Regarding the Supersport 800...

[shil]

My brother's got his eye on a new old stock Supersport 800.  A local dealer has one for $8K USD.
How well do these work as Sport Touring bikes?  

[atadaskew]

I have one.  I love the bike.  But there is a reason it is called "Supersport".  This thing would be horrible for sport touring.
Handlebars are waaay too low (risers do not work properly as you will get clearance problems with the fairing), the suspension puts the "t" in taught!  Lovely motor, chassis and handling but I would not recommend it as a good choice for touring.
Of course, you can tour on anything if you really want to....

[OSJ]

I have a 04 800ss that I bought in October of 04 for $7299.00, this is the first year of the lower priced 800's because of cheaper suspension.  I would have preferred a 03 or even a 04 1000ss but none were available when I was shopping.

I got a little over 24k mile on mine, I also had a Concours for a 1.5 years that I put 30k on.  And for me I always felt just a bit more comfortable on the duck. Yes that’s not a miss print, I enjoyed the duck far more and even though it was not intended for sport touring I feel it’s the perfect bike for me.

But there are some short comings you must put up with.  THe biggest for me was the bars, Very low.  I wasn’t happy with any of the after market risers so I did this.

I took the stock clip ons and flipped them over then put the right one on the left side and visa versa.  So now instead of them angling down they go up.

To solve them from hitting the fairing I did this.  It was an accident that I figured this out.  I was lowering the bike off a rear stand by myself once and didn’t check to see if the side stand was deployed all the way, which it wasn’t. So of course the bike fell to the left when I try to put it on the stand.  My work bench kept it from getting any damage, but it did bend the support for the upper fairing into the bars.  Luckily no plastic broke.  

So I stood in front of the bike and pulled the medal support up and away from the handle bar and I pulled it too far. This gave me an extra 2" of clearing for the bars.  So I then pulled the right side up to match the left.  This winter I will weld the support arm to snug it up some, but from looking at it I did no visible damage to the weld.  

Now with the bars nice & high I needed to fix the seat.  Corbin use to sell a seat with the lady backrest for the older 7500ss model.  According to Corbin that seat did not fit the 800/1000 series ( different pan they said )  I was lucky enough to find a Corbin seat with the yellow piping on Craig list.  Brand new never taken out of the box, but it was for a 01 750ss.   I took a chance and bought it anyways and it fits perfectly!

This was really purchased for my wife, she loves riding on the back of the duck!

The stock gearing sucks so a larger rear sprocket was added, and of course the arrow pipes make sweet music!  I have ram balls all over the machine to mount my camera, video camera, GPS, Satilite radio & CB.  I plan on adding a J&M system this year and will need to do a little custom work for that to fit.

I also have a full gerbin suit hooked up because I ride it all winter!

I've done many 300-400 mile rides, several days in a row.  My longest on the duck is 640 miles,  that was day 2 of a 3 day ride that was 1500 mile weekend.  

My next purchase is some hard bags from the Multi and I am going to have some custom brackets attached so I can have some hard luggage.  Currently GIVI or other after market bag companies do not make luggage for this bike.

I plan on taking this bike to Indy next year, and a trip back to the dragon as well. In hindsight I most likely should have
 bought the ST3 or Multi for the type of riding I do.  But this bike cost me thousands less, does what I want it to do, and now is paid for and puts a big smile on my face every time I ride!

[st ryder]

That's a sharp yellow bike. The older the PT SS design gets, the better it looks IMO. Whats that antenna thing on the back of the bike in the Deals Gap pic? Rider to passenger communication?

[atypical1]

That is sweet! I have always liked that design and found mine very comfortable to ride but you have definitely made improvements on it.

I see the back rest, do you do a lot of two-up riding?

james

[OSJ]

That's a sharp yellow bike. The older the PT SS design gets, the better it looks IMO. Whats that antenna thing on the back of the bike in the Deals Gap pic? Rider to passenger communication?

I fell in love with this latest generation SS because it reminded me of the SuperMono, one of my  all time fav bikes!

The antenna of the back is hooked into my Midland CB,  Which I have plugged into a motocomm system that is in the tank bag.  As well as my cell phone, satellite radio/MP3 and GPS.  Ive been very happy with my moto comm system, its cheap and works just fine.  The mess of wires is the biggest down fall.

Most of the guys I ride with have JMCB systems or gold wings with built in cb's.  The SS has a European passing light switch on the left handle bar and I re wired my PTT button onto this switch.  Santa is bringing me a new Zumo so I can replace my gps/radio/mpe system with one unit.

[OSJ]

That is sweet! I have always liked that design and found mine very comfortable to ride but you have definitely made improvements on it.

