This is an original Ducati MH900e from 2001, the first year of production. It has just 863 miles on the clock since new, and it’s #93 of the 2,000 examples that were part of the limited production run.
The MH900e has been called one of the most beautiful motorcycles of its time, and perhaps as a testament to that, many of them were bought and put on display – having either never been ridden or having been ridden remarkably sparingly – like the example you see here.
This is an original Ducati MH900e from 2001, the first year of production. It has just 863 miles on the clock since new, and it’s #93 of the 2,000 examples that were part of the limited production run.
History Speedrun: The Ducati MH900e
The Ducati MH900e was a limited-production sports bike with decidedly retro design cues built by Ducati in 2001 and 2002, with a run of 2,000. It was designed by legendary motorcycle stylist Pierre Terblanche as an homage to the motorcycle Mike Hailwood rode to win the 1978 Isle of Man TT.
The MH in the name stands for Hailwood’s initials, and the “e” for evoluzione. It also holds a unique distinction in that it was the first motorcycle ever offered for sale by a major manufacturer exclusively on the internet, with orders opening at one minute past midnight on January the 1st, 2000.
The Iconic Hailwood Comeback
The story behind the MH900e really begins on the Isle of Man all the way back in June of 1978. Mike Hailwood, a 9-time world champ, had retired from Grand Prix motorcycle racing in 1967 and pursued a Formula 1 car career that ended when he shattered an ankle in a crash at the Pflanzgarten section of the Nürburgring during the 1974 German Grand Prix.
11 years after his last TT, he returned aboard a Ducati 900 V-twin prepared by Steve Wynne’s Sports Motorcycles operation, having agreed to the ride for a fee of £1,000. Few gave him a chance against the factory Japanese teams and the much younger assortment of new riders.
His standing-start opening lap averaged 109.87 mph, his fastest TT lap up to that point in history, and later in the race he lapped at 110.63 mph to set the Formula One class lap record. When Phil Read’s Honda broke on the fifth lap, Hailwood won the Formula 1 race. Ducati, in financial trouble at the time, capitalized with the 900 Mike Hailwood Replica from 1979, a model that stayed in production through 1986.
The MH900e has been called one of the most beautiful motorcycles of its time, and perhaps as a testament to that, many of them were bought and put on display – having either never been ridden or having been ridden remarkably sparingly – like the example you see here.
From A Sketch To A Show Bike
Twenty years after Hailwood schooled that group of younger riders around the Isle of Man, Terblanche was Ducati’s chief designer, and the MH900e began as his own personal passion project. He was four months into designing the 999 when management asked for a show bike on a deadline of three and a half months, and he agreed on the condition that no one else at Ducati would be involved in the design process.
His favorite Ducatis were the original MHR and the 600 TT2, and elements of both went into the MH900e. The design was presented to the public at the Intermot show in Munich in September of 1998, and Ducati posted a questionnaire on its website to gauge interest. The response quickly convinced CEO Federico Minoli and general manager Massimo Bordi to put the bike into limited production, and Ducati ultimately approved a total hand-built run of 2,000 bikes.
The show bike carried some unusual and rather unique design ideas, the prototype’s rear indicators were housed inside the muffler ends, and a rear-view camera and display replaced the mirrors. Neither feature made production, but the rest of the bike stayed remarkably close to the original Terblanche sketch.
Sold Out – In 31 Minutes
Ducati made a consequential decision before release – the bike would be sold directly to customers, online only, with no dealer allocation whatsoever. It infuriated the dealers, but it would the first step in a process that automakers like Tesla would later copy – selling direct to consumers with no dealership middlemen.
The Ducati website opened for orders on January the 1st, 2000 at 00:01 GMT at a price of €15,000. The first 1,000 units sold out in 31 minutes, the remainder sold over the following weeks – buyers came from 20 countries, with 39% in Japan and about 30% each in Europe and the United States.
The timing added a layer of risk that seems almost comical now, the order window opened at the exact moment the world was watching to see whether the Y2K bug would take down global computer systems and potentially crash the world economy, sending us all back into the Stone Age. That didn’t happen, which seems almost a shame when we look back on it now.
Behind the half fairing sat a single white-face Veglia analog tachometer with a digital speedometer beneath it. Each bike carried a numbered plaque.
