I stopped by my neighbor's house today as I saw him prepping his Connie for a ride. Really nice 50degree day, today. This morning, he emailed that he scored a heated liner and I assumed he must be headed out for a test ride. He was part of a small group for a nice WVA weekend not too long ago and added an interesting personality.

He invited me to ride but since my Sprint sits with a bald rear tire I had to decline. Without hesitating he says, "well, why don't you take my 95 Duc 900SS or you can ride the Connie and I will take the SS?" And without a second thought I accepted the offer to ride the 900SS.

Ah, the glorious the dry clutch rattling away and the drilled out cans out cans talked to me as I was putting on my helmet, "c'mon, you know you want to taste the best Italian meal you ever had, right?"

We took off, three of us: a Connie C10, a VFR and the Duc. After getting used to the bar position, the need for significantly more counter-steering compared to my Sprint and adjusting my style to the dry clutch, I settled in for some nice local roads.

The SS is a sweet bike. The ride was only about 75mi of our backyard twisties, but a fantastic 75 they were. The bike is slightly twitchy in the sweepers as it instantly responds to any inputs and then settles wonderfully into tight bends with some proper body english. The taut suspension and stiff frame was a bit jarring on the bumps as they communicated the road inconsistencies. Throttle response from the carbs was consistent and smooth, power felt to peak out at about 8K and it didn't appreciate being lugged about at 3K. Lessening the weight on the grips resulted in a more planted feel but lacking any grip tape the result was short lived as I would slide into the tank despite my best efforts. It didn't take too long for me to begin to feel comfortable on the bike but the twitchiness kept me honest. Definitely a bike I would like to get to know more of. On a track it could be nirvana. I never saw the sixth gear as I enjoyed my time up through fourth.

Lovely little bike. I am sold.

I don't know if you've ever mentioned, but have you ever been on the track?

I've never ridden an SS. The riding position must be very aggressive and probably a little hard on the wrists and hands after a while. I imagine it would be easy to give it too much "rider input" on the bars, possibly upsetting the stability at lean. That motor, though, is almost the same as mine, except mine is fuel injected, which improves the running of the engine at low engine speeds that you noticed. My bike also has a more upright riding position. And unless you're cruising home on the interstate doing 90 you won't need to use the last gear or two. Even by lowering the gearing on my bike, by adding two teeth to the rear sprocket, the gearing is still taller than most bikes.

Thanks for telling us about your ride.