what I’d love to do right now  is just sit and stare at this and maybe stroke it   but we’re here to talk facts aren’t we so um tell  us a little bit about what this bike actually is  

So this is a 2000 model 996 by posto or rather it  was um if you’re a bit of a cat know you probably   go probably see the bits that are wrong but single  seat exhausts white number boards painted on it’s  

Kind of a knockoff of an SPS or or an our model  really um but yeah underneath it’s just the base   model 916 but I mean it’s it’s quite hazy when  you’re talking about the catti models obviously it  

Started with a 916 so when did this what were the  years of production on this bike so this was 99   through to 2001 and then the 998 came in which was  similar sort of shape yeah um so this this is more  

Closely related to the 916 so essentially it’s  um just greater capacity is still very similar   um but way kind of jaati worked in the ’90s if if  you recall a um they do a homologation bike off  

The back of their race bike and those improvements  would filter down so this was well so 94 was the   first 916 and by 2000 kind of a lot of that sort  of knowledge had filtered down and they’d made  

Improvements mostly to reliability actually which  was a bit of a problem for them at the time um so   yeah a it’s a nice sweet spot it still looks like  the early ones but um it’s a little bit better and  

A bit little bit more reliable yeah so this isn’t  isn’t a 916 from the bad old days where it would   leave you stranded it’s got more modern it no it’s  only left me stranded once okay that’s pretty good  

In 5 years so and it’s got the new Decat logos on  isn’t it and the new yeah so that was um a year or   so after the castig only group the creators of the  916 if you like they moved on sold it to what were  

They called Texas Pacific group and they they  brought in the new branding which kind of caty   still have really yeah so it’s it’s kind of that  style really but like I said the rest of it is  

Still as tambourin attended really yeah and after  this came the 998 and then then it finished and   then it was 999 was it yeah yeah how long have you  had this 5 years now yeah um and I bought it from  

My dad actually and he had it four years before  so I’ve known it for quite a while um he bought   it from a guy who’d got a big collection of these  and some really eclectic stuff he got one of those  

Big American sort of Billet engine custom frame  choppers with forks like that and some really   trick stuff but it kept them all outside into were  car porting including this it was strange like to  

Buy a bike from but it looked after it and it was  there’s a few little bits of kind of cro that a   bit abnormal but otherwise it’s lovely yeah so if  you don’t mind me asking how much did you pay for  

It and what you reckon it’s worth now well part  of the reason I bought it is cuz my dad offered   me a deal he was moving on to uh 1198 he fancied  some similar but with more power uh and obvious  

Firstborn son I kind of called more obviously yeah  well yeah yeah uh but no he he sort of basically   I gave him the five grand that he had paid for it  a few years before wow so um it was one of those  

I wasn’t looking for one at the time but I can’t  pass that up otherwise the prices go through the   roof and I won’t to buy one again and have the  prices gone through the roof now uh they’ve gone  

Up certainly I mean I’m not quite sure what this  one is exactly worth cuz it’s been messed around   with a lot of catti collectors like standard ones  but I’d say it’s probably seven or eight right  

At a guess I mean that’s still relatively cheap  isn’t it for an icon it is yeah I mean especially   I mean what’s the new panagar v4s these days yeah  yeah wow and what how do you use it where do you  

Ride it um not as much as I like really um i s I  bought it and then shortly after decided having   another child would be a good idea I don’t know  who convinced me that was the way forward but  

Um so it’s kind of yeah sort of high days H days  and sunny rides to work just whenever I get few   spare minutes I grab it and go yeah what about  the mileage on this this uh only 13 I’ll put  

About three three and a half of those on I think  yeah something like that and a big question you   touched on it earlier is reliability so what are  they actually like to live with um worry about it  

I I don’t worry about it too much um it’s partly  because when I was on practical Sports work part   of that Magazine’s kind of remit was to work on  your own bikes and improve them and ride them  

And so I kind of went through it and researched  all the problem areas and kind of made sure they   were good I had the valve clearances checked um  upgraded all the starter cables to some um what   they called uh superst start cables I think they  are um which just helps alleviate certain issues  

So rather than waiting for it to break you kind  of do the preventative sort of cures and sort of   touch touch wood it’s um it’s been pretty good um  you me break down I had which kind of alluded to  

