Ducati 900SS/SP and 900SS/CR
What about the new Supersport?

What's the difference?

Notice that I went through some great lengths to point out the non-rebuildable forks on the 1996 and newer CRs. Friends don't let friends buy 1996 and newer CRs. You can't put RACE TECH gold valves in them to fix their feeble damping. You can't clean out the valving internals in them the way you can every other motorcycle on earth. Eerily enough, imprinted on the forks which I installed heavier rate springs were the words "750SS" on one and "600SS" on the other -- on the same motorcycle! You can change the oil seals, but you cannot remove the cartridge to properly clean it or to revalve it. Lame.

The above is a pretty harsh statement... if you read this after you purchased your CR, don't worry. Do the R-T springs and oil and live with it. Unless you're Ricky Racer and really haul butt in the canyons, etc, you'll be OK.

Why was I putting heavier rate springs in a 1996 and newer CR? It is the exact mod that a popular bike magazine did to try to stop it from bottoming easily. This customer's 900CR was ridden heavily on Palomar Mountain and the owner hated how it pogoed when braking for the turns.

What else? Over the years, I've noticed some subtle improvements to the Ducati 900 Supersport model line. All info tid-bits are "as far as I know"...

• 1992 was the only year to have the factory deliver charcoal colored Supersports. Supposedly, they were so unpopular that dealerships painted many red to move them off of showroom floors.

• 1992 and older models had white powder coated frames, 1993 to 1995 models have their frames and wheels powder coated silver, and newer models have champagne colored frames and wheels.

• It was probably around this time that the factory stopped painting the mirrors on the red bikes red. I'm sure this made the $80 mirrors even more costly.

• At some point (1995?), the SS became the SP, and got a nifty little number plaque for the triple clamps. It seems to have also gotten cast iron full floating rotors - better than the standard spec Superbike stainless rotors!

• Around 1995, both models started getting their engines painted silver. I found out from a Ducati dealer that the factory quit using crankcase gaskets. I also noticed a couple of enhancements: the drive output off of the left side of the crankshaft grew 3mm to 28mm and the seat latch was greatly improved using a notched metal pin.

• SPs got remote reservoir master cylinders for the front brakes and clutch. Unfortunately, the brakes still basically sucked.

• SPs got a "floating" rear brake. This is where a bar keeps the rear brake from rotating with the rear disk when braking is applied. Previously, the rear caliper was fixed, with its carrier tied to a pin on the swingarm. This new floating rear brake interferes with Staintune's awesome spaghetti system, requiring SP owners not accepting less than the best retrofit to the fixed caliper bracket. You'll need the caliper bracket, swingarm pin, and a shorter brake line. Maybe that underslung caliper bracket on the new SS will work...

• The 1996 model year SP saw the introduction of an oil temp gauge.

• 1998 had the 900SS engine remove the oil lines from the cylinder barrels to the top of the generator cover. Interesting. Wasn't Ducati just crying about lack of cooling as to why they didn't bump the size of the SS to 940cc? I haven't been to an actual dealer for some time (they're too damn snobbish) to see if the SP still gets the oil lines or not. Some `98 Ducatis got the new 3 phase alternator. The FE did. Look for the timing window to be "raised" or flush with the outer part of the alternator cover. Previously, they were flush with the bottom of the cover, next to the clutch slave cylinder.

• I also noticed that Ducati recast all of the engine components and removed all of the Ducati logos. I'll bet a pile of money that the cute Cagiva elephants that were on the inside of those cast pieces are gone, too.

• I got a look at a 900SS/FE. It is an attractive machine. Ducati put together a handsome motorcycle and managed to keep the cost reasonable. This is a blend of the SL and the SS. It has SL high pipes, but SS wheels. They're powdwer coated black and go well with the silver paint. I noticed a cheesy carbon overlay on the dash, too. Hmmm, I didn't notice the color of the frame, but I imagine that it's silver and not champagne. One real improvement the FE has is the new header. It is raised significantly, so ground clearance is improved dramatically. Otherwise, not much seems to be different from the SS.