I see the back rest, do you do a lot of two-up riding?

james

I do ride 2 up a lot.  My wife is into bikes, and ducks just as much as me.  I would guess we have about 150k miles together over the last 20 years of riding.

But with 4 kids at home, 2 being kinda young its hard for us to do many long trips.  I bought the Corbin many for her, we had a Corbin on every bike before this and she really likes them.  I did find the seat to give me a little more room to move over the stock seat, and I think it looks better.





We also collect race replica helmets, did I say she's a keeper!!!

[2006 800SS]

I have a 04 800ss that I bought in October of 04 for $7299.00, this is the first year of the lower priced 800's because of cheaper suspension.  I would have preferred a 03 or even a 04 1000ss but none were available when I was shopping.

I got a little over 24k mile on mine, I also had a Concours for a 1.5 years that I put 30k on.  And for me I always felt just a bit more comfortable on the duck. Yes that’s not a miss print, I enjoyed the duck far more and even though it was not intended for sport touring I feel it’s the perfect bike for me.

But there are some short comings you must put up with.  THe biggest for me was the bars, Very low.  I wasn’t happy with any of the after market risers so I did this.

I took the stock clip ons and flipped them over then put the right one on the left side and visa versa.  So now instead of them angling down they go up.

To solve them from hitting the fairing I did this.  It was an accident that I figured this out.  I was lowering the bike off a rear stand by myself once and didn’t check to see if the side stand was deployed all the way, which it wasn’t. So of course the bike fell to the left when I try to put it on the stand.  My work bench kept it from getting any damage, but it did bend the support for the upper fairing into the bars.  Luckily no plastic broke.  

So I stood in front of the bike and pulled the medal support up and away from the handle bar and I pulled it too far. This gave me an extra 2" of clearing for the bars.  So I then pulled the right side up to match the left.  This winter I will weld the support arm to snug it up some, but from looking at it I did no visible damage to the weld.  

Now with the bars nice & high I needed to fix the seat.  Corbin use to sell a seat with the lady backrest for the older 7500ss model.  According to Corbin that seat did not fit the 800/1000 series ( different pan they said )  I was lucky enough to find a Corbin seat with the yellow piping on Craig list.  Brand new never taken out of the box, but it was for a 01 750ss.   I took a chance and bought it anyways and it fits perfectly!

This was really purchased for my wife, she loves riding on the back of the duck!

The stock gearing sucks so a larger rear sprocket was added, and of course the arrow pipes make sweet music!  I have ram balls all over the machine to mount my camera, video camera, GPS, Satilite radio & CB.  I plan on adding a J&M system this year and will need to do a little custom work for that to fit.

I have a completly stock 2006 I bought in August of 06 and have 2600 miles on it. It also has a very radical forward low positon (I think both our bikes are pretty much the same) that doesn't make it a good long distance rider for my 5'6" 145lb body. Atleast for me.

I was wondering about your bar swaping and what kind of clearance problems you had with the bars hitting the fairing. I am a little unclear on what you are "bending" to give the clearance you need. Will the bars hit if you don't do the bending that you are talking about?

This may be the ticket to making this bike much more comfortable for long rides. I have a new larger rear sproket (42T) and gold DiD chain to get it geared a little lower but figured I would wait until the tire wore out before putting it on. It does have a surge in the 3500 to 5000rpm "cruising range" and have been told this will make a big difference. When you are on and off the accelerator in the twisty's you don't notice it. These bikes do really run for what they are!

I have thought about a different exhaust such as the Termigoni. Then I think of the cost as well as the noise it will produce. The cops don't hear you coming as easily, ha, ha. The stock exhaust is nice and quiet but it surly dosen't make your hair stand on end like the sound of a Ducati with a pipe on it. Pure heaven......

I have also thought about a Sargent seat as that may make it more comfortable on long rides. The stock seat is OK but it is tilted in such a way that your jewel's can be pressed hard against the tank. Others have said that if you are on the track or riding allot of twisties and moving around on the seat allot that the stock seat is better than a Sargent or Corbin.

I have been thinking about selling it or trading it on maybe a BMW Boxercup series (04-05) as I think it would be allot more comfortable and more verstaile than the Ducati. Another thought I have is a new 2008 Honda CBR 1000RR for an all out sport bike. I havn't set on that one yet but I have sat on the 06 and it feels nicer to me than the Ducati.

Anyway, you have some good suggestions here that makes me think, "maybe I could enjoy this bike more with the clip on swap".  

[JoBu]

Wow...great work on the clip-ons OSJ.  Man, you guys are making me miss my SS.  That is the one bike I hated to let go.  

