[Addicted24/7]

I just bought a 1994 600ss for yet another project and will be basically just be using the frame and the bodywork.
All the old running gear will be used in another project using on an old pantah 600 frame I have lying around with that bike likely to be the worst of the worst with a motor more gutless than the original and design plan of "I may as well store my 600ss left over junk on a working bike rather than it becoming a pile of junk gathering dust in the corner"!

The downside is I want to actually use the 600ss in it's current state as my all weather commuter until Feb next year and was wondering if it can really be as bad everyone say's it is?
Is the 600ss the bottom of the Ducati barrel?? I am expecting very little but maybe even that is too optimistic?

 

[SalkinSalkin]

Wasn’t there also a 400ss?

Guess the SS hierarchy somehow is dictated by the cc’s, the carby being the 900 on top, and the 1000 in the SSie range.

 

[ducvet]

Someone else who has owned a early SS (not a Us model) will have to tell but I would simply use it in a custom/cafe bike. Those bikes get seldom ridden and mostly only for show so performance is an afterthought, if you can not be fast you might as well look good. I have a early 750 sport and will drop a early motor in it in part because I like the looks of the early motors better than the later versions I would imagine the 94 600 looks the same.

I would be surprised if the 600 and 750 did not share some parts are you sure the stud spacing is different and it cannot be up-sized to a 750 with all the mods?

 

[duc96cr]

The old saying is “ It’s more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow. “ or something like that. I have ridden small bikes to work, like a 250 Suzuki X-6 60 miles or more a day to work, no problem. 650 Triumph also. No more horsepower than you have in a 600 .
The bad part is it’s a 600 almost as heavy as the 900 model. The good part is all that better 900 kit just bolts right up. All the normal things like intake and exhaust will help the little engine breathe. A gearing change based on the roads and speed you travel will help. My main problem with the 600-750 bikes is I can normally find a 900 in the same price range, so why would I buy the smaller bike ?

 

[duc96cr]

One more thing : It’s still a Ducati.

 

[ZADSS]

There was also a 350 :

There are plenty out there worse than a 600, even bigger bikes, guys around here will only leave you depressed 'bout your small Duc, you gotto be strong and hardass with them, otherwise before you know it they will have you chasing after bigger and bigger without any end....

Visit the UK or other Euro sites where there is a completely different feeling for the smaller bikes, get some inspiration (but please come back to us.)

 

[bradblack]

can't help yourself eh?

the 350 was an italian tax break special. the 400 the japanese licence tier special. both preceded the 600.

the 600 engine is an enlarged 350/400, so it has small crankcase spigots and small combustion chambers with small valves. the 600 piston has a dish in the top to lower the comp to 10.5 or so. it's nothing like a pantah 600. biggest bore you can go is 86mm, hence the 400 - 540 and 600 - 680 kits.

apart from that the engine is just a 90's pre 98 small block. all the pre 98 nouvo 600 used a forged piston, and some of them get really rattly. knocky even. we just used to tell people they were all like that and it was fine, but i put the later cast pistons in mine because the noise kinda made my skin crawl.

if it's a 94 it should have showa at both ends? forks can be made better with revalving, unlike the later marzocchi junk. you'll want to spring them up. you can just cut the tight section off the original spring and it should be pretty good for your weight. should have a second caliper mount too should you feel the need. i think the single disc and low power is why they don't crack frames. i believe when they start racing them in the uk desmodue series the frames behave like 900 frames.

it was just the cheapest ss we got. realistically, chassis wise it's a 750ss with one less disc. 2-1 exhaust with one less muffler like the 350/400 too. just basic price differentiation. the monster range was more popular, even now as lams bikes the monsters are still more popular.

i've got one in at the moment that's got 100,000km on it. still goes. the 400 engine from my 93 ss has got about 85,000km on it, and it's been to 11,000rpm quite a bit as it now sits in my monster.

they're good commuters. i like things that won't wheelie past the suburban speed limit in first gear. i spent too many years riding bikes that did, and my problem with temptation really hasn't improved. new age me says they're cool. 28 year old me just looks at new age me with derision and disgust. as is his want.

it's just like a 900, but with 2/3 the power. slow.

 

[Addicted24/7]

Thanks for the feed back I will only be riding it as 600 until feb next year at which point it will be converted to something very different (as in running gear) that will fully test the frame strength.
I guess my first post was somewhat confusing.

The 600ss will become something like this members race bike but with a 1000ds or 1100 evo motor along with all its electrics\electronics and a radial brake front end and decent swing arm from a donor bike from mahiem auctions.

The 600ss running gear electrics etc will end up in the pantah frame and look something like the black and white thing and then become my commuter mk2.Putting the 600ss motor in a pantah frame will be blasphemy to pantah enthusiasts but a pretty cool commuter to me.
All this should keep my project itch scratched for some time!

 

[Addicted24/7]

can't help yourself eh?


all the pre 98 nouvo 600 used a forged piston, and some of them get really rattly. knocky even. we just used to tell people they were all like that and it was fine, but i put the later cast pistons in mine because the noise kinda made my skin crawl.

Gee your not wrong about that rattly pistons Brad.

 

[Addicted24/7]

Gutless but fun.

The mice have been evicted the wiring they ate repaired a full service and some new factory pro emulsion tubes and I have a great little commuter.
It is so much easier to ride than the 900's with a wet clutch and smooth power delivery.Sounds tuff and goes no where quickly but beats the traffic off the lights.
I am converted to the small side.

 

[Erics75218]

That's a fine looking bike. I love the CR and that engine is really pretty, good stuff will be the result of anything you do I'm sure.

Good luck and don't forget to start a build thread!

 

[Ducati 600cc]

I’ve been riding since I was 16 ,now 66 ,had around 50 bikes ,ridden all year round. I don’t know everything for sure but my experience has been —Modern sports motorcycles, or even sport tourers totally outclass most of their riders . Back in the 70s big bikes were a blast and rarely breached 80 bhp . They felt really quick and Exciting, and for the most part the riders could cope with them .The best experience is to forget everyone else and ride a bike that your equal to ,you’ll be safer and have more fun .

 

[Purloined]

I’ve been riding since I was 16 ,now 66 ,had around 50 bikes ,ridden all year round. I don’t know everything for sure but my experience has been —Modern sports motorcycles, or even sport tourers totally outclass most of their riders . Back in the 70s big bikes were a blast and rarely breached 80 bhp . They felt really quick and Exciting, and for the most part the riders could cope with them .The best experience is to forget everyone else and ride a bike that your equal to ,you’ll be safer and have more fun .

Almost as old as you, riding for almost as long as you have been, owned far fewer motorcycles than you, 100% agree with you practically and philosophically.

I'm gobsmacked by the capabilities of the modern classes of bikes. I've about 200,000 miles under my belt, peppered with heaps of unequivocal stupidity for which I managed to escape consequence. Still, in awe and spiritually finger-wagging at the same time at the pyrotechnics I sometimes see streaking by me. At the end of the equation, physics proves to be more than a theorem.