That looks lovely mate..and very rare. I can recommend the 'ducati desmoquattro superbikes' which gives a good account of early SP's..likewide the 851/888 performance portfolio is a pre requisite for any 851/888 owner !!!

Enjoy !

Nat

Superb bike.

Congratulations.

Welcome! Nice looking bike. Where are you based?

The only obvious extra tip I would add is to be VERY careful in car parks. That steering lock (or lack of it) takes some getting used to!

Keith

Thanks for all your welcoming messages and comments on the bike. All the advice is very welcome and needed. The SP2 is 99.9% standard from what I can make out, with the exception being a Brembo racing master cylinder and front brake lever. I got it from a chap in Croyden, a bike/car dealer who said he'd had it for years in his garage in storage. It's done just over 10,000 miles and is a bit tatty in places, but will be sorted over the next few months. The fairing has cracked on the mounting bracket right lower side, the screen has a small crack, the rear light lens has broken, and the exhausts (standard but very loud!) have a few dents and scrapes, but this just seems to add to the authenticity. The paint is in very good nick, and mechanically it seems sound (and sounds amazing).

I haven't bought it to enter concours competitions - I want to give it a good thrashing and hope to take it on a track day in October at Donington. It's at Baines Racing currently being fully serviced, having the rear shock rebuilt (it was leaking stuff), the fairing fixed, some new grips and some bolts/nuts replaced. They said the valves/shims were spot on, so that's a relief.

Keith - interesting to see you've got an RG500 - one of only two Jap bikes I'd love to ride, if not own, the other being the RC30. What's it like ?

I'll attach a couple more pictures if I can figure it out !

Matthew

Keith - I'm based near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire. There seems to be a branch of the DOC GB near me but I've yet to make it to a meeting (poor show on my part).

Another photo below.

Did it come from Blues Ross?

'Blues' was mentioned in the Ad I saw in Autotrader, but I don't know what that was. I went to the chap's house to see the bike - he had a Roller, a 911 convertible and a red E-Type under covers in there too !

Do you know this 'Blues' ? Is that his garage name ?

Matthew

Matthew,

Baines also look after my bikes and I live about 10 miles away from Silverstone, feel free to drop by for a cuppa when you pick the SP2 up (unless they're delivering it for you...)

Mark

Welcome to the board.
When I first got my 851 it kept conking-out on me due to the battery being drained all the time. We fitted a 916 regulator and since then it's been fine.

Another good tip I was given, which ties in with the advice given by weeveetwin is don't stall it. If you do turn the key to off wait a second and then start it up again. The computer needs to reset itself. If you don't do this it could start backfiring and running like bag of S'!t.

Happy riding:burn:

Nice bike,mate.Welcome to the "club".