Yesterday, I finally received these from Italy, which allowed me to finish the « twin sister ». Very pretty. Here’s to another completed project! On to selling now.
Hi Guillaume I love this thread, I have the same model I bought new in 1990, however it requires major refurbishment which I hope to start when I move to France next year, where are you located?
We’ve been having an incredibly nice weather for the past week or so. And it is supposed to continue for another 10 days… So I went for a really sweet morning ride, locally, this morning. Just felt like sharing a couple pics.
And the morning air is possibly a touch damp and cold and dense leaning off the mixture just enough to get the motor pulling hard... ooo lovely.
The « donor » bike has sold. It’s a cool little story, with the buyer being nostalgic of his Dad’s bike bought new in 1990. He’s buying it for a showroom duty rather than a road use. I told him: « Wait until you try it! ». They seem to be difficult to find in actual good shape. I am glad this one will be getting true love and care after having spent some time in storage somewhere in Japan. @Carr01 It did not sell through this forum, and will stay in France, actually not far from Chambord.
Hi folks. Allow me to wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year 2024 before I give a couple updates about my 900ss. Nothing new in the mechanical department, as all is good. But to my utmost delight, I was able to source a brand new old stock user guide dated June 1989, the only document I was missing to complete this project. Happy, happy, happy… Now it looks really original and tidy under the seat. I also came across this September 1989 Bike Magazine issue, which is also like new. It has a very interesting article comparing the 851 and 900SS. Shared DNA and many parts in common. Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of period vintage advertising?
One may wonder why the Weber two barrels carb (DNCF 44) that equipped the first belt driven 900SS (1989-1990) suffered such a bad reputation, when it actually works perfectly, in my recent experience… I’d say a poorly tuned test bike given by Ducati to the press in early 1989, followed by a dozen motorcycle magazine publications stating this carb is a joke. I have found exactly the same comments in the French press, who obviously tested the same bike, and added the exact same nonsense exhaust comment. This is all it took for humanity to label this Weber carb as a POS on a bike. When it’s not. What a bunch of stupid apes we can be sometimes…
Hi Guillame, I heard many complaints at the time (not my own experience) about the Weber DNCF 44 on bike applications having several issues, some related to it’s car origins, some to heat soak from nestling between two air cooled cylinders, some from the expectations from riders used to Japanese fours with four small carbs - e.g. failure to restart when engine is still hot (heat soak), failure to pick up immediately after a few seconds at full lean angle, and the cough / pause in power pick-up when (cackhandedly) going to WOT at low revs. They were also a bit needy on regular tuning and rebuild kits if they weren’t going to dump your four star into the engine or into the overrun pipes
There is another conflict - were they initially released with a 10k redline? Your bike’s clock indicates not. And don’t get me started about the “hundred horse max” Edit: or was it a combined 851 and 900ss test (odd) which would mean the 10k and 100hp relates to the 851?
That exactly: combined 851/900ss info, and the paragraph before the highlighted section is definitely about the 851. I guess the 900SS with the Weber in its stock settings was not designed for raw track use, so yes, maybe going WOT in third exiting a curve may have caused hiccups. I rarely use WOT on the road with a 900 twin, anyways. At least a lot less than a decade or two ago. And when I do, I make sure I have a straight road in front of me, no traffic and 5000 rpm on the clock to begin with…
Great! Have you owned it for a long time? Maybe you could create a new topic about it and tell us more? We don’t see or read much about these bikes, and the forum DucatiPaso is completely silent, like it’s gone dead or something…
