Ducati ss1000 specs

[EX_#76]

I am thinking about trying a DUC ss1000.  Anyone out there know what a race prepped bike weighs and about what kind of power it makes.  What kind of maintenance is required to keep it on the track?  Are there allot of unusually crash vulnerable parts?  Are the bikes and parts expensive?  Are certain years more desirable?

[251am]

 Call Bill Whisenant at Motorcycle Performance in Madison...

[CounterSteerer]

I am thinking about trying a DUC ss1000.  Anyone out there know what a race prepped bike weighs and about what kind of power it makes.  What kind of maintenance is required to keep it on the track?  Are there allot of unusually crash vulnerable parts?  Are the bikes and parts expensive?  Are certain years more desirable?

Great bike IMHO. Mine weighs about 420 with half of tank of fuel. It is stock everything except for exhaust and power commander. They make with this set up (pipes & power commander) between 93-96 HP on the dyno. Maintenance, I wash my bike after every race and change the oil & oil filter that's it.  I just had MotoCorse Performance check the valves and compression and everything is perfect. I have crashed this season on this bike with a couple of lowsides on both sides and a nice highside and all I ever had to replace was a footpeg, handle bar, brake and clutch lever oh and some new fiberglass patches on my bodywork. It is a well rounded bike and I am able to be competitive in GT Lights, Thunderbike, GP, Superbike and Supersport all with the same bike. If you would like to know more give Chris Boy a call he owns MotoCorse Performance a Ducati specialist shop, tell him I told you to call, he will be glad to answer any questions. They have built a bunch of these bikes and have about 6-10 bikes on a race day out on the track at any given time. Chris Boy # 954-608-0350. We will be at Daytona with a bunch of guys who run 1000ss if you are there come by and check us out.

[PJ]

Guy,

Talk to Nick Rotvold (#388 ex) in the Midwest region. He usually pits in Buell alley. We give him lots of grief, but it's clear the Duck DS is a pretty competitive package. Great suspension and brakes. Quick revving motor. Good handling. His bike is pretty stock (SS legal) and runs strong. 

He's been thinking about selling it to buy a Buell (must be the steady ration of shit he's getting) or maybe he just tells us that to humor us...

Anyway, look him up at Blackhawk if you want to learn more...

[Super Dave]

Please tell Nick to say "Hi!" to me...didn't know he was around here.  I know his dad and sister moved away.

[Jason748]

Also a couple of others to talk to are:
Tom Manley up at Manley cycle in Minneapolis, I know he's build & maintains a few for some of the CRA guys, he mainly specializes in 4V's but does a lot of 2V's as well. http://www.manleycycle.com/
Just about anyone at BCM ducati: http://www.bcmducati.com/

[Fat_Nate]

Great bike IMHO. Mine weighs about 420 with half of tank of fuel. It is stock everything except for exhaust and power commander. They make with this set up (pipes & power commander) between 93-96 HP on the dyno.

Hey Jason -- when are you taking that thing to Daytona?  I expect you to sweep!

Nate
AM #413

[CounterSteerer]

Hey Jason -- when are you taking that thing to Daytona?  I expect you to sweep!

Nate
AM #413

Nate, Whats up?
The only thing I expect to sweep at Daytona is the inside of our trailer. I will be there for practice Thursday and race Fri, Sat, Sun. Hope to do well and represent the South FL riders.
Have you been able to get back to the track since the move? It would be great to battle with you at Daytona.

[roadracer618]

Nate, Whats up?
The only thing I expect to sweep at Daytona is the inside of our trailer. I will be there for practice Thursday and race Fri, Sat, Sun. Hope to do well and represent the South FL riders.
Have you been able to get back to the track since the move? It would be great to battle with you at Daytona.

Hey Jason,

Good luck to you at Daytona.  I was hoping to make Daytona for the first time this year but ended my season early in August w/ a crash in the LWF40 race.  I go in for surgery on Wed. Sept.27.
Not that I would be giving you a fight for the lead or anything like that but I was hoping to run Daytona.

Next Year!! If the wife lets me.......

And as for the original post:  It seems that the Ducati's are doing very well in the LW classes.  In addition it seemd that Jason is kicking some butt.

Again, Good Luck.

Tony.

