Discussion
hiya,
looking for spec details on the ducati 748, getting conflicting info on google or else no info at all.
i thought that the R was the homologation special, 1000 built etc. what then was the sps as i've also seen that referred to as the homologation bike?
in terms of rarity/desirability and value, how does the sps relate to the r?
also, is there a reputable owners forum for looking at classifieds? some nice examples on the web but with accompanying dealer margins. i'm not uk based so doesn't have to be a uk site.
TIA.
looking for spec details on the ducati 748, getting conflicting info on google or else no info at all.
i thought that the R was the homologation special, 1000 built etc. what then was the sps as i've also seen that referred to as the homologation bike?
in terms of rarity/desirability and value, how does the sps relate to the r?
also, is there a reputable owners forum for looking at classifieds? some nice examples on the web but with accompanying dealer margins. i'm not uk based so doesn't have to be a uk site.
TIA.
I have a nice ducati748 handbook if anyone wants to pay postage, very informative.
I had the SPS which in itself was quite rare but not as valuable as the R but still a nice but of kit. Less than 100 imported and mine was one of 20 in the year (S plate)
Titanium conrods, higher lift cams etc. The R had a different shower injector arrangement.
Do a lot of research as many many people copied/turned base models into SPS and R lookalikes.
Both require very specific maintenance by experts and can suffer from flaking rockers which can quickly wreck the cams etc. Belt and service 2 yearly cost was about 500-600 quid (I used cornerspeed ducati)
Loved mine with the factory termignoni fitted. Very peaky revving engine but just so beautiful and fab handling when on it. Terrible in town lol.
https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/748-b-sp-sps...
I had the SPS which in itself was quite rare but not as valuable as the R but still a nice but of kit. Less than 100 imported and mine was one of 20 in the year (S plate)
Titanium conrods, higher lift cams etc. The R had a different shower injector arrangement.
Do a lot of research as many many people copied/turned base models into SPS and R lookalikes.
Both require very specific maintenance by experts and can suffer from flaking rockers which can quickly wreck the cams etc. Belt and service 2 yearly cost was about 500-600 quid (I used cornerspeed ducati)
Loved mine with the factory termignoni fitted. Very peaky revving engine but just so beautiful and fab handling when on it. Terrible in town lol.
https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/748-b-sp-sps...
200Plus Club said:
that's precisely why i want one! has to be yellow as well.thanks for the info. and the link to the forum, some informative threads and more bikes than i would have imagined for sale.
seems that the sps is actually the rarer bike with less than 800 built, but the r is final/ultimate edition hence the one everyone wants. still can't get my head totally around pricing as it seems all over the place for 748/9*6 models, a 916 SPS being priced the same as the 748R for example, makes a hard choice.
i'm not in a rush to buy so will do more research and classified lurking. intention is to buy the right one i can enjoy, look at, and hopefully perform better than money in the bank. wishful thinking with my car choices but these limited bikes look criminally undervalued when viewed with respect to the rise in 90s performance car prices.
shirt said:
that's precisely why i want one! has to be yellow as well.thanks for the info. and the link to the forum, some informative threads and more bikes than i would have imagined for sale.
seems that the sps is actually the rarer bike with less than 800 built, but the r is final/ultimate edition hence the one everyone wants. still can't get my head totally around pricing as it seems all over the place for 748/9*6 models, a 916 SPS being priced the same as the 748R for example, makes a hard choice.
i'm not in a rush to buy so will do more research and classified lurking. intention is to buy the right one i can enjoy, look at, and hopefully perform better than money in the bank. wishful thinking with my car choices but these limited bikes look criminally undervalued when viewed with respect to the rise in 90s performance car prices.
the other thing to remember is not revving them from cold, I recall a video showing it took about a minute for adequate oil to reach the rockers and cams at idle, when they have been stood, a lot of folk blip them immediately at idle from cold.