Earlier first time I rode at any distance actually  um there’s a a nut holding the generator on and   they were incorrectly made from the start at  some point it’s had that problem it’s rattled   around and it damaged all the stator windings the  charging system and it hadn’t broken then but it s  

Waited until I bought it and and decided it was  going to pack up cuz it was damaged so but that   that was a relatively easy fix and otherwise  it it starts every time I ask it to and it’s  

It’s been no bother just belts every couple of  years and an oil change amazing so it’s not quite   standard is it so no it’s not it front to back  what’s different on this bike than a standard  

Right so front back so wheels are the wrong color  for a start they should be the same gray as the   frame somebody’s done them black right they’re  not lightweight Wheels they’re just no no they   they’re just the standard sort of cast aluminium  Marinis that uh it came with um I had the forks  

And shock rebuilt a few years ago by ktech so  they’re not drastically changed but they’re   kind of sprung correctly um and what are they  are they twoo stiff or to soft no they um this   bike had Progressive Springs on it which as far  as I’m concerned on sports bike are the devil’s  

Work you just you can’t get a setup cuz the spring  rate is changing all the time so it just went back   to at ktech linear Springs front and rear and they  just kind of refreshed it and had a little fiddle  

With a shim sack at the front and a little bit of  the back as well right just kind of made it nice   I mean it’s it is really firm you’re not going  to get around that but that’s not something I  

Wanted to take away from it cuz I don’t think it  would work if it was kind of too soft and that’s   not what this bike’s about not why I bought  it it’s not a daily Commuter so uh then from  

Breakes standard brakes are standard um the discs  are the wrong one for this it got one that was   warped so I picked up a set from uh I think it was  a 998r that been turned into race they been sat on  

The shelf for year so they’re they’re a slightly  different design they’re a little bit lighter but   not in an upgrade of such SPS brake pads as well  okay um and then motor all standard internally I  

Mean as you can see from the outside it’s got a  different air box on it different intakes which   opens up a little bit different air filter um  Power Commander which had mapped by BSD who  

Do all our dno work for MCN um he’s done a really  nice job and it makes 119 horsepower and 73 lb of   torque 93 horsep and what’s it weigh uh is U Know  exactly it’s it’s 211 kilos full of fuel so about  

About 10 kilos more than the sort of modern  ler bikes which isn’t too bad I don’t think   about on par with a V2 pagali maybe yeah maybe  a little bit heavier yeah touch heavier yeah um  

More talk in the mid-range but less Peak power  they’re about 145 150 these days AR so um yeah   then then the shock is nonstandard it would have  had a shower standard somebody’s fitted the oens  

For an SPS or one kind of the highest spec models  yeah um I’ve dropped the gearing by I think seven   teeth at the rear and one at the front I mean  you know you’ve rid lots of chatis in your time  

They always come sort of Geared for 280 mph this  was no different actually worked it out and the   gearing was good for 193 miles hour which is it’s  you’re never going to do if you throw the damn  

Thing off a cliff would you so exactly um gearing  it down it just feels like a Japanese bike where   the ra ratios are correct yeah uh and it actually  increases the top speed it’s actually yeah cuz it  

It was so overgear before it wouldn’t pull six  so uh Turing the only half system on it as well   just silen is basically standard headers loud set  off car alarms uh loudish but uh I did a jaati UK  

Track day a few years ago and the panagar there  and the standard panagal are drown this out as   soon as they start oh really so it’s you can if  you roll the throttle you’re not too antisocial  

Yeah yeah I don’t think so and then bodyw workwise  I see there’s a lot of carbon on it is that a   carbon seat it is a carbon seat unit yeah I think  it’s SE Moto something like that it it was on it  

When I got it um technos sell seat pad which were  if you remember chat cor bikes from the 90s was   had little Tech Sal stickers that was one of those  little details that made them so that’s nice to  

Have um yeah carbon airbox intakes and this is the  air yeah it is yeah yeah t tank just seals down on   the top and it’s all the all the throttle bodies  and air filter under there carbon infield panels  

Infield panel there yeah uh I think that’s kind  of and then the paint job cuz it wouldn’t have had   white number plates originally would it no no and  at some point this bike was yellow somebody obv  

Decided they preferred red so I’m not quite sure  what the history is but I think all the panels I   think they just somebody’s exchanged them hold  sale so yeah I’m not sure whether somebody just   painted the nose Fairing and decided to have  the white number board as well yeah but uh yeah  

