916 vs 749

[kaos]

Fwiw the question is will I be disappointed in a 916 bikes ergos and handling after owning a 749?
Likely yes,most reviews raved about how much the xx9 was improved over the 9xx. Sure the 916 is a classic,but that's not the point .nobody calls the 749 a torture rack,most would agree a stock xx9 out handles the 9xx.and most would prefer the dependability and service ease of the newer .
Also of note is my bike makes me smile every time I go in my garage as well

[deluxe68]

Originally Posted by kaos

Fwiw the question is will I be disappointed in a 916 bikes ergos and handling after owning a 749?
Likely yes,most reviews raved about how much the xx9 was improved over the 9xx. Sure the 916 is a classic,but that's not the point .nobody calls the 749 a torture rack,most would agree a stock xx9 out handles the 9xx.and most would prefer the dependability and service ease of the newer .
Also of note is my bike makes me smile every time I go in my garage as well

There are great deals out there on 1098/1198's. I have talked to several 1198 owners who could not get the bike to fit them, one guy traded in his bike for a 2007 999S PU. I sat on the 916 at the dealership and although the PO put bar risers on it he did not change the bar angle. That seems like an easy fix. I may just wait for a 999S/R to pop up or see what happens to 848 prices when the 1199 hits the dealers.

[blackreplica]

I guess I might start to offend some of the 749/999 lovers on this board by echoing the sentiment that others have already offered.

If performance (?) is what you're after (and maybe a little more reliability), you should go for the 749/999 generation bikes

For everything else, especially aesthetics. I can't see a reasonable reason to take the xx9 series over a 916, unless you are one of the minority which finds the 749/999 more attractive (not many of them, but they do exist)

The 916 is not so old and outdated that you can't source for parts later on. They are everywhere, as long as you didn't total your bike

It just comes down to price, and I'm not local to you, so I can't offer much in the way of pricing advice.

All i can tell you is that I have seen a 999 in excellent-looking condition advertised in my country for 20% less than my 996 SPS buying price (with my bike being 2 years older). My bike sold in no time at all. The 999 has been languishing for months and no one will even bother looking at it. Resale values on the 749/999 in my country are abysmal, whereas 916/996/998s appear and are sold in no time at all. We had a big ducati meetup too and there were about 25 of us, 748s...916s..996s...tons of streetfighters/1098s/848s/1198s...but not a single 749/999. There is a lot of love on this forum for the 749/999 and i can definitely relate to the reasoning...but I know which choice I would (and did) make. I'm not saying mine is right, but you should know what you think is what you want before you make a decision

[Beer Baron]

for sure no matter where you are it's always going to be easier to seel a nice 916/996/998 over a 999/749 UNLESS it's an R model. the 999R are still quite sought after but the 'regular' XX9 models are just not popular. never have been. hence why they scrapped it after a short life span and went back to a bike that was a modern interpretation of the old 916. and they've kept that desgin going even with the new 1199.

as for the 916 comfort factor? you said you have a comfy bike for day to day duties and this is a weekend bike. in that case I think you'll have fun on the 916. they are by no means un-rideable (I regulary ride my to work including peak hour traffic). some bar risers can make a huge difference in wrist pressure if it bothers you.

my advice is go ride one and find out for yourself. my feeling is the 916 (providing it's in good working order) won't be giving much away to a 749 on your average weekend ride. round a track might be different but that's not what we're talking about.