Can a 900SS take it?
 

I'm thinking of purchasing my first Ducati a 1992 900SS.
I'll service it, warm it up before thrashing it etc. Will it be able to stand up to regular full on caneing. I buy bikes to use rather than polish. I'll often do a whole tank of petrol in one go on my favourite roads pushing nearly as hard as when I'm on a track day.
I know it's not as fast as some of the other bikes I've had/have (R6, ZX12R, etc) but I will want to sample what it really can do. Suzuki's are the only bikes I've really had reliabilty issues with in the past and the occasional Yamaha has let go.
If these bikes are for pose value only can you advise which Dukes are upto the type of riding I'm likley to do.
A couple of mates have destroyed 748's and 996's but they don't give machinery any respect and are total abusers. In fact the only bikes that seem to hold together with them are Fireblades, Bandit 1200's and ZX7's.
So can the 900 take 30minute plus track abuse and wheelies if it has too?

I haave a mate that has a slightly later 900SS a 1995 model, he has had it for 7 years. He rides the wheels of it, hoists some stonking wheelies and baits owners of R1s etc on the local country roads.
Not sure if the 92 model has many differences to the later 95 model, other than knowing that Cylinder head studs were replaced at some point in the models history.

92 900 has some frame and swingarm issues I think. Wheelies are probably asking for trouble for both the frame and the steering head. Swingarm should be checked for cracking regularly. Make sure your cam belts are up to snuff. Otherwise, I would think you can really beat it silly.

Why go back as far as '92? For around £2k you should be able to get one of the last carb SS models (OK maybe not an FE) or early injection models. There's a lot of these bikes in the club, many of which get used on the track quite a bit.


[Edited on 13-7-2005 by phillc]

Unlike most other bike's Ducati's actually LIKE to be used-the harder the better. It's an engine designed for racing so use it. It's the people who just polish their pride and joy and then ride 25 miles to a pub on sunny sundays who have problems. My ST4S has done 25,000 miles now with quite a large portion of that mileage being done on long trips with 4-600 mile days. So far, 1 new clutch (at 18,000 service) and no new rockers-lots of tyres though.............

John

My 900SL has run back-to-back track days sessions on several days, running for 6x40 mins solid with an oil temp of 150 degsC. I also tend to ring its neck when out on the road, but it's difficult to put a bike through the same abuse it receives on track. Like MDB says, keep an eye on the frame around the headstock and the swingarm shock mount and you'll be fine.

My bro and I also used to ride 900SSs for a few years, his spent most of its life on the back wheel and never suffered. Again, keep an eye on head bearings, but the rest should be fine.

Like all bikes, the reliability of the bike is completely dependent on you treating it right. If I take my bike on track and its 32 degsC air temp, and I wring the nuts off it for seven sessions, then I'm pretty likely to change the oil before doing so again.

Personally I wouldn't have anything else, I love the 2v 900 engine. :D

Cheers,

Ali

Amen....

My SL is used almost exclusively on the track these days. Just about all I could ask for is another 10-15 hp...:devil:

Darren

Remember that the Battle of the Twins Ducatis were 900SS engines - a lot of them in 851 frames mind - but those engines were raced hard to keep up with the japcrap.
If you want them to rev out more you will need a smaller flywheel, but then you lose the midrange grunt.

I remember! I came within a gnat's chuff of buying that little black lovely you ended up with. I love my SL, but that's a special bike and I was a fool not to have snapped it up! Ahhh, hindsight.....

My current dream bike would be a 1000ie engine (big bored to 1082 by Sigma, Testarossa heads, slightly lightened flywheel, FCR41s - about 106bhp) in an 888 chassis (Mag marchis, brembo billets + master/cyls, painted carbon, ohlins R&Ts, penske rear)...... sorry, I appear to have gone off into a dream... :D

Ali

Personally I'm baffled as to why you would want to use an old 900 in this way. On a 92 bike I don't even think the suspension is very good.

If you do, though, you'll need to change the oil very regularly (as Ali says) - much more often than a 4-valver - because (obviously) the oil is doing the cooling as well as the lubricating.

get the newest one you can - i had a 900SSie (1999 MY) and though underpowered you can ride the wheels off it and feel good about. in 4 years and 24,000miles i had no problems. Get some decent exhausts, mod the airbox, change ECU and gear it down and you will have loads of fun and great wheelies off the midrange.

Stop, stop! I think I've just..........oh never mind.

Spank - I think you really need to think hard and RIDE a 900ss before making a purchase. Even though I love my 900 to bits (in a love/hate) sort of way, its so alien to any Jap bike thaI think you need to test ride one first.

