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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION NOT PART OF THE ORIGINAL DUCATI WEBSITE
PRODUCTION NUMBERS
Ian Falloon's book Standard Catalogue Of Ducati Motorcycles 1946-2005 shows the following for 996R production numbers [8] , which has been verified by Ducati in writing as recently as 2021. [7] It should be noted these batches were not built in this order:
996 R 2001 Testastretta Red Internet - 191 (included in this batch were 56 UK bikes assembled on 29 Jan 2001)
996 R 2001 Testastretta Red - 120
996 R USA 2001 Testastretta Red - 60 (all non-serialised bikes)
996 R AUS 2001 Testastretta Red - 40
996 R JPN 2001 Testastretta Red Internet - 113
996 R JPN 2001 Testastretta Red - 50
996 R 2001 Testastretta Red Internet - 56
996 R 2001 Testastretta Red - 30
996 R France 2001 Testastretta Red Internet - 13
996 R France 2001 Testastretta Red - 25
Total: 698 worldwide
*Bikes for countries not listed above were mixed throughout the non-country specific batches.
*The 996R engine (as well as the 998R engine) and all of the SPS Desmoquattro engines prior, were never made emissions compliant for the USA.
The breakdown above shows 698 units world-wide, 373 of which were internet sales. This falls only 2 bikes short of Ducati' March 2021 official statement which stated 375 internet bikes. [7]
It's important to understand that this production total is worldwide because most of Ducati's limited edition models prior were serialised based on market. For example, there could be 1,200 SPS bikes for each USA, Japan, and Australia markets. Each market would be numbered 0001 through 1200 for a production total of 3,600 just between those 3 markets. This is what leads to other models often having duplicate serials on their triple clamp plaques. These plaques were made of 800 silver and had assay and makers marks on the bottom right, but that didn't stop many in the past from faking these plaques to scam buyers with lessor bikes. To make things worse, Ducati only correlates the frame number to the engine number. They have zero record of which frame number received what number triple clamp plaque.
USA Production: It's *believed* that the 60 units shipped to the US to be sold for "non-road use" were all non-serialised. I say *believed* because there are 2 units so far in the registry which are serialised claiming to be US bikes. The US sold bikes we know did have proper MPH only speedometers and a Fahrenheit temperature gauge. The UK bikes for example had MPH speedometers which also had KPH indicated on them in red. Most other countries received proper KPH only speedometers. These 2 serialised so-called USA market bikes are considered to be fake, at least in so much as someone took a serial plaque from a wrecked bike or made a fake plaque for them. They are real 996Rs in all other terms. Very notable on US market bikes were many extra warning stickers (windscreen, mirrors, exhaust, etc.), decals (fuel tank, helmet holder, etc.), and emissions label specific to the US stating "operation on public streets, roads and highways is illegal". They also lacked the several usual DOT reflectors compared to road compliant US bikes.
The plaque of 996R #0496 as proof there were at a minimum, 500 serialised bikes produced.
For years online there had been perpetuated the incorrect information that 500 of the 996R had been made in total. Many had said 350 serialised (which were all sold out online) and another 150 non-serialised sold after. This was based on many factors such as Ducati themselves putting on their website and telling the media that 500 would be made - and while true, that did NOT include the additional 200 non-serialised bikes they decided to produce on top of that for privateer racers. This was further misunderstood due to the misinformation that "all 350 had been sold out online the first day" which had been repeated so much that even a couple of magazines printed this, so it was repeated on online forums for years since. The fact is that until Ducati cleared this up in writing in 2021 [7] that ~375 bikes had deposits taken for them on 12 Sept 2000. Additionally, the entire time, the exact numbers had been published by Ian Falloon in one of his books [8] . There have also been a number of people over the years who tracked the serial numbers of all the bikes which popped up on the internet. This immediately proves that 500 serialised bikes were made because there are dozens upon dozens of bikes after 350 right up to 496 that have been documented. A 996R serialised above 500 has never been found so it's simply presumed the remaining 198-200 were non-serialised. Overall a very Italian thing to do, and something Ferrari is famous for.
PRODUCTION & DELIVERY DATES
"Late 2000" is the earliest documented date we know of that production bikes were fully assembled at the factory. Most take this to mean November and certainly December. Prior to this it had only been prototypes (for marketing collateral and shows) and assembly validation bikes. At some point several bikes were built to be their motorcycle journalist test fleet (used in March 2001), most of which were denoted by the serial 000N on the triple clamp. It's known that 2 of these blew their engines during the press event at Valencia.
Customer deliveries did not begin until June and went on throughout the summer into Autumn. September is thought to be the last month any production took place based on authenticity plaques.
It's been mentioned by some that there was an issue with the brand new generation Testastretta engine, which had become evident at the press event. It's believed that the half a year delay in the first serialised customer deliveries from when the production started was to account for updates Ducati incorporated into the bikes prior to them leaving the factory. A few original owners on forums over the years have mentioned that many were held by dealers prior to customer delivery for the updates to be done, but no proof of that has been found. It appears the bikes were held back at the factory.
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