In the final results of the 1992 'Superbike World Championships', Doug Polen is again world champion after 1991, his teammate Raymond Roche is again 2nd. The '888' has peaked across the board, but the competition is getting tougher. Ducati must continue to develop to stay ahead of the Japanese with their stronger four-cylinder. Cost saving is a reason to replace the beautiful, but expensive to build, straight-tube welded truss frame of the 'Ducati 851' series for a frame in which curved tubes occur. This new frame is used on both the '851 Strada' and the '888 SP' series. The appearance of the motorcycle has been changed by the South African designer Pierre Terblanche. The new bodywork (fairing) design should modernize the '851' design. There are three different models of the 'Desmoquattro' Ducati in 1992. An '851 Strada', an '888 SP4' and the rare '888 SPS'. (Production total: nb ). The liquid-cooled engine has a capacity of 851 CC. Furthermore, the four-stroke V-Twin Cylinder DOHC Desmodronic engine is equipped with four valves per cylinder. The power of 110 HP (80.9 kW) is delivered at 9,600 rpm. The torque is set at 70.6 Nm at 7,000 rpm. The engine had a dry weight of 199 Kg and (before that time) already achieved a top speed of approximately 240 Km/hour. The transmission takes place via a 6-speed gearbox that drives the rear wheel via a chain. For the rest, the bike is equipped with the Showa Upside-Down front fork, which has been widely used by Ducati since the early 1990s, and a double disc brake at the front and a single disc brake at the rear. Transition model: As the 851 is at the end of its development, the transition to the 888 is slowly being initiated. As mentioned, the 888 Strada was still under development at that time, but an interim solution was found by already using the new streamline developed by Pierre Terblanche for the 888 series! This resulted in this "transitional" model, which is characterized by a silver-grey frame in combination with silver-grey wheels. All this already provided with the external features that became a fact a year later on the 888 Strada. Where the technology (including engine block) still stems from the existing 851 series, the rest has already been adapted to the 888 style. As a result, the engine block, contrary to what the inscriptions state, is "just" an 851 cc "Strada" engine. The engine is in almost the original condition in which the engine was delivered at the time, with a previous owner only replacing the standard exhausts with more aesthetic Carbon ones. If the Ducati 851 is usually an enrichment of your collection, then this version should not be missing. It is not possible to indicate exactly in numbers, but it is certain that a very limited number of copies of this transitional model were produced. Shortly after, the 888 Strada became available and the delivery was already over. Runs, but cannot be started due to belts. Please refer to the general auction information for more information.