That the local hardcase was the owner of the Ducati says it all. That he was moving on to a 996, merely a confirmation that crime does pay. Having witnessed him beat the shit out of some Casanova type who'd tried to nick his girlfriend, I wasn't going to make any silly offers. Despite his dubious status, the Duke was immaculate - I often saw him shooting around on a pushbike, much harder to trace when doing deals! No test ride allowed but a blast on the pillion followed. The pinprick pupils should've warned me that he was on something serious; he either didn't give a damn about his future or was convinced that he was a master of the universe; either way, I'd never been so frightened before in my life...
The ton through slow moving traffic, going against the traffic lights and doing a ninety degree skid to avoid being mashed by a Transit were a few of the more minor misdemeanours before | decided to hold on tight and close my eyes! Back on solid ground, I looked the V-twin motor over - ticked over regularly, no untoward engine noises and no oil leakage or smoke. The clock read 11000 miles and he even had service receipts to back it up. Three and half grand in used fifties. A bargain, I decided!
Things that would've been immediately obvious on a brief test ride - the clutch was incredibly heavy and jerky, the gearchange nearly tore my trainer shod foot apart and the engine didn't really want to run below 3000 revs. On the plus side, crack open the throttle hard, the exhaust would bellow and the motor snarl mechanically, the whole plot shooting up the road as the power was laid down viciously; I could almost feel the chain and back tyre disintegrating!
I was expecting some kind of miraculous stability, having only owned Jap crap in the past, but the tyres seemed alive with a life of their own and the suspension let through lots of minor bumps and ripples. Didn't need much effort to control, though my wrists were soon aching (from both the riding position and the heaviness of the controls). After a while, I realised the bike was giving back an exceptional amount of feedback and that it did, indeed, stay on line with a great deal of tenacity.
The motor didn't exactly vibrate but it never faded into the background, always giving out a rather raw feel of fighting its way through the combustion process. Used to relatively sophisticated Japanese fours, it took a couple of months before I really adapted to the Ducati, and that included some pretty heavy work-outs to improve my upper body strength - the only way I could find to take the SS for more than half an hour at a time. I wasn't exactly a wimp to start out with, either!
At about 14000 miles, the front exhaust pipe started to crack up! This led to a front cylinder that ran like some vintage charmer, messing up the power delivery and making the bike bounce along like an out of control tank! Whatever faults the Jap bikes have, at least there's usually a source of cheap spares in the breakers. Not so with the Ducati, some wally wanted more than a ton for a new front downpipe! The local breaker agreed to point his welding gun at the pipe for some drinking money (20 sovs, you should see his beer gut!), which merely left me with a pipe with a large hole in it! For another 20 sovs, he agreed to weld in another bit of pipe. Don't know if he did it deliberately or if it was down to crap Italian steel.
The carburation wasn't entirely happy with this minor mod to the exit path of the exhaust gas. The disinclination to run cleanly below 3000rpm was intensified and there was a slight stutter at 5000 revs. Could be said to give the bike even more character, I suppose, but it didn't really need any extra idiosyncrasies. Top speed was a gut churning 135mph, hard acceleration available up to around 120mph, but you had to get your head right down in the clocks to really go for it! Fuel was usually around 50mpg, but just meandering along at a relaxed 4500-5000rpm tumed in 60mpg until the wrist ache unnerved me! I know, if I wanted to get all laid back and upright rather than uptight I should've gone for a Monster; the 750SS's stylish lines had got into on my imagination.
The next little spot of trouble came at 15500 miles. The clutch began to rattle in a grim way - a perennial Ducati weakness! The thing had always given the impression of wanting break up into a million pieces and I wasn't surprised to learn that the drum's bearings were shot. A second hand unit was fitted - lo and behold, the clutch was much lighter and less jerky, though now the primary drive gears whined away happily and the ratios went in with a bang if I didn't get the change dead right.
I had the impression that the tolerances in the engine could go every which way and a squad of Italian gnomes were employed to assemble the myriad components so that they approximated to the engineering drawings. Didn't fit in with the usual UMG's reader's philosophy of hitting recalcitrant parts with a large hammer.
A fairly happy summer went by in a daze of speed, tarmac and even squealing babes (they like the looks and the saddle/vibes leave them feeling all raw and randy), the Ducati hammering up the miles with nothing much more than oil, fuel and the odd maintenance session (the valves left alone; too complex). By 28500 miles there was a mild knocking noise from the bottom of the engine at low revs. Application of screwdriver to engine and ear to the soft end of the tool revealed that the main bearings were likely to disintegrate any time soon! I did learn later that putting Halford's recycled engine oil in the mill every 1500 miles wasn't the brightest of ideas but I'd always got away with it on my Japanese iron.
The Duke was traded for a very nice R1 at a slight loss but it was smiles all the way to the nearest bit of empty road and wham, bang, thank you, mam, I was back in glorious Nippon-land. I could conclude that the Duke was a bag of old nails with a flash surface style but I don't want the original owner, ever so nice chap that he is, paying me a visit in the dark hours. So? So, the SS was an interesting experience that most bikers should go through at least once, just to learn how lucky they are with the plethora of high tech Jap machines on offer... I just heard that the 996 is up for grabs, might just wander along for a test ride!
Alex Grace