Haha, you have me disarmed, sir!
Yes, but to be fair Tamburini is a league of his own when it comes to designing beautiful bikes. Totally agree nothing holds a candle to the 916 -> 998 for looks. The 1*98 is a little too "derivative" for me, and although undoubtedly pretty it just looks....bigger.
The 749/999 gives me the shits in road trim too, but it's mostly just little stuff that has me grinding my teeth: that perfectly practical but horrible looking in-built tank pad completely ruins the line of the tank, the early cast swing arm and grey frame do nothing for it, likewise the wings/deflectors, the ugly exhaust can that looks like it's hammered together out of old rubbish bins.
But in race trim? A red frame bike with the tough looking black fabricated swingarm, lose the deflectors, lose the tank pad (gonna need another tank or do some work to remove the indent...grinding teeth again!), a decent exhaust and you've got something that looks much better.
And the deep sump Testastretta engine has an allure all it's own. Valve clearances on my desmoquattro 851/926 is like key-hole surgery, compared to sitting down to Christmas dinner doing the same on my 749R: pull the lid and everything is laid out in front of you. And no more half-rings made out of old paperclips, "proper"collets -> "Hallelujah!", haha.
I'm thinking Mr Chili with his 998.5 had the right idea....
Edit: apologies for the thread diversion. I do actually have a 998RS coolant tank for the 749R (the 998RS tank is also correct fitment for a 749/999RS) but the faffing around to relocate my triple clamp mounted brake/clutch reservoirs (and resulting holes) and replacing/modfying the throttle cables sees it still sitting on the shelf.
Of course the solution is painfully obvious.....
....start another project on which to use it.