851 vs 900SS on the track...

got2dv8

Just curious for some feedback as to the comparisons between the 851 and 900ss on the race track. I have flogged many 900's on the track, but it suffices to say that it beats me up. 900's steer like a truck, although great at holding the line at speed, tend to understeer with gas out of the corners. Against the Jap 600's, I was wringing it's neck just to keep up and they usually look like they are not trying as hard (weight, performance, tech help). Best track bike I ever had was my Aprilia RS250. Though underpowered it was light as a bicycle and I was able to embarrass many bikes making twice the power (as seen on my display pic as I ride around the outside of a 916/996). I have ridden with a friend of mine who has an 851 on some fast rides on the street and never had a problem keeping up (unless straight-lining it over 100mph)...even pulling on him in the corners..but that's just difference in riders.

I hope when I get the chance to finally ride my 851 (someday) that I will be pleasantly surprised and want to take it to the track without needed a nap after each session 😄 .

Robert

stafford

So the 900SS handles like a truck, and I was looking for one to use as a fun track bike. Any other ideas for a cheapish Ducati track tool?

got2dv8

Mind you I said steers like a truck. It handles decent if you have it set up right for the particular track.... just compared to other bikes it requires a bit of effort to turn.. and that adds up lap after lap. At 3/4 it's a great track bike..but at 100% it shows it's age.... I'm talking about the 91-98 not the newer FI models...which seem to have better suspension.

marvin

Rob,
The 851 is faster than the SS but not as fast as the 600's, except out of the corners. Much lighter steering

Stafford,
The SS handles much better if you raise the rear. Cheap way is to get a shock from a SSIE which is longer or buy an after market shock. Rick makes some affordable after market shocks, www.motocd.com Or if you can find a Penske.

P.S. Some have lengthened the original SS shock.

hindsight

900ss for sale

I'll have a '95 900SS coming up for sale in a month or two time.

Genuine very low milage (4800m) and very unmolested. Hadn't planned on doing anything about selling it until nearer springtime (to the point that I'd not even thought about how much I'd be asking for it...). However, if anyone is interested do feel free to get in touch to discuss. I'd be happy to make whatever suspension mods are wanted before selling it - I did a racetech conversion on one of my other bikes which made an amazing difference to the handling. Never tried it on a Duc though, but reports suggest that it would be similarly good.

That said, if you're looking for a cheap track tool - why not a 916 bip? - it'd be a wee bitty more expensive than the 900, but will be a whole heck of a lot more capable.

henk

i have a SS for trackbike and it drives very well i made it lighter and a bit faster i t weighs 157 kg now and i think it's a fun bike on shorter tracks where you don't really need topspeed,i now sombody who rides a R6 and raced this year in the supertwins with an SS.he drove the same times on croix-en-ternois with both bikes.i know it's still the guy who is on the bike that has to do it but still...

henk!!

hauge

Tired of the rainy summers in sweden, and didn´t have any crasch fairings for my 888, I bought an 900 ssie for trackdays in rain. Its allways fitted with rain tyres and I don´t have to be nervous about crasching my 888.
I have only rode the ss for a few times in dry but as it is a budget project not much is spent on it.
How ever I am surprised how good it handles. I think alot has do do with the rider position. The seat is much higher than the 888 (aprox. 5-7 cm) wich I prefer and more like modern bikes.

Cheers
Thomas

brad black

hauge

are you torbjorn's mate?

hauge

brad black wrotehauge are you torbjorn's mate?

Yes!
The ssie (INDRA) is our projekt.

Cheers
Thomas

brad black

not sure if i dig the orange belt covers, but the fairing i like

the ie models are much higher in the seat than the older ones - you really notice it when you get off one onto the other. i loved the time i spent on an ie years ago, both on road and track.

it's too slow for fast tracks, but shorter ones are fine. other option would be a 748 i'd think cost wise, altho i guess even 996 are getting cheap now. there's lots of bits out there for that chassis - that's the main attraction i'd think and a real asset.

hauge

brad black wrotenot sure if i dig the orange belt covers, but the fairing i like the ie models are much higher in the seat than the older ones - you really notice it when you get off one onto the other. i loved the time i spent on an ie years ago, both on road and track. it's too slow for fast tracks, but shorter ones are fine. other option would be a 748 i'd think cost wise, altho i guess even 996 are getting cheap now. there's lots of bits out there for that chassis - that's the main attraction i'd think and a real asset.

Since Torbjörn have a monster 900 we couldn´t get a faster bike for a "rain bike" 😄

Cheers
Thomas

Corse

I have a Hybrid 851 frame , 900ss motor taken out to 944 41FCRs , G cams and more. BCM gastank, Marvic Mag wheels. It raced in the mid 90's and won the CCS Championship with the previous owner. PCS Daytona built three of these I think two are left. I have since these pics stripped it down and had the frame powdercoated bright silver, bodywork redone in red with white stripes although I am thinking aboout a different fairing than the 916 style.

marvin

Cool! "G" cams?

Also, why the SS swingarm? weight? Rules?

Ducman851

While its not an SS, Monsters make decent track bikes when setup proper.

Thumbnailed for convenience

Speedmade

Here are some pics of my Hybrid I built more than ten years ago.
900SS chassis, modified to use 888 swingarm and rear suspension. Ohlins Corse forks, Ohlins shock, Technomagnesio wheels, carbon fuel tank, titanium everything.
I intended to run it in AMA ProThunder. We built a water cooled 851 2V motor. 900SS cases, 888 crank, ST2 heads and cylinders, custom Carrillo rods. Ported, Hi-comp, etc, etc. But they deemed it wasn't legal, because at the time the rules stated "no water cooled Desmo".
So I shelved that motor and built a super hot 750 motor (as seen in the pics) and raced the bike locally. After the 750 motor ate it's cases, I sold the chassis to Doug Lofgren. He put the 851 2V motor back in, and still uses it as a streetbike today.

marvin

That's pretty cool Reed!!
What's the "box" in the tail adjacent to the shock reservoir?
Where did/does the radiator mount?

Speedmade

The box is a smaller battery, just enough to start the bike.

We made a bracket that mounted of the frame rail below the steering head using those rubber covered clamps. We used an 888 radiator and bent up lower tabs that ran back to the heads. Kind of like the stock 888 mounts.

Corse

marvin wroteCool! "G" cams? Also, why the SS swingarm? weight? Rules?

Tony Foster built it and I believe it ran CCS and won. Unsure why he choose the 900SS swingarm as it required mounting to the subframe which had to be modified to suit. It has ZX7 forks as he got a deal on Marvic Mag wheels at the time but only for Kawasaki. I rode it at Grattan at the Ducati Canada meet in 03 with a badly slipping clutch and still managed to get by many people! I also rode it at Talledega, last time in 03 and the cush drive backed out of the rear wheel - looked like the inner bearing collapsed and it tore into my swingarm. Luckily I had the mag wheel repaired but I now need the Marvic cush drives.

henk

hallo

this is a picture of mine 944 SS trackbike

henk!!!

Corse

henk wrotehallo this is a picture of mine 944 SS trackbike henk!!!

Does it have the Supemono fairing from Airtech? looks good!