I take it they have never heard of a grinder :o Its not rocket science :puzzled:

I think that Ducati believe that the rough welding would give the bike that - homologation special - look.
Interestingly - a few months back Ducati ran a poll on their website to guage opinion on tank size/shape.
One of the options was a tank of a similar shape to the 749R...I guess without the amateur welding though.

I think its called "Character";)

I understand there is a lot of carbon to plastic changes from 04 to 05. But which parts to be specific? Eventually I may want to replace them... Thanks in advance!

On the 04 R the whole fairing is carbon , only the seat is plastic , I would imagine you would be around £2k to get an 04 fairing (maybe a bit more) to create the 05 look you would need an 05 999R upper with no slots mated to some 04 749R lowers so the logo is correct , good luck :roll:

Do the carbon nosecone mounts off the headlamp get replaced with plastic on the 05?

They cost £400 per side, so there's £800 plus around £950 for the nosecone, let alone how much the sides cost....

I would imagine they are cast items as per the standard and S models

£400 each for the carbon ones ? that sounds steep even for Ducati :puzzled:

What I was told when I bought my R, thus replaced all that with the pierobon frame