Performance by Jim Gianatsis
Ducati 748/916/955/996 and Monsters
Ducati offers the ultimate sportbike in more ways then one. The Ducati brand has won more World Superbike Championships than any other manufacturer, with Ducati's current production based 916/955/996 variant having won more World Superbike Championships than any other model of sportbike. And today it still remains one of the most competive winning racebikes since its introdution some 7 years ago. And Ducati is the only sportbike manufacturer to offers to the public a complete catalog of all the factory performance parts and upgrades need to turn your bike into the ultimate canyon blaster or National Championship race winner. No other sportbike manufacturer can make this claim.

All the parts you need to up grade the performance of your 916/955/996 and Monster are contained in the Ducati Performance Superbike Accessories and Kit Catalog, avaialble from your Ducari dealer for $6 or download it online at the Ducati.com website. You'll find everything in their catalog from engine performance parts including piston and cam kits, to slip-on race silencers and complete racing exhaust system with matching E-prom computer chips, to magnesium racing wheels, carbon fiber body components, amd racing brakes. I do not not recommend running other aftermarket brand products on your Ducati, both because they probably won't perform as well and because it will lessen the estetic value of such a purist's machine. The few exceptions to this rule might include the rear shoche brake calipers/rotors where there are highly competitive options available.

My own personal favorite sportbike bike has been a first year '94 base model Ducati 916 Strada which I quickly modified and upgraded with the help of my friends including Ederaldo Farracci at Fast by Ferracci on the East Coast, and at Pro Italia here in Los Angeles where I live. It soon exceeded SP specifications and for the past 6 years has served as my Sunday morning excape from reality on the twisty canyon roads up through the Manta Monica Mountains to the Rock Store and back. It has more power than I can ever put to use on the tight canyons, but I burned out on the Southern California racetracks back in the '80s. As of this writing I am awaiting the delivery next month of my new 2001 model limited edition 996R Testa Stretta.This new homologation special in stock form won't force my cherished 916 into retirement, but it's the starting platform for s current Factory Team Corse Superbike with the help of the 996RS Parts Book.

Where to make changes? Or how to improve upon perfection? This depends on your riding skill level and where you feel your Ducati needs to be improved. And the size of your wallet since Ducati parts, like the bikes, aren't cheap. For half the Ducati streetbike riders I talk to the stock bike already exceeds their riding ability or needs, and a few carbon fiber body parts or a slip-on silencer kit is all they need to personalize their bike. Two Books you need: • Ducati 4-Valve V-Twins availabe from our Book Store Covers the history and design of the 916-996 Production and race models.

Start with the Suspension
My first year 1994 model 916 came with Showa suspension. And quite susprisingly the front forks worked beautifully after fine tuning the adjustable damping and preload settings. Pay a visit to our Suspension Tuning page to see how it's done.

The rear shock was another matter. I've never met a Japanese production based rear shock I've ever liked, or that could be adjusted or modified to work well. They handle like shit and Ducati only puts them there to hold up the back end of their base model bikes during shipping to the dealer. It's now up to you to bite the bullet and spend the bucks it takes to get a good Ohlins shock as found as original equipment on the higher priced Ducati models, or another brand shock from one of the highly respected racing shock companies like Fox Racing, White Power or Penske.

Does it Stop?
When I first began riding my early '94 model 916 Strada hard on the mountain canyon roads around Los Angeles I quickly began feeling the front brakes fading and requiring a 4-finger death grip to keep the bike from catapulting off into an abyss. The culprit was the high chrome content in the stock front brake rotors used to prevent unslightly rust on pretty street bikes. Unfortunately this high Cr content has a poor coefficient of friction and does not provide the best stopping power and fade resistance. I made the switch to the Braking brand of brake steel floating brake rotors and found a great improvement in stopping power. Ducati now offers similar high steel content beake rotors in their Performance Accessories Catalog.

Just so you know, the higher performance 916 SP (Sport Production) model introduced in 1995 and the later 996 SPS models come standard with cast iron full floating front brake rotors.

Engine Performance
Now, when it comes time to consider improving engine performance you need to plan ahead. If you only want a small power improvement with the racey good looks of an Aluminum, Carbon Fiber or Titanium Silencer and the sound that comes with it, then just get one of the Ducati Performance bolt-on kits. The kits come complete with remaped computer EPRPM chips to richen up the fuel injection as needed.

However, if you know you'll be wanting more power now, or sometime down the road with a set of Ducati higher compression pistons and maybe a cam kit, then go for the full race Termignoni Exhaust System from the Performance Catalog. It will set you back about $1,500. But it's worth it both in the weight savings, the potential for additional engine modifications, and the addaded value of upgrading your base 916 or 996 model towards "SP" and "SPS" model specifications.

On my bike I opted for the higher compression race piston kit and cams, and the EPROM chip was remapped at Pro Italia to match. So now it's pumpin' out around 140 hp @ 11,000 rpm, up from the stock 109 at 9,000. It still runs on pump gas and has a better powerband than any Oriental inline 4, but there was a tradeoff. Where before I'd just short shift the bike and never have rev it over 7,000 -all that bottom end torque was fantastic in the tight canyons1 The modified motor has lost some of that beautiful low end grunt and does needs to be shifted a little more often (but it still pulls a lot better than an R1 Yamaha). But now, come 7 grand and it's on the pipe and putting out way more power than anyone can handle on a public road. I can't use all that power off a race track, but it's fun to know it's there. So that's the choice you'll have to make when it comes to modifying the engine. A pipe is all you really need for the street.