[EX_#76]

Great bike IMHO. Mine weighs about 420 with half of tank of fuel. It is stock everything except for exhaust and power commander. They make with this set up (pipes & power commander) between 93-96 HP on the dyno. Maintenance, I wash my bike after every race and change the oil & oil filter that’s it.  I just had MotoCorse Performance check the valves and compression and everything is perfect. I have crashed this season on this bike with a couple of lowsides on both sides and a nice highside and all I ever had to replace was a footpeg, handle bar, brake and clutch lever oh and some new fiberglass patches on my bodywork. It is a well rounded bike and I am able to be competitive in GT Lights, Thunderbike, GP, Superbike and Supersport all with the same bike. If you would like to know more give Chris Boy a call he owns MotoCorse Performance a Ducati specialist shop, tell him I told you to call, he will be glad to answer any questions. They have built a bunch of these bikes and have about 6-10 bikes on a race day out on the track at any given time. Chris Boy # 954-608-0350. We will be at Daytona with a bunch of guys who run 1000ss if you are there come by and check us out.

WOW those are real good numbers!!!  How much cash sould I guy (no pun intended) expect to lay down for a package like this?

Guy

[grasshopper]

Great! Now I have to build my secret weapon over the winter to hang with the Cheater Ducati 1000's

[CounterSteerer]

Hey Jason,

Good luck to you at Daytona.  I was hoping to make Daytona for the first time this year but ended my season early in August w/ a crash in the LWF40 race.  I go in for surgery on Wed. Sept.27.
Not that I would be giving you a fight for the lead or anything like that but I was hoping to run Daytona.

Next Year!! If the wife lets me.......

And as for the original post:  It seems that the Ducati's are doing very well in the LW classes.  In addition it seemd that Jason is kicking some butt.

Again, Good Luck.

Tony.

Tony, thanks very much!

The Ducati definitely helps and that is my point I think people are becoming aware of it now.

There is Daytona in March I am sure you will be ready to go by then. Tell your wife I said it was ok  . Also tell her you are getting a Ducati 1000ss for next year because it is safer.

[CounterSteerer]

Guy, PM SENT

[roadracer618]

Tony, thanks very much!

The Ducati definitely helps and that is my point I think people are becoming aware of it now.

There is Daytona in March I am sure you will be ready to go by then. Tell your wife I said it was ok  . Also tell her you are getting a Ducati 1000ss for next year because it is safer.

If all goes well I should be at Daytona next year.  It all depends on if I recover from the beating the wife will give when I tell her I'm buying another bike.

I still have to figured out how to go faster on the SV before I look at a Ducati.  That could take me a while......  Old guy, slow learner...

Make us proud at Daytona.

Tony.

[George_Linhart]

Guy,

I've had my 2005 Ducati 1000SS for 6 weeks now, raced it for the first time at Autobahn with 3 firsts and 2 seconds.  BHF was my second outing, 2 second place finishes in the rain on saturday and 4th in the first LW race on sunday.  Its a very well balanced bike that puts out good power.  Its not quite as easy to ride as the SV, but it does reward good riding once you begin to addapt to some of the quirks.  I am confident that with a bit more experience on the Ducati that I can go much faster than I have to date!

On a FactoryPro dyno mine did 75 bhp and 56 lb/ft of torque.  Its got pipes, Dynojet PCIII, open airbox and a lightened flywheel.  While the bike makes good power, the nature of the air cooled 2 valve head gives you limited breathing - it pulls like a rocket to 8,000 rpm and then you run out of breath and adding insult to injury you then hit the rev-limiter (hard) at 8,400 rpm if you don't get it shifted quickly.   It just doesn't have any over-rev and it can't pull as long as the SV's can with their water cooled 4 valve heads.

In terms of weight, mine weighs in at 400 lbs without fuel.  From what I can tell, its fairly difficult to get weight down without spending quite a bit of money on hard to find parts and also getting stuff custom fabricated.  That said, if you have the money, 365 lbs dry should be reasonably easy.

It should be reliable - lower end/crank are basically straight off the Superbikes.  I've been told that the 2 valve heads do take some carefully watching and inspecting of the belts and valve clearances, but they should be robust.

This said, I'm not a good person to ask about reliability at the moment , I had to pull out of the later races on Sunday at BHF because the left side engine cover cracked and I ended up a bunch of oil in the bellypan (and lucky I didn't crash or oil the track).  I have asked around and this seems to be a freak occurance (outside of cracked cases  that result from a thrown chain nobody I've talked to has seen this before).  I am not sure if there is any internal damage but, I can tell you sourcing Ducati parts is expensive and all the parts come from Itally so a quick turn-around is not going to happen.  The alternator cover costs roughly $500.00 and at best will be here in 10 days.  At this point I don't think the bike will be back together by Gingerman (but I will try).

