Hunting The Snark

For the snark was a boojum, you see.

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Some things… 10/28/2006

are just too beautiful for words…

But I’ll try anyway.

The machine that you see above has been described by me as “sex on wheels”. This was in reply to a journalist interviewing me for a lifestyle magazine article. She asked me why I happen to like bikes. I don’t know if you could consider my specific relationship with motorcycles a “lifestyle”. More like an all-consuming, and bloody expensive, passion. I mean, that would be like asking Michelangelo Buanarotti if he liked to paint. And before everyone starts flooding my comments box, yes, I am aware of the fact that Michelangelo preferred sculpting to painting. Just think about the metaphor a moment.

Getting back to the matter at hand. I once promised the readers of Hunting the Snark that I would relate the story of how the Silver Lady pictured above came to be in my possession. The Silver Lady, which is what I named my particular example, was the first of what was to become a series of limited edition motorcycles by Ducati. The legend has it that Ayrton Senna, who was, in my opinion, the greatest Formula One driver there ever was, visited the factory in Bologna one day in 1994. He saw the first of the production 916 Stradas rolling off the assembly line, which were based on the Massimo Tamburini prototype shown in late 1993. He then asked the factory to make one for him, with some go faster goodies which were destined for the then un-released SP (Serie Produczione) race version. Well, one fateful afternoon a few weeks later in San Marino, meant that Ayrton Senna would never take delivery of his special 916.

That’s the legend.

The actual result of Ayrton Senna’s factory visit was that a run of 300 machines would be produced, to be named “Ducati 916 Senna”’s. Not very imaginative, but a portion of the proceeds of the sale would be directed to the Senna Foundation, which he set up to help the needy children in Brazil. The 916 Sennas, as they came to be known, featured carbon fiber everywhere, with a special paint scheme. Along with some other bits and bobs, and a little brass plate on the triple clamp which gave the production number.

Now, if you don’t ride motorcycles, there is something you have to understand about the 916. They are expensive. They are fragile. They aren’t particularly fast, compared to the equivalent Japanese machinery. They aren’t all that light. What they are, is lightning quick, and with handling no one in the world can hold a candle to. No one. Not even Agusta. Not Aprilia. No one. Ducatis are a level above everyone else when it comes to motorcycle handling. And they do it with components available to every other manufacturer. How do they do it? It’s a very special kind of magic. 916s are very physical bikes, and reward rider input in positive ways. This is not the bike for the faint of heart, or if your idea of riding is a cruise and avoiding attention from the boys in blue. Everything about this bike screams “Look at me!”

So, in 1995, Ducati released the Senna for sale, worldwide. Every country was allocated a specific quantity, with the lion’s share going to the United States and Europe. More Europe, because the number of Americans at the time who appreciated Ducatis were few, and I think I know most of them. This country was allocated 2 units. A further 4 units came in later, according to the then local distributor, when an agent in another country did not take up his allocation.

Which wasn’t all that surprising. Ducati was asking you to pay another US$3000, over and above the then US$20K plus price of the standard 916 Biposto. And both bikes used the same engine. Which meant you were really paying the money for a special paint scheme, and some carbon fiber bits, with no obvious performance advantage. Plus other bikes didn’t need to have the engine torn apart every 6000 kilometers to have the timing belts changed. That is not a typo, you read it right. Although the factory said every 12,000, or thereabouts, some owners found out the hard way that the early 916 timing belts were not the most reliable of things. Amongst a litany of other reliability issues.

So this particualr example came to be bought by someone I happen to know.  This person is not known locally for his sympathy with motorcycles, being somewhat of a wheelie merchant.  And Silver Lady was definitely set up for wheelies.  Which is how I bought her from the second owner, who had bought her from the afore mentioned wheelie merchant.  The second owner happened to be a friend, and colleague who worked in a different division, for a different company, under the same main contractor.

The company he worked for had decided not to renew his contract, and he called me one day, asking if I could do him a favour by helping him sell the 916 Senna, while he returned to Spain to sort some things out.  I shrugged my shoulders, and said O.K.  I went over to his place to pick her up,  She was tired and dusty.  She was, at the time, a litte over 7 years old, and she was still wearing her original rubber.  The mileage on the clock wasn’t even over 10,000 kilometers.  I scratched my head at this.  A bike this old should have shown at least 3 times this figure.

I rode her home.  I cleaned her up.  I took her to the shop to get some fresh rubber put on, and the engine serviced.  I spoke to some of the guys in the shop, since 916s were an unknown quantity to me at the time.  I took her out for a ride in the mountains the next day, to put in some canyon strafing time, and see what she was like, before putting an advert in the papers.

When I got home, after a morning’s hard run in the mountians, I texted my friend in Spain, telling him that the Silver Lady was sold.

• Posted in : On the road
• Author : thesnark

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