The Story Behind The Ducati 916 And Its Impact On Modern Superbike Design

Summary

• The Ducati 916 is considered one of the most important motorcycles ever built and set the template for Ducati sports bikes.
• The 916 was a challenging bike to ride and was bred for racing, but its esthetics and fresh ideas made it legendary.
• The design of the 916 was influenced by the Ducati 851, the collaboration of engineers Massimo Bordi and Massimo Tamburini, and the Honda NR750.

The Ducati Monster M900, a Galluzi masterpiece, may have saved Ducati from going under, but one that set the pace for modern Ducati motorcycles was the venerable 916. It set the template for Ducati sports bikes that followed, and in many ways, the 916 may as well be the most important Ducati ever built.

The 916 wasn’t the most powerful or the lightest motorcycle of the time, and riding it was a pain in the butt — literally — as it was bred for race, not road use. But you’d be lying to yourself if you thought the 916 wasn’t gorgeous. The bike was born out of fresh ideas, a quest to compete with Japanese sports bikes, and two automotive geniuses, Massimo Bordi and Massimo Tamburini — both coincidentally sharing the same first name.

This legendary motorcycle went on to become the face of the 1990s sports bikes, influenced countless imitators, none of which ever came close, and became a cultural icon even outside the motorcycling world. It is hands down one of the most important motorcycles ever built.

To give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from Ducati and Honda, and other authoritative sources, including Motorcyclenews.com, Cycle News, San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts, and Motorcycle Specs.

The Birth Of The Ducati 916: 851 And Paso

Production Years: 1994 to 1998

The story starts way back with the Ducati 851, which featured Bordi’s new Desmoquattro engine. In 1985, Ducati was bought by Cagiva, and part of the bailout deal called for an immediate modernization of the brand’s fleet to compete with its Japanese rivals. Part of the move included updating the power trains, and much to Fabio Taglioni’s dissatisfaction, the Castiglioni brothers saw potential in Massimo Bordi’s college thesis — a four-valve Desmodromic L-twin.

Bordi’s Desmoquattro Engine

Before the 851, Ducati sports bikes used Fabio Taglioni’s bevel-driven Desmodromic L-twins, but they were falling out of fashion by the early 80s. And what do you know, Bordi, who was an engineer in Taglioni’s team, had already designed a four-valve Desmodromic cylinder head as a thesis project ten years prior for his college thesis. This construction was heavily influenced by the Cosworth F1 engine.

Bordi’s thesis came to realization in 1986 when Ducati used a prototype top-end built-up on Pantah cases in the Bol d’Or race. The prototype bike failed to finish, thanks to broken conrods, but Bordi still saw its potential in racing, especially considering that the European and American championships allowed a maximum of 1,000cc V-twin displacement.

The next time the four-valve engine was used in racing, it had an 851cc displacement and 115 horsepower on tap, and it was raced by Marco Lucchinelli at the 1987 Battle of the Twins, Daytona. He won the race, cementing Bordi’s four-valve engine as the next best thing for Ducati.

This led to the production of the 1987 Ducati 851. From 1987 to 1993, the 851 platform would bring some of the most legendary sports bikes ever, like the Tricolor, 851 SP1, 851 SP2, and 851 SPS. The bike was later upgraded to 888, which spawned the likes of 888 SPS, 888 SP4, and 888 SP5. When Bordi was entrusted to produce the engine for the 916, he reworked the engine to fit Tamburini’s vision.

Desmoquattro Transition from 851/888 to 916

• The stroke was increased by 66mm with 94mm pistons
• The pistons were mated to Pankl H-section conrods that were similar to those on the 888 SP
• The bike featured a Weber fuel injection system with 50mm throttle bodies and a ram air intake
• The bike featured Ducati’s first electronic fuel injection system

Ducati 916 Performance Specifications

(Specifications sourced from Ducati and Motorcycle Specs)

A Bold Move By Castiglioni Brothers

The 851 and 888 motorcycles were thoroughbred track weapons, but Castiglioni felt that the bikes were held back by their design. Despite an excellent performance, they looked like knock-off versions of their Japanese rivals. Here came the second move to modernize Ducati bikes — they made a bold move to hire Massimo Tamburini, who put the “ta” in Bimota.