In general just assume that spare parts are few and far between and race set-up will be a bit more expensive than an SV.  Also, since its not nearly as common as the SV so you won't have the deep pool of aftermarket or the ability to beg, borrow & steal parts at the track.  Some parts are just about un-obtainable (I have heard of people waiting 6+ months for basic parts).  Some of the extra cost and difficulty sourcing parts can be partially offset as the stock suspension is pretty darn good with just re-springing.

For the LW class in CCS I am viewing it as pretty much a push between a highly built superbike SV and the Ducati.  With the built SV you have engines that go boom and weak cranks that can't stand up to being built much over 75 bhp (factorypro measurment).  With the Ducati you have a more robust engine but more expensive and harder to find parts.  I don't want to have the same bike as everyone else - I like having something different - so I went with the Ductati.  Ultimately, I'm going to shoot to get mine close to the 4 lbs/bhp limit allowed in Thunderbike over the next couple of years, but I expect that to get there I'm goint to need to spend an additional $6,000 - $10,000 in parts and engine work.

I think that its a great LW class proposition and they seem to suddenly be getting more attention from the racers who have to date just stuck with the SV.  Interestingly, since the SS platform was cancelled at the end of 2006 this renewed interest is just as the bikes will become unavailable...

If you have any questions, shoot me a PM or email.  I've only ridden an SV twice (not racing but it was two sessions at Schwantz's school last spring) and have now had the Ducati out a couple of times.  I think I can at least talk a bit about what I think the differences are between the two motorcycles as well as my limited experience tracking down parts.

George Linhart
CCS #773 AM

[EX_#76]

Geroge,
    Thanks for the input.  what handeling quirks have you found on the Duc? I knew the power was good,  I tried to hang with you when you passed me in the GTL race, Your bike was definitly faster than mine from about the middle of the straight on.  The Duc seems to be the next "Bike of choice" under our current rules structure, hence my interest.  How are the brakes?  the Duc has larger rotors, seems like it would be a good thing.  Does the Duc come with an Ohlins? 

[grasshopper]

The shame Guy, the absolute shame. I am very disappointed in your failure in confidence in your SV. 

[EX_#76]

Your right man....  I am having a hard time looking in a mirror at myself.  The switch will not happen too soon.  I have to come up with alot of cash that I do not have right now.  After you and I get those white plates, we can chase each other around for at least a season before I will be ready to make a switch.  That will keep me interested, entertained, possibly embarrased (especially if it is wet).  You truly are a "Moisture Missle" that was one impressive ride in the wet. 

[George_Linhart]

Brakes are F'n awsome.  Lots of power, no fade, easy to modulate.  Not as strong as the brakes on my 929, but better feedback and easier to control.

Ohlins shock came stock on the rear - its a good part, no need to do anything beyond re-springing.

Handling quirks - well, mainly it just isn't forgiving and won't tolerate slopiness.  If you don't have the right line and the right inputs there seems to be a lot of instability, it wanders and feels like its either going to slide out or fall over.  I really don't know how to explain it but when I am not going throug the corner correctly it just really feels very wrong.  Of course, get it right and it feels like its on rails.

A few other things I've noticed:

Its really tall and very narrow, especially at the bottom - the pegs fell like they are more narrow than the tank or "inside" of the frame which makes it difficult for me to weight the outside peg on corner exits as well as to get good transitions flicking the bike side to side like in chicanes.  I find I am losing a lot of drive on corner exits because of the peg weighting issue.  Instead of standing the bike up and driving out I am either spinning up the rear or just sitting and waiting on the bike to drift farther out of the corner before I can get on the gas.  Coming through the last couple of turns I at BHF I would carry a bit more speed through the mid-corners than you but I would lose any advantage on the exit - I could hear you get on the gas and drive out way earlier than I could begin my drive down the straights.  With the peg positioning I also find my outside leg tends to slip off the peg on corner entry just because I can't get my body leaned to the inside while reaching the outside foot around and over to the outside peg - then I'm going through mid-turn fishing to get my outside leg back onto the peg trying not to upset the bike.

Its a long reach to the handlebars, for those of us that are vertically challenged it is a bit of a difficult reach that involves laying over the tank to reach the bars.

The dry clutch is also different - it doesn't slip on launch at all like the typical wet clutch and it makes getting good starts a lot more difficult.

I'd strongly recomend a slipper clutch - lots of engine braking, more-so than I ever remembered on the SVs I rode.

I'm sure that I'll figure out how to deal with this stuff by altering my body position and/or changing my riding style.  I've already started to rely much more on mid-corner speed vs. trying to turn and shoot like I would on my other bikes.  I'm also finding that I can reach the pegs, they just are not where I am used to looking for them so I need to adapt and change to where they are...

