Ducati 916SP

The SP was introduced in 1994 alongside the Strada. Most of the parts were shared with the standard bike – frame, front forks, brake calipers, wheels, most of the bodywork, and the cooling system were shared with the Strada. Outside of the motor the key difference were a smattering of carbon fibre parts, a Monoposto tail with a white numberplate paint scheme, a set of full floating cast iron brake rotors, and an Ohlins rear shock - which, as per Ducati practice at the time, might have ended up on a Strada anyway if that was all they had lying around in the parts bin on that day. If you were lucky and Giuseppe on the assembly line was feeling generous you might have gotten a carbon fibre airbox. Generally the specs of these mid 90s bikes vary quite a bit just because production was limited by parts supply, and the workers would use whatever bits were available to complete the day’s bikes.

The 916 was more popular than Ducati could have imagined and production was stretched to the limit to meet demand, no mean feat considering a fire at the Bologna paint shop had forced them to move to temporary digs at the Cagiva Varese works.

Ok, at first glance the SP wasn’t that special and could easily be mistaken for a standard model with a few parts from the Performance catalogue. It was only about 6 pounds lighter than the standard Monoposto. What was special was the work done to the motor. While it shared the gearbox, alternator and bore/stroke of the Strada motor, not much else was interchangeable. The crankcases were finished differently and had a rough cast texture, and inside you’d find reinforced main bearings. Look at the cylinder heads and you’d see they were based on the 916 Racing heads, cast without the usual “4V Desmo” text for an extra few millimetres of front wheel clearance.

The clutch pack was unique to the SP, and the final drive was lowered with a 14 tooth front sprocket instead of the 15 tooth of the Strada. A high flow oil pump and forced lubrication to the gudgeon pins improved oil delivery at high RPMs. Con rods were Pankl titanium H-section.

The crankshaft counterweights were lightened considerably. New pistons bumped up the compression ratio a smidge from 11:1 to 11.2:1. Valves were enlarged from 33/29mm to 34/30mm. Heads were ported from the factory. Up top you got G/A cams, some of the hottest camshafts ever fitted to a street legal Desmoquattro.

The fuel injection throttle bodies were borrowed from the 888 SP5 and featured two injectors per cylinder mated to a P8 ECU, with a high-pressure fuel regulator to ensure adequate delivery at high RPM. The exhaust was unique, featuring 45mm headers ala Strada mated to a 50mm half system at the rear.

Handling is otherwise more or less the same as the standard bike. The Ohlins rear shock was a big improvement over the standard Showa unit and helped to improve roadholding and compliance quite a bit, but the basic characteristics of the 916 remained intact – which is good, because it was one of the finest handling machines of the time. Braking was improved slightly by the cast iron rotors, but the SP1 retained the mushy rubber brake lines of the Strada - later years got stainless lines to improve feel.

310 SP1s were produced in 1994. 1995 saw the production of the SP2, which was largely unchanged - some sources claimed the expensive titanium con rods were dropped in favour of steel items, but this wasn’t universal. Another 401 examples were built. 1996 was the final year, with 497 SP3s rolling off the line.

Source Odd Bike