Tamburini had already designed motorcycles for Cagiva and Ducati, with the Paso being his first Ducati motorcycle. The Ducati Paso was known for its sleek styling and perfectly balanced chassis, and it was about as modern as a bike could get at the time. It never got as popular as the 916, but the motorcycle helped Tamburini gain some insights into aerodynamics, design, and riding experience.

Achieving The Elusive 50-50 Weight Distribution

In 1990, Tamburini began designing the Ducati 916, which harnessed the 851 underpinnings and his lessons from the Paso. At first, the brand contemplated using a twin-spar or even an aluminum frame, but Bordi recommended that they stick to a tubular steel trellis, a Ducati trademark, and Tamburini agreed.

So, Tamburini picked a frame he had designed in 1981 for the Ducati TT2, but he had to rework the frame for road use and ensure it was long-lasting. It also had to be Ducati’s perfectly balanced chassis with the shortest-ever wheelbase. That’s a tall order already. The biggest challenge with the frame was fitting the L-twin Desmoquattro engine.

It was big, and its lower cylinder would push the front wheel away from the bike’s center of gravity (CG). And unlike the Paso, the 916 didn’t have the luxury of using the very outdated 16” wheels and tires that would’ve brought the front end closer to the bike’s CG. So, he took to the drawing room and set the wheelbase to 55.5 inches, and worked his way to figure out how to fit the engine in that frame without compromising the wheelbase or steering dynamics.

Chassis Updates For The Ducati 916

• The engine was rotated 3-degrees downward
• An extreme front-end geometry was used with a 23.5-degree rake that would reduce the horizontal wheel recession under full fork compression
• The battery was set aside in the front cylinder to bring the weight distribution closer to 50-50
• To avert twitchy throttle response due to the short wheelbase, the triple clamp was offset by 30mm for a 92.3mm trail
• The chassis was paired with a compact tank that would naturally put the rider’s weight on the front

As a result, the Ducati 916 had a wheelbase 20mm shorter than that of the 888 and had the perfect weight distribution of 50-50.

Chassis And Dimensions Specifications

(Specifications sourced from Ducati, Motorcycle News, and Motorcycle Specs)

Fairings Designed By The Wind And Rain With A Touch Of Honda

The Ducati 916’s design is all about its fairings, but where do we begin? The 916 is perhaps the sexiest motorcycle ever built, with MV Agusta F4 giving it a run for its horsepower. Well, we’ll begin with the fairing aerodynamics.

Fairing Aerodynamics

Tamburini was obsessive about the fairing design, like a mad scientist working on his next invention. And the results paid off. During the four years of development, Tamburini worked on and tested at least three 916 prototypes with a jeweler’s lupe precision and attention to detail.

Obviously, a sports bike has fairings so that it can cut through air efficiently, and since the 916 was slated to take Japanese motorcycles head-on without having similar power figures on tap, aerodynamics was key. And to test it out, Tamburini once rode a prototype motorcycle in pouring rain.

After an hour, he returned, completely drenched, and sharply ordered his team to leave the motorcycle untouched until it had dried completely. Then, he closely studied the streaming marks left by the rain on the body panels to look for any unwanted turbulence. There’s no replacement for nature, is there? Caroll Shelby and Ken Miles would agree as they used yarn to test the aerodynamics of their GT40 prototypes.

The NR750 Influence

As original as the Ducati 916 was at the time, Tamburini freely admitted that he took a lot of inspiration from the Honda NR750, which was showcased at the EICMA Show in 1992. He was so awestruck by the NR750 that he tossed the first 916 design and went back to the drawing board.