Production hit a snag almost immediately, the assembly had been contracted to Bimota with a planned start in the summer of 2000, but the small company’s collapse forced Ducati to bring the work in-house. The bikes were hand-built in a corner of the Bologna factory at a rate of four or five a day, with the late start pushing production into 2001 and 2002.
Ducati MH900e: Engineering + Design
Mechanically, the MH900e drew extensively from the existing Ducati parts bin. It used the 904cc desmodromic single-overhead-cam V-twin from the then-current 900SS, an engine also found in the M900 Monster, along with the Monster’s 6-speed transmission.
Desmodromic valve gear closes the valves mechanically rather than with springs, a Ducati hallmark since 1956 in racing and since the late 1960s on production motorcycles. The air/oil-cooled, fuel-injected twin produced a claimed 74 bhp at 8,000 rpm and 56 lb ft of torque at 6,500 rpm, with a 9.2:1 compression ratio and a dry weight of 410 lbs. The restrictive exhaust cost it a few horsepower relative to the 900SS, and many owners have completed exhaust upgrades in the years since to free up a few extra ponies.
A classic Ducati steel trellis frame carried the bodywork high above the exposed engine, and out back sat a single-sided swingarm made from steel tube in a trellis pattern, an unusual choice when cast aluminum units had been available since the 916 arrived in 1994.
Suspension was a 43mm inverted Showa fork and an adjustable Paioli monoshock, with dual 320mm Brembo discs up front. The spokes of the cast wheels matched the cross-section of the Campagnolo magnesium wheels on Hailwood’s racer, and the large finned aluminum sump imitating the old bevel-drive engines was a dummy housing for electrical components. Behind the half fairing sat a single white-face Veglia analog tachometer with a digital speedometer beneath it. Each bike carried a numbered plaque.
The Public (And Media) Reception
Period testers found more substance to the MH900e than many of them expected, Cycle World noted that the 23.3º steering head angle and 55.7 inch wheelbase were far more radical than anything Hailwood ever rode, and road tests generally came away surprised at how good the handling, steering, and braking were, though the seat height challenged shorter riders and the committed riding position limited comfort, particularly on longer rides.
Period testers found more substance to the MH900e than many of them expected, Cycle World noted that the 23.3º steering head angle and 55.7 inch wheelbase were far more radical than anything Hailwood ever rode, and road tests generally came away surprised at how good the handling, steering, and braking were.
In some respects, the MH900e’s legacy is the Ducati SportClassic family of 2006 to 2010, which followed its retro design ethos. Many were bought as investments and never ridden, 0-mile bikes surface regularly, and one still sealed in its factory crate sold for $45,000 in 2022.
The Ducati MH900e Shown Here
This is a 2001 Ducati MH900e, it’s number 93 of the 2,000 examples delivered worldwide, and it was first registered in October of 2001.
The bike is finished in the standard MH900e livery of Ducati Red with silver accents and a black seat pad, it keeps the model’s factory specification throughout, including the 904cc air-cooled desmodromic V-twin producing 74 bhp and 56 lb ft of torque, 6-speed transmission, 43mm inverted fork, fully adjustable Sachs rear shock, single-sided steel-tube swingarm, and Brembo brakes with twin 320mm front discs and a 220mm rear.
The seller reports that the bike had spent several years in storage before being comprehensively recommissioned in 2024 at an indicated 690 kms. That work included an engine oil and filter service, cambelt replacement, brake fluid change, new brake lines, a new fuel pump, new batteries, air filter, and a fresh set of tires. A high-quality period aftermarket exhaust silencer has been fitted, and the original piece accompanies the sale.
The bike is finished in the standard MH900e livery of Ducati Red with silver accents and a black seat pad, it keeps the model’s factory specification throughout, including the 904cc air-cooled desmodromic V-twin producing 74 bhp and 56 lb ft of torque, 6-speed transmission, 43mm inverted fork, fully adjustable Sachs rear shock, single-sided steel-tube swingarm, and Brembo brakes with twin 320mm front discs and a 220mm rear.
The bike comes with an extensive collection of accompanying items – the original 2001 paperwork, factory tool kit, paddock stand, numbered plaque in its presentation case, Ducati T-shirt, all service books and manuals, two keys, two covers, original Ducati service manuals, and a full set of original Ducati service parts.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Hexham in the United Kingdom and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