I put a couple of 1500+ mile weekends on my '99 900SS and felt just fine on it.  I did stop every 150 miles for gas and that made a difference.  While I don't think it is the ultimate touring machine, you can certainly put some serious miles on the bike.  I do think one thing that helped was hitting the gym and ensuring I did some lower back exercises.  That combined with the clip-on inversion would help a lot, me thinks.

For the record, the Sargent Seat made a TREMENDOUS diffence on my SS.  I absolutely loved it.  If you are interested, I still have it and it is for sale.  I'm sure I can work you a deal on it (especially if you get a red SS as the pillion portion of the seat is red).  I also have some hi-mount Remus slip-ons I will be selling along with the adapters to still use the stock passenger foot pegs.  

Cheers,

Joe

[atadaskew]

For the record, the Sargent Seat made a TREMENDOUS diffence on my SS.  I absolutely loved it.  If you are interested, I still have it and it is for sale.  I'm sure I can work you a deal on it (especially if you get a red SS as the pillion portion of the seat is red).  I also have some hi-mount Remus slip-ons I will be selling along with the adapters to still use the stock passenger foot pegs.  

Cheers,

Joe

Joe, is your 99SS the new style or the old style?

[JoBu]

Mine is the new style (PT design).







I've also got a vented (gold screen) carbon front fender that I need to sell.  You can see it on the bike in the first photo.  C'mon you SS folks...this is some nice stuff.  

Cheers,

Joe

[OSJ]

I will take some close up photo's next time I am at my office ( that's where I keep the bike )  But I will try and explain my custom bar riser project better.  I had purchased a after market replacement clip-on's that didn’t really fit too well.  When I went to put the stock one back on is when I realized flipping them and switching sides would.

Right from the start I couldn’t believe how much better it felt, but they did hit the fairing in full lock side to side, but not the tank.  Actually my hands would hit the mirror stocks before the bar came in contact with the fairing.  I took the mirrors off and put them on the top of the mounts to give me a little more room. (Look closely at the 1st photo I posted and you can see how the mirrors are mounted a little different than stock)  But the bars did hit the fairing.  I rode the bike for 2 years like this.  You just needed to be careful doing u turns, but the way I looked at it I was much happier riding even though I lost some steering lock.

It wasn’t until I dropped the bike in July of this year that I realized I could bend the bracket to allow more room.  I put the bike on the rear stand, then stood in front just over the front wheel.  Grab the fairing just about where the mirrors attach to the bracket and slightly pull up.  It pulls up pretty easy, but keep in mind you are bending it right were its welded together.  I had my local welder look at it after I raised it and he didn’t think it was weakened but just to be sure I will have him sure it up a little this winter.

If you got back and look at the photo's you cant see any difference in the fairing before it was raised.  So there is plenty of room for some movement.

[atadaskew]

Mine is the new style (PT design).


I've also got a vented (gold screen) carbon front fender that I need to sell.  You can see it on the bike in the first photo.  C'mon you SS folks...this is some nice stuff.  

Cheers,

Joe

Any damage to the pipes? Those come with passenger peg adapters you say?  How much for seat and pipes?  I'm a thinkin' 'bout the Termis but these seem nice...

[JoBu]

Any damage to the pipes? Those come with passenger peg adapters you say?  How much for seat and pipes?  I'm a thinkin' 'bout the Termis but these seem nice...

The pipes are in very good condition.  The bike was never down.  Let's see...I was planning on putting all this stuff on Ebay after the New Year (although I did put the seat on the classifieds here), but I'd rather see all of them go to someone on here.  I paid about $750 for the pipes, $100 for the adapters for the passenger pegs, and around $360 for the seat.  That's about $1200.  Let's factor in the holiday discount   and of course the fact that they are used...does $600 sound fair?  I'll even split shipping (an incentive for me to find cheaper rates  ).  Let me know what you think.  I can take some pics of the pipes as well.  They have Ducati Performance stickers on them (still in good condition) but they could be removed, if you chose to do so.  

Although this is very subjective, these are honestly the best sounding pipes I've ever heard on the SS models.  They seem to resonate a wee bit deeper than the carbon cans I've heard plus they have a very mean sound in the upper r.p.m.'s.  But, they are not too loud.  I always thought they were kind of loud when riding the bike, but I've had many people tell me that they are not loud at all when I pass them or ride near them.  

Although I don't know your personal taste for sound, I can almost guarantee that you'll love these pipes the first time you fire your bike up with them on.  

Cheers,

Joe

[atadaskew]

PM sent Jobu

[JoBu]

PM back at 'cha.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.  Sorry for the hi-jack, folks.  

Cheers,

Joe

[Dichotomous]

definately one of the more beautiful bikes I have ever seen