I really didnt get on with the engine of mine at first but, loved the handling - so persisted and still like it now.

Having said that - even with reworked forks and a WP rear shock - my 1992 model suspension is primative compared to anything modern.

But I think thats part of the appeal for me - on the roads I'm only 30 secs behind friends whose bikes cost 4/5 times more than mine and I still have a hoot !!!

Good luck - Frank

Thats part of it isnt it - the grins per buck (suspension joke !) factor is very high !
I think thats what I like about the old singles too - they are so light you get bounced around quite a bit when you are 'pressing on' - but it all adds to the fun :burn::bouncy::o

Spank - where are you ?
You could always come and have a go on my FE - its for sale after all ...

Phil, you racing with VMCC at Cadwell on the 24th?? If so see you there PM-ready for TA5!

John

just as a slight diversion...i notice a number of replies regards their ss's wheelying....mine gives no indication it has any propensity for wheelying. i am neither trying or a wheely god, but when i hammered my fireblade in first i knew it wanted to come up whereas the 900ss gives no indication that it will raise its head. so i was wondering how people are getting their bikes to engage in some naughtiness?

106 Bhp? Is that all?

Bloo Duke is doing a smidge over 100 bhp on 944cc. At just over 100 bhp per 944, that's 0.106 bhp per cc. If you multiply that by 1082 you would be looking at 114 bhp and enough torque to pull up trees. That's assuming that you could maintain the same specific horsepower with the bigger engine, but I don't see why not - Nelly tells me the flow characteristics of those testarossa heads are good enough to feed a 650 cc cylinder, so it should still be flowing more than enough air for a 541 cc pot without getting breathless at the top end.

As for the rest of your bike, love the spec, it's nearly the same as mine so put some Galfer wavey's onto BST carbon wheels or Marvic Mag/Carbons on it and I'll buy it off you as soon as you've built it.:D

Jools, you're much too sensible to throw that sort of cash at a 2-valver, however much you'd like to, 'cos you know you'll never see a penny of it again !

When the time comes to change the ST2 you'll just get a 999 - bet you a pound.

I just remembered what I was going to post when I sidetracked myself (see below !)
Alfs of Worthing still have their BOT bike up in the clothing dept !
I must go in and ask Alf what bhp they got out of it.
(A friend and I have both already asked him if he'd sell it)



Hmmm ... our plans have not been going at all well just recently, so def not doing vmcc on 24th.
Sue's wrists have not been very good, and I crocked my left ankle at brands w/end b4 last, so I'm only riding a left-shift bike again. (I'm not a young-whipper-snapper-hero like domski who _likes_ the pain !)
We asked lizzie to cancel ta5 almost 2 wks ago ... but no news yet ... so we might _have_ to go, but prob not with the 350 as well.
Ho hum.

[Edited on 13-7-2005 by phil_h]

Easy peasy, 4000 rpm in first, roll it off, roll it back on, and hey ho up she rises, find the balance point and just keep changing up-not that I would do anything so antisocial you understand officer.:devil:

John

I've never been too good at getting the front up and keeping it up on the 900 (but no worries on my old 916), but my brother's old 900 spent its entire life on the back wheel. I guess it just depends on how brutal you fell like being with the clutch. I can definitely confirm that flatslides improve the situation significantly :D

will have to give it a shot and be mindful not to give it too much of a handful as i am still getting used to it. nice to hear you say take it 4000rpm....the blade was feeling like lifting its nose when you got to 8000rpm plus and at those revs it didnt matter what gear you were in, you were gonna be doing silly speeds...hence the selling of the mad blade.

Thanks for all the feedback. I have four bikes at the moment. Ones in MCN next week if it sells I'll have the money for 92 model 900ss up at a grand. I just didn't want a repeat of the past. When I was 18 I bought an old RG250 Gamma and gradually tidied it up. Magazines were filled with scare storied of siezures and thrown cranks if ridden flat out. As I was poor in those day (1990's) I didn't ever ride it over the ton and was anal with servicing and warming it up. Then about 3 years later (when it was my 2nd bike) I let a mate on it who wheelied it, and absolutly caned the tits off it. Taken in by the mood I later found myself racing him flat out at 110mph. This was the second time ever I had ridden it flat out and it had only done 7000 miles after a full top-end rebuild with genuine parts and new barrels. You guessed it the crank let go, locked the back wheel (lukily on a straight) and I was towed home. I practicley gave the bike away I was so ****ed off. It's just nice to know how much stick something can take.