Wish I had great progress to report but of late, I haven't gotten much done. In actual work on the bike, absolutely nothing.
In getting parts, that's a different story.Ordered up a few things recently. Most arrived just yesterday, though a piece did arrive last week.
I got a new carbon front fender from RSR Moto in the UK. They do some really tasty carbon bits that are well finished.
I am going with a matte carbon on all my carbon parts on this build. RSR sells a really nice, simple weave with a matte finish.
I think the look is befitting the simple elegance of the 900 Supersport:
That's the only major piece that I got. Also got some silicon jacketed copper 10 gauge primary wire to wire up the start circuit. Also, previously got some large crimpers with dies for just such a job. Some tinned copper eyelets too. Just gotta find the time to get out in the garage and get that done.
I charged up the AGM battery that it came with so I can at least get the starter motor to turn the bike over and run some oil though the thing before I install the beautifully restored carbs from ducatiman.
I had hoped to have a rolling chassis done by now. Didn't happen. I'm in need of 2 things to make that happen. 1) I gotta get the rear shock serviced or rebuilt or both and 2) I gotta get in touch with a machinist to machine a tube I got so I have a front axle spacer.
Problem #1, the stock OEM bearings in the SSie wheel I got early on in this project use a 25mm axle. I have a front end from 1996 Supersport SP set up for a 20mm axle.
I initially planned on just swapping out the wheel bearings and calling it good but Ducati threw me a curve ball in that, the newer SSie wheel uses a 12mm wide bearing. The OEM bearing for the 20mm axle are 14mm wide. No bueno.
My solution was to have a spacer made to take up the difference and just use the OEM 25mm bearings and shim them down to use the 20mm axle. To that end, I ordered a 25mm OD tube from Amazon. That's the part that arrived last week.
It fits perfectly through the internal wheel spacer which is the same ID as the bearings. I just need 1mm taken out of the ID of the tube for the whole thing to work. That, and cut it to correct length.
The rear shock is a different matter. I have a rear shock from an SSie which is around 12mm longer than the pre-electronic injection bikes. This is a good thing, as there are precious few ways to alter the rear ride height on the cantilever rear suspension on a old Supersport.
The bad thing is, the shock is a Sachs and there are even fewer options on servicing that. I've contemplated buying a better aftermarket shock but I've decided that is something I can do later on, right now I just need to get a shock under the rear end.
That is the extent of my progress, and why. Rear shock is preventing assembly of the rear end. Axle spacer is preventing assembly of the front end. The result is, no rolling chassis.
More later, when I have something more significant to update......sean