Whatever I like it so you ride a lot of bikes  for your day job lot of bikes so what what’s   the performance of this by modern standards um I  kind of found that out directly last year like I  

Say the caty track day and most of the bikes that  turned up were less than 5 years old so there and   and I went out fast group first session and there  were 10 panagar v4s in front of me and they were  

All track prepped and I was think they oh no I’m  going to get mobbed here you know um but the great   thing about this because it’s uh obviously cable  driven throttle and it’s been mapped nicely as  

Well yeah you know exactly what you’re doing with  it there’s not a computer kind of interfering in   the middle it’s not that I’m aite or anything  I love tting 20 horsepower super bikes as much  

As you do yeah but you know exactly where you  are with this and because it’s a real sort of   midrangey delivery it sort of goes from five or so  you come out of a corner especially tight ones and  

It just digs and go like that and and actually  particularly with the V2s you know how rev they   are this thing gets the leap on them and it sort  takes till sort fourth fifth gear before they   really start pressing home that top end advantage  and even the v4s obviously you open the throttle  

And ask for 50% and it goes right I’m not sure  he wants that because you’re this lean and this   rev blah blah blah and it makes a calculation and  even those they don’t get away immediately andly  

They then pipe 200 odd horsepower and and clear  off into the distance but it it holds its own and   and then there’s no ABS either which is kind of  something that’s overlooked yeah um so it’s it’s  

Nice direct brakes and I’ve spent time setting  up the suspension on top of kind of the the work   that kch did and it it handles kind of track work  really well it’s got load of ground clearance as  

Well a confidence inspiring it doesn’t feel like  a an old no it it doesn’t um like I said um I was   editor of practical Sports PL and Roads lots  of retro stuff ‘ 80s ’90s stuff really and I  

Enjoyed lots and I have a lot of it as well but  this is so much more direct than pretty much all   of it it’s still it’s still relevant in its own  way and it yeah okay it’s a cranky old thing and  

It it it kind of takes ages to warm up and it’s  got yeah yeah um but yeah when when it comes to   it it can kind of still do the business um and  I’ve put some really sticky tars and they conty  

Race tattoos right and it it genuinely makes use  of the grip like I say it leans for England and   use everything he got it it does yeah it’s yeah  it’s a really satisfying thing and and I wrote  

About this at the time I I did a session on a  panagar V4 straight after this and yeah okay it’s   incredible and amazing but you’d have to spend ads  dialing in the electronics the suspension and all  

The things that you can fiddle with on them and  yourself in honesty um it takes a while to get   your brain on that level to deal with it fast and  I don’t think that would necessarily be any more  

It’d be faster of course but I don’t think it’s  more satisfying this thing I just whether it’s   Road or track every time I ride I I just love  it you know it’s such a the owner satisfaction  

Is so high with it even though I don’t do many  miles it probably it didn’t do anything during   covid um and S missed out a few other times but  generally do about 1,000 miles a year that’s all  

That’s yeah um sort of on top of testing duties  and everything else that’s you know time I get for   this and but I treasure every single one and even  if I’m not using it open the garage door to get  

The kids bikes out or something it’s it’s amazing  and obviously completely analog by today standard   no quick shifter no trash control no really  control do you miss any of that no not really   quick shifter would be nice it’s um a little bit  sort of slow witted changing gear sometimes but  

I mean it’s an old bike and it wasn’t designed  for quick shifter so I’ve kind of left it alone   rather than lunch gearbox absolutely so as a you  talked about what this bik’s like on track is it   nice bike to ride on the road or is it slightly  awkward slightly quirky slightly uncomfortable  

It’s it’s definitely uncomfortable um and awkward  if you’re going slowly um but I just avoid towns   and Villages as far as I can um you don’t buy  this and go through the center of London unless  

You kind of some sort of masochist really um it’s  yeah I mean I’ve changed the handlebars as well   that’s something I’ve forgotten they are sort of  reduced offset on so they’re a little bit closer   and they’re also a little bit flatter six’ tall  and arms likeing Ron as well so um they’re they’re  

A bit bit more suited me so it’s it’s okay I can  deal with it yeah so as a riding experience on the   road you’ve got this and you got a panagar v4s  2023 model the bells and whistles which one are  

You going to take this yeah um agree I find the  not just the Pand I’m not going to pick on that   but um because they are obviously really they’re  designed for to produce a lap time aren’t they  

