The Ducati 916 Is The Most Significant Motorcycle Ever

The Glory That Is The Ducati 916

In the argument about what is the most significant Italian bike ever, there are a few strong contenders, including the Vespa and the MV Agusta 750S. Or what about the Ducati 750SS or the 851 or the Paso? What about the Laverda Jota? What about the Lambretta? There must be a few Benellis or Bimotas that would fit the bill.

In reality, however, it can only be one bike; the bike that must have graced more bedroom walls than any other; the bike that really put Ducati back on the map both on the track and in the imagination of the public like no other before it and probably saved the company. It is, of course, the Ducati 916.

The numerical title is no different to any other Ducati - certainly no more iconic in itself - but what the motorcycle itself has come to represent has given those three numbers a magical quality all of their own.

The 916 was the work of Massimo Tamburini, who worked on the project for several years before it was launched on a dazzled public in 1994. If you like, it was the culmination of many years of Ducati sports bikes, two of which - the 851 and the 888 - had won three World Superbike titles between them in the early 1990s in the hands of Raymond Roche and Doug Polen. It was to harness the power of the 851-888 engine, with its electronic fuel injection, that Tamburini started work on what would become his masterpiece, the 916.

It took him four years of sweat, toil and test riding - yes, he was good enough to ride his own creations and dissect their behaviour - to create a Ducati with perfect 50-50 weight distribution. That might sound easy, but the 90° v-twin with its horizontal cylinder sticking out at the front - and the enemy of a short wheelbase - fought him all the way. But he managed it.

Everything was conceived to maintain this weight balance, from the lean tubular trellis frame to the compact sculpted petrol tank that forced the rider to set his weight forward. The exhaust headers were moulded to the frame and ancillaries so they did not interfere with the lines.

And what lines! Technical tour-de-force the 916 might have been, but it was also achingly beautiful. It is for this as much as its performance or technical specification that it was included in the Art of the Motorcycle exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. It was simply a carefully organised synthesis of elements that came together in perfect harmony. Once you saw a 916, you never forgot it.

It is largely forgotten now that some of the 916’s design elements - elements that we associate solely with the 916 nowadays, or at least, we ascribe their initial introduction to motorcycling on the 916 - were actually first seen on the Honda NR750, the oval-pistoned exotic the Japanese company built in the early 1990s.

Tamburini freely admitted he had been influenced by the design of the NR750. New lighting technology in the form of projector beam headlights allowed designers to move away from traditional round headlights. The NR and then the 916 were the first to have them fitted. In the case of the 916, they were needed because Tamburini borrowed the shape of the nose from the design of Pierre Terblanche for the Ducati Supermono race bike. The NR750 also donated its ideas of a single-sided swing arm and under seat exhausts. Together these were three of the 916s most visually striking features.

It wasn’t especially powerful, not only by today’s standards but also by the standards of the day. The 916cc engine (for once, the name accurately reflected the engine capacity) produced 114bhp and 64.5lb.ft, compared to the Yamaha YZF750’s 120bhp. But the Ducati had a much broader torque curve, making it easier to ride. This, coupled with its light weight and agility, not to mention the booming soundtrack from its optional Termignoni silencers, made it almost the perfect sports bike.

Perhaps the largest factor in the creation of the 916’s legacy, was its racing success. The 916 came along and simply destroyed the opposition, taking 6 out of the next 8 World Superbike championships from 1994. It didn’t hurt that riding it to four of those championships was one Carl Fogarty, one of the most belligerent, arrogant, self-opinionated and talented men ever to swing a leg over a race bike. It was because of his personality as much as his talent and success, not to mention the rivalries he forged and off track, that those years are seen as one of the golden ages of racing. And the 916 basked in all the attention.

The 916 would morph into the 996 and then the 998, both essentially the 916 with updates, before the all-new 999 was introduced for the 1993 model year. But, in those 8 years, a legend was created and its star still shines brightly to this day.