Loads of good advice here, especially from 200mph, and the Ducati UK forum lot will answer any questions you have ,,, they are a good bunch.
Research, research, research, regards appreciation, don't expect it to be great once you take into account the cost of maintaining one of these properly, all the bikes from that era 748/9** require proper upkeep by people that know what they are doing, so the likes of Rock & John at JHP, Rich at LuigiMoto, Nelly at Cornerspeed and AK att Snells
Research, research, research, regards appreciation, don't expect it to be great once you take into account the cost of maintaining one of these properly, all the bikes from that era 748/9** require proper upkeep by people that know what they are doing, so the likes of Rock & John at JHP, Rich at LuigiMoto, Nelly at Cornerspeed and AK att Snells
dibblecorse said:
Loads of good advice here, especially from 200mph, and the Ducati UK forum lot will answer any questions you have ,,, they are a good bunch.
Research, research, research, regards appreciation, don't expect it to be great once you take into account the cost of maintaining one of these properly, all the bikes from that era 748/9** require proper upkeep by people that know what they are doing, so the likes of Rock & John at JHP, Rich at LuigiMoto, Nelly at Cornerspeed and AK att Snells
I think I followed your advice at the time and went to Luigimoto for parts, Cornerspeed for servicing etc. Mine had fsh and perhaps 14k miles and it still lunched 2 rockers and nearly took out a cam. people baulk at 500 quid services every 2 years and allowing the mechanic time to check the valve clearances etc. Neil took mine to a million parts during the major service, so much more than belts and oil. I made maybe a grand back on mine after 2 or 3 years slow growth, which at least paid towards its upkeep but didn't cover all the costs, not that you buy them for that. Research, research, research, regards appreciation, don't expect it to be great once you take into account the cost of maintaining one of these properly, all the bikes from that era 748/9** require proper upkeep by people that know what they are doing, so the likes of Rock & John at JHP, Rich at LuigiMoto, Nelly at Cornerspeed and AK att Snells
dry roasted nuts anyone lol?
200Plus Club said:
I think I followed your advice at the time and went to Luigimoto for parts, Cornerspeed for servicing etc. Mine had fsh and perhaps 14k miles and it still lunched 2 rockers and nearly took out a cam. people baulk at 500 quid services every 2 years and allowing the mechanic time to check the valve clearances etc. Neil took mine to a million parts during the major service, so much more than belts and oil. I made maybe a grand back on mine after 2 or 3 years slow growth, which at least paid towards its upkeep but didn't cover all the costs, not that you buy them for that.
dry roasted nuts anyone lol?
Yeah, I know where you are coming from, Neil (aka Nelly) at CornerSpeed looked after my 996 for 40,000 of its 50,000 miles with me, used to run it up to him from SE London, and it also lunched a few rockers, I sent a batch back to Tim McAbee at DUK at one point when he refused any goodwill with a note saying he may as well have them as a 'f***ing necklace' ...... he never did forgive me for that or getting James Toseland so smashed on Sambuca at an event it took him an hour to walk from the venue to his hotel 5 minutes away !!!dry roasted nuts anyone lol?
I also have pictures somewhere from Neil of my bike in a million bits usually followed by a 'Dibs, you need an x,y or z ..... ' lol
Get the latest one you can.
Mate had a 748SP, looked after by some of the experts listed above. It was always in bits and rarely made it to the end of a Euro bike holiday, race weekend or trackday without being retired broken. He eventually sold it to a well known husband & wife race team who commandeered Eurosport’s technical expert to look after it - comically had a 80% failure rate even then!
My boss has a 748 SPS and is the perfect owner for it. Must get used all of 50 miles a year (if he remembers) to get its MoT, use up the stale fuel and give the belts a workout. Hasn’t even been taxed for 5+ years - it permanently has a trade plate cable tied to it.