That yeah their their performance envelope is so  far away from what you can realistic you do on the   road you don’t ever tap into them they they kind  of you’re not touching the sides are you whereas  

This thing is it’s kind of that instantaneous  Grunt and yeah okay it does it handles quite well   and you are you’re still not using its capability  you’re a bit close to it and it gives you a bit  

More back there’s a bit more sort of feel rather  than it’s you s, going what we doing why are we   going this slowly it’s almost like it’s mocking  you whereas this it’s not quite doing that so  

In terms of the sort of the emotion of these B  these bikes are all about Italian emot with your   T-shirt there the foggy yeah I’ve linked to the  foggy days and you yeah that that that’s kind of  

The inspiration really I mean in I think it was ‘  92 my dad started taking me to World Super bikes   as um some bike from Blackburn was starting to do  the biz um and I mean I was S four or five then uh  

And it just captivated me and it kind of and then  obviously the 916 came out and he had that massive   battle with um Scott Russell and various others  down the years and it just I loved it I S walk  

To school every day and I tell my friend y Scott  Russell and I’m fogging we’d be running making all   the noises and that’s just never left me um and  I and I really remember the first time I saw one  

Of these on the road going on a holiday cornal or  something in the back of Dad’s car going somewhere   it was Road works and the inside Lane was kind of  empty but ConEd off and I just heard a b coming  

Up and it was a 916 and he he then di through the  cones after the road gave it a big handful I was   like and it went that yeah just just these things  they stick with you and I always wanted one yeah  

And yeah here we have got it and not letting  it go anytime soon yeah and these these were   the days when when you saw one of these on the  road it was properly special now nowadays the   cat is fantastic bikes aren’t they but they’re a  little bit more mainstream there’s much more sort  

Of the pr attached to him is very polished you  know when you see one on the street it’s not as   or inspiring as when we saw these back in the day  no well the company’s obviously owned by the Audi  

Group these days and they’re very commercially  minded and they’ve changed caty away from sort of   real passionate kind of Engineers which is what  they were I mean um when tambini was designing   these he one of the uh why he helped develop the  aerodynamic page uh package he went off out in the  

Rain for hours up and down the autostrada when  he came back he’s he had to look at where all   the how you get the sort of dirty lines where the  where the winds push the dirt over it and look at  

It just to see what it was doing yeah and he  had every Everybody in the design studio sit   on it and they worked out the ergonomics and  I think um there’s bits like this kind of cut  

Out here that was this one particular bloke had  big arms and he was crushing his elbows just wow   they really thought about it and something that’s  overlooked with these is how easy they are to work  

On they designed it to be a race Park and to be  adjusted and improved and fixed as well so from   the start part of the design was it was really  easy to take apart and so I do all the work on  

This myself cuz it’s just even even things like  belts which people get really afraid of that it’s   so easy to do and you save so much money over a  dealer is I mean all the only fasteners for the  

Body work there’s one bolt to the back of the  tank and then uh the mirrors hold on the nose   fairing everything else um is quick release even  the seat I was going to ask you about running the  

Thing you know is an expensive bite to run but if  you’re doing the work yourself yeah so um it’s du   some belts now so I’ve got some aftermarket onesz  inevitably somebody comes along go we can do that  

Better so I’ve got some California Cycle Works  belts to go on it which are cheaper than jaati   ones and apparently built to a sort of Greater  standard as well so they’re going on soon um oil  

Well takes four lers of oil just like everything  else does and the filter and it’s it’s not not bad   really the air filter’s washable so that doesn’t  need changing it’s it’s not been too bad I mean  

I don’t do many miles obviously so um not sort  getting it through like a year round commuta but   no exactly no it’s not and and actually some of  the parts as well because um the towns they don’t  

Tend to sort of build Parts specifically like  the Japanese do so Honda will bring out a new   Fireblade and it’ll have its own filter that  only fits that bike whereas this is the same  

As um BMWs triumphs cars as well so you can pay  30 40 quid for a jaati one with a little stamp   on the side you can buy for 15 quid from a BMW  dealer which is exactly what I’ve just done so  

It’s it’s such an iconic shape isn’t it that when  they brought out the 999 it just bombed is it and   they had to quickly bring out the 1098 which is  a modern version of this really isn’t it yeah I  

Mean even the panagar you look and there’s still  sort of hints of this kind of shape but during   development it didn’t have underseat pipes did  it they didn’t have a single sided swing them  

