I bought the 900ss about a year and 7,000 miles (yes miles) ago. I've had to do a lot of rebuilding on it, have taken it for some back country days, haven't toured yet.
Limitations as a reviewer: haven't ridden that many bikes and certainly haven't ridden that many modern bikes. I took a Honda Firestorm for a test ride, that's about the limits of my sportsbike experiences.
So, the basics: it's an old-school, lightweight, moderately powered street bike with a forward riding position. The engine is the classic air-cooled Ducati L-twin with desmo valve gear, and the series 91 through 97 are carbureted (remember those?) so there's no ECU or similar. It's simple. That simplicity is one of the major reasons I chose it. It's also light, as compared to most modern bikes of similar cc rating. I can manage the bike when parking and when rolling slow, or doing parking stuff on angled driveways and so on.
It's 900 cc, but the right way to look at that is that it's fun. It's not fast, any modern bike of similar displacement will eat it alive in any head-to-head contest, and it's not particularly fast handling by modern standards either. Horsepower and speed junkies will need to go somewhere else to get their fix. The twin disks and four-pot Brembo calipers are alright, though.
There's mid-range torque galore, great Ducati soundtrack, and the classic trellis frame for looks. How you respond to the leftover '80s cues in the styling is up to you of course... I'm ambivalent about the squared off headlight, but I like the flowing curves of the fairing, the colour matching between silver frame and red bodywork, the old-school look to the bike.
It's (relatively) easy to work on. I've found that a lot of people are flat-out paranoid about working on Dukes - I've found it easier and more intuitive than any Honda I've owned, but maybe that's just me. To my mind, it's a simple layout, and if you're getting into something, usually you don't have to undo a dozen things that are in the way first. You have to take the fairing side panel off to top up the oil, you have to undo the rear shock at it's top pivot to check one exhaust valve shim, but that's about the worst of it. It's possible to do nearly all the scary bits of work yourself, like shimming valves, changing camshaft belts and so on, without dropping a fortune on special tools.
People like it. I get a lot of guys (and some gals) checking the bike out when I ride. Joe Public responds positively to it, both riding and having a chat roadside.
The riding position might be a little cramped for most people and wrists start protesting fast unless you ride at the highway limit, using slipstream to keep the weight off the bars. Fuel consumption is surprisingly good, meaning you've got decent range in the back country.
If you're shopping for one... first, test ride before taking the plunge (I meant it about the slightly cramped position, it really isn't for everyone), and check for cracks. The aluminium swingarms on the SP's crack, and so do the frames, on the top tubes at the steering head welds. The fix for the frame is a triangular gusset plate, welded in behind the top head bearing. You'll find it by unlatching and lifting the fuel tank. The gusset will be what the tank latch hook plate is screwed to. If it isn't there, it's just a matter of time before the frame starts to go and you've got a big headache. Been there, done that... I had to strip the bike down to the frame, have it rewelded and repainted, and then rebuild. Also check for muffler modifications. It's very popular to open the mufflers up and remove some of the packing, to let some of those great sounds out. Unfortunately that really screws with the motor's breathing. Again, been there, done that... it ran a LOT better after I repacked the mufflers. Smoother at low rev's, didn't have weird blips in the powerband while accelerating, stopped bogging out at high revs. Some flatslide carbs helped with power, too.
Overall it's a fun bike and I'm having a great time on it.
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Originally Posted by Voltaire
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