Scottie Jay,
i'm not sure any of us are getting the straight scoop on allocations. my buddy and i both ordered base models back in early october. (#1 and 2) at martin eurosports. my buddy's base model arrived about three weeks ago. a week later my salesman, Kevin, (a great guy who strikes me as a straight shooter), called me. when i saw the incoming call I figured my base was in. It wasn't, but Kevin told me he had an "extra" "S" and asked me if i wanted to upgrade. I did. But i was curious, how was it he had an extra "S"? Kevin told me that at the 1098 unveiling party they took a bunch of orders for '08s, and submitted those orders to ducati. per Kevin, ducati then filled one of these orders almost immediately with an '07 1098S! Since the buyer who had ordered the '08 "S" was not yet ready to take delivery, Kevin offered it to me.
Ducati filled an order for an '08 "S" w/ an extra '07 "S"? If this were Honda or GM, I'd say, "no way! doesn't make sense!" but we're dealing w/ ducati. I'm not at all confident that they're as organized as other manufacturers when it comes to this whole allocation thing. Ducati is clearly filling existing orders. but now, "extra" bikes are starting to pop up. canceled orders? certainly some. extra production? who knows? my sense is that the dealerships don't know exactly how many '07 bikes they'll get.
I wouldn't be surprised if lots of people who originally ordered an '08 are subsequently offered a previously unavailable '07. If Ducati can build them now, they will. We'll see.
Elton