I don’t think they they they went back and forth  um one point I I wrote a big feature about these   and I spoke to I forget the guy’s name now but he  was involved in the development and uh they went  

Back and forth and they’d already designed um it  with these so everybody says oh the NR 750 that   they just copied it they didn’t but apparently  what did happen that that confirmed that was the  

Right idea and they went with it um little known  fact about tambourin he he was part of bota he was   the tat in boto wasn’t he and the Suzuki powered  SP2 that was going to have under seat exhaust in  

1977 really if if you ever look at one of those  they’re quite obscure things you probably have   to Google one rather and find one but they’ve got  two big indicator holes in the tail piece that’s  

Where the exhaust was going to come out they just  couldn’t get around the heat problem so they they   canned it he had the idea first anyways which  what I’m trying to say so um and actually if  

You ever look at rc30 this sort of shape here is  kind of is very similar but higher and apparently   when the rc30 came out he was really inspired  by that and even things like the vents and the  

Fairings they’re very similar and the rake of the  nose there obviously it’s not a direct ripoff but   it’s very similar but he just thought that was  the best looking bike Japan had ever produced   apparently and um that informed some of the  decisions he made they spent a long time on  

This they I think it was 85 uh cigle only Brothers  took over jaati and bought tambourin in to start   developing bikes and the 888 was always 851 sorry  was almost knocked out and they knew they needed a  

Real kind of signature bik kind of St Cat’s back  and this is what we’re about and they started to   work on it about the same sort of time so they  spent a lot of time cogitating on it and deciding  

What they were going to do while they just had  the 888 and 851 just doing the business in world   so this was a real labor of love for them and kind  of shows really does and the quality of it amazing  

That the Plastics and the paint just beautiful  yeah um there there’s no kind of ugly extent I   mean take faing there’s wires and hoses everywhere  it’s a bit of a plumbers nightmare as they say but  

Um yeah they they really paid attention to detail  and that was I mean for me the 999 was obviously   challenging in its way but they they didn’t put  that same thought into it um things like where   the where the subframe is on those there’s lot  of spits exposed and welds and funny brackets  

And wires where everything’s hidden on this really  there’s just there’s nothing thing ugly hang out   really so you say this is a keeper I mean if in a  nutshell what what is it about it you love so much  

It’s it’s it’s really shallow but the noise gets  me I mean I live sort of mile and a half from the   first bit of dual Carriage while it brings me to  work and every time I wind it on there they just  

That it just it’s it kind of it goes right through  me you know that that’s genuinely is a big part   of it but I mean like I said the performance is  still relevant it looks great it’s pleasurable to  

Own take it AP part over the winter and grease  suspension linkage and things like it all just   comes apart so well cuz it was designed to do that  as a as a race bike they they they knew they’re  

Going to have to work on it it was going to get  crashed and fix it so it’s it’s it’s just built   to do that and so every part of the ownership  experience just it’s just so satisfying and  

That’s that’s the word to keep coming back to is  satisfying just is in every way and yeah even when   it broke down I just sat side the road that’s why  I’ve got Breakdown Cover you know exactly yeah  

Don’t worry about it every Rising occasion yeah  um I see this in the car park often and just so   jealous I’d love to have a go one day welcome I  tell you what probably everyone wants to know is  

What it sounds like yeah would you reckon giveing  it a little tickle yeah go on start don’t don’t   show me start see there’s another little detail  it’s got um there’s a little button on the bottom   of the throttle for the fast rather than having  a leave or something like that right hidden anyhow

Wow just Tak you right back doesn’t it yeah it does  amazing yeah well come on I was going to say I   I still don’t think there’s a better sounding  twin I mean I’m extremely biased and there’ll  

Be a prilia and Honda sp1 it’s going no you’re  wrong but for me this is just this is from back   in the days where there was no sound deadening  around the engine no cats no Euro 5 nothing it’s  

No no the engines themselves are quite to now  you know let alone the exhaust and everything   yeah yeah I mean obviously these got the dry  clutch as well I mean this one’s not this one’s   recently been replaced so it’s not as rattly  as it could be but yeah some of them sound like  

Sort of a metal barrel full of spanners that’s  brilliant well thank you very much for showing   us around well welcome you should have a g at  some point I’d love to thank you very much and   thank you very much for watching and stay tuned  for more videos like this coming up very soon