A still-crated and unused Ducati 996 SPS is up for auction

Still-crated bikes landing on auction sites are not a rarity. Still-crated examples of one of Ducati’s most groundbreaking 1990s era sports bikes, are a rarity!

And that is what we have here, a genuine time-warp example of the Ducati 996 SPS. The bike rolled off the production line in 1999, and has seemingly never seen the light of day since being sealed in its transportation crate. That crate has now been cracked open, though, and the owner of the bike, a dealer in Italy, is offering it up for sale on the Bring a Trailer website.

With just two kilometres recorded on the odometer, the bike is in true factory-fresh condition, and it quite possibly represents one of the best examples of the game-changing 996 that money can buy.

Equipped with a 996cc desmodromic L-twin engine, the 996 built on the legacy of the 916, and delivered a heady (for the time) 125bhp. It came in four flavours: the base bike, a Biposto (twin-seat), an S version (which featured Ohlins suspension), and the most prized of the family, the SPS, which stood for Sport Production Special. The SPS was lighter than the stock bike, more powerful, and featured the exclusive 17-inch Marchesini wheels and carbon fibre parts.

Included with the sale are the spares and tools the bike would have come from the factory with, as well as a Ducati bike cover, and the original bill of sale. The SPS was only officially available to European customers, and this bike was originally sold in Sweden, before being sold to a dealership in Italy in 2024. And it is there where it has remained to this day, still sealed in its factory crate.

The listing for the bike shows bids up to $20,996 (around £15,500) on it, but if you want to bid you’ll need to be quick, as the auction ends in just three days.

You can check out the listing for yourself on the BaT website.

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