wooohooo as I reckon the C90 is one of the best all time bikes ever made I'll go with that, shame I can't do a leading link front axle conversion on mine ;) ;)

I think that this show tell you all you need to know

Well - in standard trim they steer slow, and feel like lard. Once they are lifted up a bit and the suspension firmed up they are awesome handling bikes - it's basically a 888 frame.

Brakes - they are good standard but with decent pads in them, like performance friction, they are simply AWESOME! :D

The engine is ok, torquey out of corners but it's still slow. Slow, slow, slow .... but with the good chassis setup, nice brakes etc you can still hustle them around in a respectable time.

Having ridden an old SS, a new SS, and two monsters on track this year I can honestly say they all handle completely differently! As far as I'm concerned my old SS handled the best (after I lashed out £500 on an ohlins), but this was mostly due to the increased rear ride height.

At 6'1" I find monsters with clipons to be a bit of a squash, so the longer SS seems to fit better. I also find it easier to get weight over the bars, which helps a great deal for front end feel.

Despite spending all weekend at Cadwell fiddling with the ohlins on the back of my new SS I couldn't get it to change direction anywhere near as quickly as my old bike. I think the whole bike needs lifting which'll mean thinner clipons above the yokes.

As far as comparing them to a 900, the key difference is the rear tyre profile. The 160 gives them a much more flickable nature that their bigger brothers (but not exactly rs250 flickable!), makes my 900SL feel like a bus. :o

Jools: You'll have to ride my SS when it's sorted. I think you'll find it errrr... lively!! :devil:

Cheers,

Ali

I rode a 675SS and 620ie Monster with clip-ons and rearsets back to back.

The SS benefitted from an Ohlins rear, measured fork oil and 60 profile front tyre while the Monster suspension was 2002 vintage, 4500 miles old and had a 70 profile front.

The riding position felt more natural on the SS (I'm only 5'8") but with a bit of work I reckon I could have got the Monster feeling the same. Mind you I'm not in Ali's league speed-wise ;)

As for the new SS, it was interesting that Geoff's 620S had an old-shape tank.....

(PS I have a number of interestingly shaped tanks available following a productive year falling off)

I think it's just like riding a bike, and after 3-4 laps on any bike it's all natural and you forget what you're on. The controls are all the same aren't they. Obviously some are faster and some handle differently.

If you rode 10 620 Sports, they'd probably all feel different.

I would think your new one should feel pretty good though ;)