George Linhart
CCS #773 AM

[jarelj]

In addition to the SS, the new Sport 1000/Paul Smart makes a great platform with the same engine as the SS.  The guys in the Canadian Thunder series have been kicking butt with a Paul Smart.  I got the chance to spend some time with the lead rider Mark at the Ducati dealer meeting last month, and he just raved about the new sport chassis, mainly about how stable it is compared to the SS chassis.  We just got a Paul Smart on Ducati's race program to build over the winter and race in LW/Thunderbike next year.  Parts are hard to come by right now, but that should be better in the spring.  Ducati's planning on having an expanded contingency program again in 2007 as well, so that will be great.  If you know you want to race a Duc next year, talk to your local dealer and let them know what you're planning so they can pass the info on to the race program guys at DNA, I've learned that they have a lot of discretion on where they channel the contingency dollars based upon who is asking for it! ;)

[JonGu]

Yeah Guy what's up with this? Go stand and face the corner! :D

[CounterSteerer]

Remember you get what you pay for Ducatis are expensive.  I have never had a problem getting parts for my Ducatis, 4 days is the longest I had to wait for a part. It does matter who you get the parts from. It also is important who is doing the work on your bike. Their are plenty of great Ducati mechanics that know diddle squat about getting the performance out of a air cooled motor. Example my Supersport bike makes 93hp others 75hp. My bike has been to GMD and handles wonderfully. I am 6'1 195lbs and in the process of moving my seat down and back to tuck fully under the windscreen easier.  I don't know how big George is but I have no complaints about my body position on the bike I feel it is comfortable and only making that modification for Daytona (every edge counts). I know two guys that just bought 2 1000ss after owning SV's. They are very happy with the change and definitely getting faster. I will try to get them to post here with their experience on this matter. Slipper clutch +1 on that item. Like George said it is a tall bike. When it came back from GMD it was a much longer reach to the ground. The vertically challenge racers that I race with are on there tippy toes when stopped. Maybe George will let you test ride his 1000ds if you promise not to buy one for next year 

[EX_#76]

Yeah Guy what's up with this? Go stand and face the corner! :D

Ok Ok Just stop hitting me

[SRobertson]

I have a SV superbike with about 97 hp.  Just picked up (and destroyed) an new Duc SS that showed 95 hp from Chris Boy at Moto Corse in S FL.  Chris and his crew (Al and sandbagger Jason on this thread) really know their shit.  They prepped the bike perfectly and really pay attention and visit every pit of every customer several times a day.  If you're in the FL or SE region and want to race a Duc, I would highly reccomend them. 

My two-race weekend experience thus far is that the Duc is that the Suzuki is quicker and the Duc is faster.  I am still working on set-up, but the Duc seems to be more intuitive and stable mid-corner.  The SV is definitely faster to flop from side to side.  The Duc has amazing brakes also.

[ahastings]

Ducati's planning on having an expanded contingency program again in 2007 as well, so that will be great.  If you know you want to race a Duc next year, talk to your local dealer and let them know what you're planning so they can pass the info on to the race program guys at DNA, I've learned that they have a lot of discretion on where they channel the contingency dollars based upon who is asking for it! ;)

If Ducati changes their program from Certs to cash I would seriously think about getting one for next year.

[Fat_Nate]

Nate, Whats up?
Have you been able to get back to the track since the move? It would be great to battle with you at Daytona.

Hey Jason,

I got on the track about a week ago for the races at Loudon.  The track is really tight and technical -- lots of fun, lots of steep ups and downs, too.  I'm a few seconds off the winning pace, but it's early yet!  I won't be at Daytona this fall, but maybe in March?  Having ridden at Daytona and ridden with you at Moroso, I'm pretty sure you should save some space in the trailer for those new trophies.  Good luck, and ask Gino about the "good line" into Turn 1!

Nate

[251am]

http://www.corsesuperbikes.com/pre_owned_list.asp

[goldwing70]

Grasshopper, fancy seeing you here!  How are the flatslide carbs doing?

I'm changing to the Paul Smart for next season.  Parting out my tricked out SV superbike soon.  Slipper clutch will be needed for sure.  I have not run it with the termis yet but the engine still pulls strong with the stock pipes.  It's going to be a interesting season

[Fat_Nate]

Nate, Whats up?
The only thing I expect to sweep at Daytona is the inside of our trailer.

Like I said, the only sweeping you need to do is to make room for those Daytona trophies.  It's only Saturday morning, and you've already got two in the books!  Awesome to read the results for you and Gino.  Congrats and good luck for the rest of the weekend.

Nate