999 - with 20/20 hindsight

[YellowDuck]

Vey interested in the question of how you all view the 999, now that it is a piece of history.

[yzf1000jon]

I like the idea of this poll but think the bike just ended up being the wrong bike at the wrong time, especially loooking at the beauties that now bookend the ducati superbike that flopped.

[Caper]

The styling was questionable at best but looking at it from a mechanics stand point. Anything that's designed to be easier to work on must be a step in the right direction!

[YellowDuck]

I really enjoyed the article in the latest CC.

I was reading the Ducati online discussion groups regularly at the time the 999 was first introduced, and I couldn't believe the bashing Terblanche was taking. I personally thought the bike looked quite handsome, even more so in real life than in photos.

The way I see it, every Japanese manufacturer had already shamelessly aped the 916 with their superbike designs, so just making another one would not have been very creative. Indeed, I find the 1098 alarmingly easy to confuse with a Yamaha from a distance. The 999 was a whole different direction, and I never understood why so many found it so offensive. It was *incredibly* narrow, as an L-twin should be, and it sure as heck worked well enough. I'd still like to have one, if I had any need for a bike with that kind of performance, and the inclination to fettle with 4V heads every 10,000 km.

[Kootenanny]

Haven't read the article yet...but, I liked the 999 (and, more to my taste, the 749). I also never understood the bashing it got. It was new, innovative, powerful--it was a Ducati! Of course, I did ride a 749 once, and it was a rack from an ergonomic standpoint...

I also find the 1098 and 1198 (and again, more to my taste, the 848) beautiful, but it doesn't really stand out from the crowd as dramatically as the 999 did.

I'd love to own an original 916--much more appealing to me than the 996 or 998 that followed. I think it is one of the nicest looking production bikes ever, compact and deadly looking and copied by everyone else...