Another couple of mates raced 748R’s in Bemsee Thunderbikes and if you religiously threw money at them and got a specialist to rebuild it once a year they would actually stay in one piece! This is mildly astonishing given 10 club meetings and a Euro trackday per year.
If I was in the market (unlikely as I exorcised my Ducati desires years ago) I’d go for a 749R unless they’ve already gone stratospheric?
Mate had a 748SP, looked after by some of the experts listed above. It was always in bits and rarely made it to the end of a Euro bike holiday, race weekend or trackday without being retired broken. He eventually sold it to a well known husband & wife race team who commandeered Eurosport’s technical expert to look after it - comically had a 80% failure rate even then!
My boss has a 748 SPS and is the perfect owner for it. Must get used all of 50 miles a year (if he remembers) to get its MoT, use up the stale fuel and give the belts a workout. Hasn’t even been taxed for 5+ years - it permanently has a trade plate cable tied to it.
Another couple of mates raced 748R’s in Bemsee Thunderbikes and if you religiously threw money at them and got a specialist to rebuild it once a year they would actually stay in one piece! This is mildly astonishing given 10 club meetings and a Euro trackday per year.
If I was in the market (unlikely as I exorcised my Ducati desires years ago) I’d go for a 749R unless they’ve already gone stratospheric?
Edited by moto_traxport on Monday 8th July 20:41
moto_traxport said:
Get the latest one you can.
Mate had a 748SP, looked after by some of the experts listed above. It was always in bits and rarely made it to the end of a Euro bike holiday, race weekend or trackday without being retired broken. He eventually sold it to a well known husband & wife race team who commandeered Eurosport’s technical expert to look after it - comically had a 80% failure rate even then!
My boss has a 748 SPS and is the perfect owner for it. Must get used all of 50 miles a year (if he remembers) to get its MoT, use up the stale fuel and give the belts a workout. Hasn’t even been taxed for 5+ years - it permanently has a trade plate cable tied to it.
Another couple of mates raced 748R’s in Bemsee Thunderbikes and if you religiously threw money at them and got a specialist to rebuild it once a year they would actually stay in one piece! This is mildly astonishing given 10 club meetings and a Euro trackday per year.
If I was in the market (unlikely as I exorcised my Ducati desires years ago) I’d go for a 749R unless they’ve already gone stratospheric?
Agree fully with all the above apart from one vital fact- there is only the 748/916/996 etc, nothing else comes close if you lust after the shape/style.Mate had a 748SP, looked after by some of the experts listed above. It was always in bits and rarely made it to the end of a Euro bike holiday, race weekend or trackday without being retired broken. He eventually sold it to a well known husband & wife race team who commandeered Eurosport’s technical expert to look after it - comically had a 80% failure rate even then!
My boss has a 748 SPS and is the perfect owner for it. Must get used all of 50 miles a year (if he remembers) to get its MoT, use up the stale fuel and give the belts a workout. Hasn’t even been taxed for 5+ years - it permanently has a trade plate cable tied to it.
Another couple of mates raced 748R’s in Bemsee Thunderbikes and if you religiously threw money at them and got a specialist to rebuild it once a year they would actually stay in one piece! This is mildly astonishing given 10 club meetings and a Euro trackday per year.
If I was in the market (unlikely as I exorcised my Ducati desires years ago) I’d go for a 749R unless they’ve already gone stratospheric?
Edited by moto_traxport on Monday 8th July 20:41
Sentiment and common sense go out the window. There are a million other "better" or more sensible or more reliable bikes. But none of them look like a yellow 748sps!
Looking back I enjoyed mine, only did perhaps 3k miles and it was fairly reliable. The b
d peed oil all over me on the IOM and I managed to repair and limp home. The price increase wiped it's arse. I still miss it but tbh my Thruxton R handles as well, is easier to ride in town, makes most of the noise, and costs 50% less to service at a dealer. My itch has been scratched lol. Edited by 200Plus Club on Monday 8th July 20:59
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