Well, I have collected the new bike and done a quick 75 miles or so to see how things went.
Overall I guess I'm reasonably happy with it. On a very close inspection there's probably a little more wear and tear than I expected from the advertisement.
Mentioned were some scrapes on the exhaust and right lever/mirror. However, when looking closely you can see that all the right hand fairing panels have been resprayed (the dirty rubbing water left in cracks and recesses was a give away). This is not such a huge issue, except that the painter did a bit of a crap job on the top panel and it is full of pin holes. There are also scrapes on the Marchesini rim that weren't noted.
When you buy something on eBay you have to expect stuff like this - for the price I paid and a bike with less than 5,000 miles on the clock, I'm still pretty happy with my purchase.
Strangely enough I'm not over the moon and hyper excited though. I've wanted a 900ss for a long time now, but looking at my 750ss sitting there I kind of feel sad to see it go soon. (it's been emotional)
Compared to my 1999 750ss I've noted the following:
- the clutch seems a lot lighter.
- the bike turns in better (Marchesini wheels or am I kidding myself?)
- the bike doesn't have as much "go" down low. (750ss does have 14t front sprocket though)
- 900ss has much more top end. Accelerating from 90mph to 120mph with ease. 750ss really started to struggle above 100mph.
- strangely the 900ss seems to have a lower ride height than the 750ss. As I still have both bikes I'm going to try some more comparisons on this.
- the bars seem lower on the 900ss
- the instrument panel seems further away and the bike feels longer in general
- with that OEM cans on the 900ss, I find it really hard to judge how fast I am going and which gear I am in. Just shows how much I have come to rely on the sound of the carbon SIL cans on the 750ss to suit my riding.
More pictures here -
http://www.kapitalworks.co.uk/desmodue/900ss/05-05/ P.S. The better half went ballistic because I hadn't told her I was buying a new bike. It's going to cost me pretty to get back in her good books. Maybe this wasn't such a bargain after all.......
[Edited on 5-5-2005 by phillc]