The 916 borrowed many design cues from the Honda NR750, the most prominent of which was the single-sided swingarm. The decision to go with such a swingarm was to facilitate quick wheel changes during endurance races. Unfortunately, Honda held the patent for the single-sided swingarm, so Tamburini and Bordi had to work through the legal maze to design it for the 916. And remember, there was no CAD at the time, so it was designed with a slide rule and a pencil!

• Fun Fact: The cast aluminum single-sided swingarm was paired with a pushrod suspension linkage with spherical bearings, which was created by Claudio Domenicali, the current CEO of Ducati.

The second most prominent feature that the 916 borrowed from the NR750 was the under-seat exhaust. Until Tamburini saw the NR750 at EICMA, he was experimenting with side-mounted exhausts that were similar to those on the 888, but the under-seat mufflers clicked better. They didn’t interfere with the design and the riding experience.

Finally, the 916 borrowed the twin squinty headlights from the NR750, and according to Tamburini, designing the headlights was the most difficult part of the design process. He wanted the lights to make an artistic impression on the onlooker, and his design team had to work on countless iterations before the final design was approved.

Massimo Tamburini

It was such a struggle! I went to a company and asked them to design the lights, but they said it was impossible. I kept hammering on at them, and by the end, they were so sick of me that they agreed to do it as long as I stopped bothering them.

The Feminine Shape Of The 916

Fairings sculpted by rain and wind, polished by Tamburini’s genius, and inspired by the NRy750 — the Ducati 916 was ready, and it was a ravishing motorcycle to behold. It had a swooping and curving esthetic, unlike the boxy and edgy Japanese sports bikes. According to Tamburini, the 916 resembles the form of a lady when viewed from above.

Massimo Tamburini

I decided not to follow the same route as the Japanese at the time. They had big motors and big bikes; I wanted a classical Italian bike — little, compact, easy to ride fast, and sexy. The 916 has the form of a lady when viewed from above — this is no coincidence — when you are sitting on the bike the best way to sit on it is like being on a woman.

While the statement may have aged like milk, the 916 design has aged like the finest wine right out of Jesus’ hand. At the time of its launch, most publishers called it the prettiest motorcycle out there. And in 2014, the 916 was awarded the Most Beautiful Bike of the Last 50 Years by Motorcycle News Magazine, 2014.

Ducati 916 Model History

• 1994 Ducati 916 Strada
• 1994 Ducati 916 SP
• 1995 Ducati 916 Biposto
• 1996 Ducati 916 Senna I
• 1996 Ducati 955 SP
• 1997 Ducati 916 Sena II
• 1998 Ducati 916 Foggy Replica

The Ducati 916 Legacy And Cultural Impact

The Ducati 916 was unlike anything you could buy at the time. It was fast, easy to ride, immensely agile, and precise, and while it wasn’t as powerful as its Japanese rivals, it was a breath of fresh air that feels fresh even today. It handled so well and looked so sexy, the Desmoquattro engine didn’t need to produce the most horsepower.

The Ducati 916 was perfect then, and it is perfect now, and it has only gotten better with age. This wasn’t just another red Duc, it was a breakthrough motorcycle that stands as a symbol of mechanical art, transcending boundaries and cultures.

Heck, it even became a fashion icon and was the latest thing to be on in the celebrity world. Everyone from Ayrton Senna (who even got a 916 named after him) to Ewan McGregor had a 916, and others wanted to pose with it. It was even featured in movies like The Matrix Reloaded (Ducati 996), No Way Back, and Speed 2: Cruise Control. And it was critically acclaimed in the art world, too. In 1998, the motorcycle was featured at The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, NY, and it is still on display at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.

Weirdly, the Ducati 999 may not have been so criticized if it didn’t follow the 916. It was a better bike to ride in every regard and was an arguably pretty motorcycle, but it could never live up to the 916 hype.