1981 Ducati 900 Super Sport Desmo Darmah aka 'SSD' ~
For Sale
Offering “For Sale” is a fully restored 1981 Ducati 900 SSD that
has been rebuilt from the crank-up. Frame number is
DM900SD*950999. Ian Falloon in his book, Ducati 860,900, &
Mille Bible on page 84 states that, “Although not as lithe
and lean as the 900 Super Sport, the 900 SSD was one of Ducati’s
more successful styling exercises.” This Ducati blended the best
of the aggressiveness of the 900 SS and offered a stable and
comfortable platform for the street rider. A very sought after
model with only 1400 built.
The boxes of bits for this Ducati Bevel Drive 900 SSD came in a
large bevel drive inventory that I purchased from Biggelaar
Specialty Performance, a third generation Ducati dealer in The
Netherlands. It has been a real privilege to work with the
talented Ducati engine builders at Biggelaar who restored the
engine from the “crank-up”.
Jan and Toine Biggelaar, as well as their team of experts, are
very talented racers and tuners in their own right. Their
expertise is obvious with the care and attention to detail that
they put into this engine build. This engine, number
DM860*900527 started its life as a Darmah with the smaller
valves. The crank was magna-fluxed and balanced with the new
lightened Super Sport rods. Toine used Hasting piston rings on
Borgo Super Sport pistons. All bearings, to include the main
engine bearings, are new and not the cheap items that can be
found on the internet. Viton valve guides that are hardened to
use with modern fuels were also installed. All transmission
gears that needed replacing were replaced with NOS items.
Additionally, the bevel gears in the bottom end of the engine
were tested and replaced as well as a new clutch and internals.
The engine cases were also pressure tested and any hairline
cracks or imperfections were professionally welded and fixed.
New piston sleeves were bored professionally to take the Super
Sport Borgo pistons and we used 900 SS heads with new rockers
and Desmo valve gear. This race spec engine picks up revs very
quickly and starts immediately with the rebuilt electric starter
motor. As a race prepped 900 SS engine, it comes with 40 mm Del
Orto’s connected by rubber boots for better insulation to the
Malossi manifolds! She truly performs as well as she looks.
The header pipes have been re-chromed and mount into a set of
new Conti Replica exhaust pipes. I have the original Lafranconi
exhaust mufflers, but I felt that it was sacrilegious not to use
anything other than a Conti style muffler for that wonderful
exhaust note.
The 18” Oscam wheels have replaced the scary Speedline wheels
that were common on this SuperSport as we did not wish to
subject the new owner to Speedline’s dubious history of
breaking. I have used NOS Dual Front Disc Brakes with new Brembo
F08 calipers and stainless steel lines though covered in black
rubber to look vintage. I use a modern Brembo master cylinder
with the calipers as I believe that this is a safer
configuration for the street. I used the black “dog-leg” lever
to match the black “dog-leg” lever off of the Tommaselli clutch
lever. Pirelli Speed Demon rubber is new and measures 100/90/18
at the front and 120/80/18 at the rear.
We also rebuilt the Marzocchi front forks that came with this
Super Sport. Totally restored Marzocchi rear shocks hold up the
rear of the bike. The unique front fairing of the 900 SSD was
provided by Phil at Road & Race. New Nippon Denso gauges are
mounted to the front fairing bracket.
The bodywork and fuel tank have been fixed where needed and
painted . We painted the bodywork with the original silver and
added the blue decals from CutGrafix. Tony O’Connor of Eldorado
Seat Restoration provided the seat cover to his exacting
standards. I am pleased with how the colour scheme of the bike
worked out and it is very satisfying to be getting the accolades
on Social Media or when the bike is in public.
As this Ducati 900 “SuperSport” SSD was built for spirited but
reliable riding on the street, we made our own wiring
harness/loom and use modern, more reliable materials with
original connectors as well a upgraded fuse box. Dyna coils were
used for greater reliability. Our philosophy is to keep the soul
of the vintage bike but upgraded with modern components for
safety and for reliability purposes. We have kept the turn
signals for states or countries that require them. All of the
original items that were replaced by the new modern, more
reliable items have been kept.
In conclusion, the engine has run long enough for
tuning of the carbs and for one test ride. Other than that, this
is as new as one can get with a motorcycle that was originally
built in the early 1980’s. Toine Biggelaar can speak to the
full engine build and he can be reached at
[email protected] . This machine carries a
clear, valid US title for Arizona.
Asking Price: $25,949.00 US Dollars Or Best Offer
No
Longer For Sale
Shipping available through Bevel Heaven
anywhere in the lower 48 states for ~ $703
Click
HERE for more info & to purchase the service |
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