This £1,800 ‘Ducati 996’ is Actually a Honda

At a very quick glance, the bike seen on this page might look like a Ducati 996. However, you don’t need to be a die-hard Ducatisti to notice on closer inspection that a few things are…off.

The frame definitely isn’t of the trellis variety, and on the drive side, although there’s a chain guard, it’s, erm, not guarding a chain. The rear has been dressed up to hide the fact you’re looking at a shaft-driven motorcycle. 

What you’re actually looking at is a Honda NTV600 Revere-based 996 replica we stumbled across on eBay. It’s up for £1,795, and is listed as “spares or repair none [sic] runner,” although the engine is said to turn over in gear.

There’s no number plate on the bike and the listing doesn’t state what year the bike was registered, although it is at least noted that it’s a G-reg, which would make it from either 1989 or 1990. The V5 is present, but there’s no mention of any service history or any documentation regarding the curious Italian makeover. 

What’s particularly perplexing is how much effort has gone into hiding the bike’s more humble origins. According to the listing, it features proper Ducati fairings along with a Ducati seat unit, exhaust, tank, gauge cluster and even a new front end with an upside-down fork (the NTV 600 doesn’t have a USD fork as standard) - although those front forks are definitely not from a Ducati 916/996.

Although an NTV does, at least have a V-twin (with a 52-degree bank angle rather than the famed 90-degree ‘L’ arrangement used by Ducati), it’s not exactly a bike that’ll get your pulse racing.

With that in mind, it’s a little perplexing to see someone go to this much effort and presumably expense to disguise the Honda as something it isn’t, particularly when you can bag a half-decent 748 for as little as £5,000, while a full-fat 916 or 996 isn’t drastically more. You’d have to be really keen to avoid paying for belt/valve clearance services…

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