Evening all, I have spent the last few months keeping an eye out for a new bike, keeping a close eye on this forum (which has kept me motivated), and finally handed over some cash. For a 1998 750ss I have come full circle! My first bike was a 1994 Monster, great condition but being a 600 i just wanted more power.... But it served me well including a trip around northern Italy. Then London commuting started and what better choice than a zx-6r with a loud scratched and dented akra exhaust - oh and i also made the unwise decision to spray the bike matt black, it looked shit. But i sorted it out mechanically, ohlins shock, billet calipers (following the continuous rebuilding of the original tokicos that were dangerous through the winter months). 50k miles on the clock it was time for another change. KTM Superduke 990. What a bike, i cannot fault it in any way, its awesome. the usual mods, decent exhaust, gearing, rebuilt suspension - used daily i kept it in good condition and love/loved riding it. Amazingly in four years someone has only tried to nick it once. After work i wondered what the liquid dripping from the disc lock was.... quickly realising it was glue i whipped the lock off and gave myself a massive pat on the back for being so quick thinking, with a smile beaming across my face i thought i had won... until i went to put the key in the ignition, also full of glue and this time it had set - b*stards. My AA membership paid dividends. Now having moved to the (relative) countryside and with more responsibilities i yearned for a Ducati once more. I wanted relative comfort, not too fussed about big power and hopefully something i could tinker with and improve over time. 900ss Superlight was the ideal but having seen one for sale in Forza Italia a year ago for £4k, i have been alarmed at the price of them advertised now, even 900ss are asking for £5k. So with an open mind i headed down to Pro-Bike in Newbury to look at a 1098 (ignore everything previously said about comfort and power) - in the corner was a 750ss that caught my eye, on sale for £3k she is a beauty. Service history includes Baines Racing and Moto Rapido. Christmas passed by and waiting for dry weather for a test ride i had told myself, only buy it if it has enough power to be really good fun when sorted. Well, it had a massive flat spot and occasionally ran on one. I obviously put down a deposit and got £250 knocked off the price as something needed sorting.... To their absolute credit Pro-Bike fitted new plugs and filter and it runs perfectly - bargain and great service from Mike and John. So hear she is.. ( hopefully the pic is attached) The plan is; Sell the KTM Make a Superlight'ish version of a 750ss Some great threads on here that are providing plenty of inspiration Any advice and recommendations are appreciated!!! Its good to be back. Ed
Nice one Ed. Reminds me of my first introduction into Ducati with a 900 version. Good to see you've followed forum rules with the photo. Welcome.
Welcome back to the fold Ed... Good start with including photos too Carry on in the same manner and you'll get on just fine on here
Beautiful! Welcome 750ss is a glorious ride, and such a sweetheart with handling, torque and revviness. Great choice.
Oh, BTW... It looks very nice and unmolested and at £3k you paid a very fair price / stole it from them, if it's as good as it looks. These are not getting any younger and I wouldn't be hasty to chop it about. For what it would cost you for high level exhausts, single seat unit, cast iron brake rotors and whatnot to "SL" it... if you are lucky then you'll be looking a couple of grand at least. Unmolested originals are where the money is. My local dealer sold a '94 last summer with @ 9k on the clock and that made £5k, so you've done very well. Main things you'll find deteriorate are engine paint related. It looks like it needs a pillion seat cover, and then enjoying.
thanks for the advice fire3500! to get high level cans on do you need more modification than a different bracket/hanger? on your advice this may be the only (reversible) mod to make. I guess there is plenty to be done with suspension and more simple engine/fuelling mods without jeopardising the original.
Ducati struggled to get these bikes past emissions regs, so an open airbox and a dynojet kit will really help with fuelling. The open airbox will also make it sound fantastic They can suffer badly from plug fouling but @Exige on here can supply stronger coils which will sort that out. Worst thing about mine was the extremely marginal starting, even with a new battery. Luckily, @Exige can also supply a starting circuit cable kit that should transform the way it cranks and starts. He also supplies cambelts that are cheaper and better than OEM. I found the forks to be far too harsh and put lighter oil in - huge difference... Mine suffered from clutch slip, largely due to mayonnaise from condensation affecting the wet clutch. Make sure you use bike specific fully synth oil, which doesn't have the friction modifiers modern car oils do and do try to make sure the oil gets good and hot regularly, so any water in the oil burns off. It also pays to leave the oil filler cap off after a long ride to allow steam to escape. I always put mine on the fuel filler cap to make sure I didn't ride off without it! @Arquebus on here is very knowledgeable about the 750Ss and jetting, float level etc.
To get the high-level look you can: Go for high level cans / brackets. You lose your rear footrests, which means that come MOT time you either need to remove the pillion option (a lenient MOT tester might be happy with a cowl over the seat, might not) or the exhausts and reinstate footrests. Go for spaghetti headers and high level cans / brackets. You lose your rear footrests, which means that come MOT time you either need to remove the pillion option (a lenient MOT tester might be happy with a cowl over the seat, might not) or the exhausts and reinstate footrests. Go for spaghetti headers and / or high level cans / brackets. Bolt fixed rear pegs to the brackets (utterly unusable) to appease MOT tester. For high-level cans: SIL Moto - expensive @ £600 for cans / link pipes Termignoni - expensive @ £600 for cans / link pipes Generic cans / hanger straps + high-level link pipes - depends what you buy as to the £££ but a set of link pipes is @ £160 For spaghettii headers: SIL Moto - expensive @ £600 for headers Termignoni - expensive and unavailable? As @Old rider said, an airbox mod and jetting may liberate a bit more power, sounds nice with a bit more induction but I'm not sure how much real oomph you get. Great suggestion though. My (1994) 900 has this mod + termis and goes well, my (1997) 750 is bone-stock other than a pair of stainless Scorpion cans and also goes well. Isn't asthmatic and doesn't feel any different to my Dad's old (1995) 750 which had the airbox mod and jets. Am sure someone will be along momentarily to correct all I've written...
The other thing to deliver a bit more "go" would be to change the gearing. The 750 is geared long as stock, and we tinkered a bit with my dad's bike to give a bit more urgency off the line. At the expense of top end naturally, but we didn't go too wild. Was probably more of an impact than the jetting TBH.
I actually changed mine back as it felt too buzzy and not long legged enough on 14 front. using 14 on the 999 though, which must be higher geared to start with. Jetting wasn't so much for more power as for smoother running
