My first Ducati?

[madandy]

This Tuesday I'm off to the Garden City to take a gander at what I hope will be my new steed. A 1995 900SS
By all accounts she is in good order and has been well cared for and I shall be visiting the good folk at Casbolts to check the servicing records and also Duane's Bikes and Skis to seek his valued opinion.

All going well I shall stop at my old man's just north of Kiapoi Tuesday night and ride my new Duke home Wednesday morning, catching the Inter islander for the 9:30am sailing

Wish me luck and all advise about the bike or the roads gladly read

PS: someone buy my gixxer

[McJim]

Good on ya.

Hope you enjoy the new steed. Have you test ridden a 900cc Desmodue bike before? The reason I ask is that the power delivery is gonna be soooooo different.

[desmo dave]

Have you spent time on a few 900ss before to know what to expect?.Hope all goes well for you, enjoy the ride

[madandy]

If the engine does its bizzo between 3000 & 7000rpm I shall be well pleased

[McJim]

Have you spent time on a few 900ss before to know what to expect?.Hope all goes well for you, enjoy the ride

Yeah, Instant torque and engine braking like a mule kicking you in the stones.

[Sensei]

Nice bike in their day but was never going to set the world on fire . As above ride one first as they might not be what you thought they are .

[madandy]

Have you spent time on a few 900ss before to know what to expect?.Hope all goes well for you, enjoy the ride

Never ridden one. I've always admired them from afar and must admit to simply loving the look and sound. I've never known a person who owned one so the opportunity to spend some time on one has never been. I always take several weeks to get to know a bike reasonably well so besides the obvious things like poor performing brakes & suspension I will be going into this somewhat blind. That's why I'll be having a couple of different people have a look and if I like the ride I'll be very happy.

A big reason for me wanting a 900SS is the engine character being more suited to real world riding, my laziness with gear changing - don't really enjoy buzzing around at 10,000rpm!
If she's half as comfortable as my past bikes I reckon the sound and midrange character of the engine will keep me smiling

Many of us have been talking about how we ride on the roads and this is me standing up and saying I'm gonna slow down some. I just hope she's as enjoyable around bends as I've heard.

[McJim]

Sounds like you're buying it for the right reasons then. They are real world bikes. Not screamers. Not fixated on hp figures. Decent quality suspension and brakes as standard. Like any bike - look after all the bits and they'll look after you too. It's not a flash git hyper fast bike and doesn't claim to be. Simply put it doesn't try to be the ___est anything....which I prefer.

It'll probably be good for 240kph which is faster than you should really go on public roads anyway. Unit used to have one I think - you should ask her or DMNTD.

[Dooly]

Welcome to the Ducati world.

They love playing in the 3500 - 7000 rpm range best. Keep it there and have fun all day.

[Duke girl]

Nice choice of bike and I wish u many happy and enjoyable rides on it. Goodluck and I hope u enjoy being the owner of your very 1st of many different Ducatis, Maybe u will eventually up grade somewhere down the road to a 1098. Happy Motorcycling.

[flame]

Good on ya! I reckon the carburetted 900ss is a great bike. Lots of low down torque, they handle really nice once you set it up for you, and a comfy bike for long distance. Enjoy the trip back and hope you get a smooth sailing.

Dont panic when it throws a bit of a hissy fit on a frosty morning, they do that sometimes (just incase no-ones warned you).

ENJOY

[Sensei]

You'll have to get over the front to get the best handling out of them round corners they like having weight over the front from the few Ducatis I have owned & ridden . They are fairly stiff suspension which can unsetle them when pushed hard through rough corners .

[madandy]

I had a YZF600R Thundercat that'd been a race bike in a fomer life. The suspension on that was way hard. I have an idea what to expect there then. My 112kg might help there.
Any one care to project the range on a tank she'll deliver?

[Winston001]

Any one care to project the range on a tank she'll deliver?

No idea - but if it is anything like my ST4, make a mental list of gas stations before setting off.... Mind you, that might be because I'm still in the first stages of lust and wonder at owning a Ducati and having trouble keeping the throttle closed......

Beautiful bike, it will handle like a dream and there is an indefinable quality to riding a Ducati. It is quite simply a pleasure which becomes a passion.

[jim.cox]

Good choice - I'm sure you will love it.

Don't be too lazy with the gear changing - while the motor will work from under 2k rpm you are not doing the engine any favours - best to try to keep it spinning above 3.5k - the desmo engines were deisgned to rev

Best cornering technique is slow-in and fast-out. Uses the powerband to best advantage. They stand-up a bit on braking so grabbing a handfull mid-curve is not the best idea.

just my $0.02