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Hi all

I might be buying ,if the bike is still available a 77 900SS with original 2500 untouched miles on it ,

My question is a simple one , apart from giving the bike a good clean here and there, the clear coat has started to flake of , however the paint is still very good with only some minor chips , how should a bike like this be tackled? as i want to leave it in original condition should I only have the clear coat resprayed or touch up the chips at the same time. if for what ever reason the color match is off and than the clear coat is applied this would then take some of the authenticity away from the bike and this I dont want to do.

So what would you do ?

Based on your description Martin, and without seeing it myself, I'd just leave it as it is without touching up anything and no clear-coat. My 76/77 SS was very tatty when I got it, so required the full treatment, but if it had been in better condition, I'd have left it as it was.

my 2c.

Cheers
Geoff

original is only 'original' until it has been repaired or repainted.

as described, I would NOT repair or repaint. Just clean her up and enjoy her as is.

Dont touch it.
A lot of the time old paint will react badly with fresh solvent (thinners) being applied over it, which will require full strip & respray then.
Give it a polish & wax it to protect what is left of your original paint.

Dave Ward
Moto Italia
Aprilia-Ducati-Moto Guzzi
0432 441 985

my 2 c worth-clean it up see what its like-being low mileage,it should still have all orig parts on it
a clean unrestored ss is a thing of beauty.
that said -you will have problems with all the rubber bits
is it a 76 or 77-euro or us--there are a few differences
cheers steve

Thanks everyone
The bike is a 77 US I first found out about the bike 6 months ago and have been kicking myself ever since and today I found out that the same person has another with 9000miles on it also a 77 SS as the first bike might no longer be for sale but I will find out later this week if there is still a chance
This person also has a unrestored greenframe didnt dare ask if that was for sale

The clear coat has got a brown look to it nad the desmo sticker on the tail section is all but gone yes all the bits are on it even the original tiers

which me luck and hopefully I might be an SS owner some time soon

how much-tatty ones in adelaide have sold for high 20's

Steve this one was for US$18k but the other one might be cheaper , will find out later or early next week, You just dont find them in OZ anymore unless yo know someone and I was after a 77 as I like the spoke wheels over the 78's alloy wheels

even cheaper-your looking at 25k + oz-doesnt leave much scope to further invest in it-but i will say -dont break the headlight

The '78 still had spoke wheels. My father in law still has his to this day.
They are probably my pick of the bunch because they are still a silver/blue spoke wheel SS but they have a Bosch engine in the 900's, 750's still had the old stator plate.

Dave Ward
Moto Italia
Aprilia-Ducati-Moto Guzzi
0432 441 985

stanley wrote:The '78 still had spoke wheels. My father in law still has his to this day. They are probably my pick of the bunch because they are still a silver/blue spoke wheel SS but they have a Bosch engine in the 900's, 750's still had the old stator plate.

Dave Ward
Moto Italia
Aprilia-Ducati-Moto Guzzi
0432 441 985

They actually made silver/blue Bosch-equipped '78 SS's with *either* spoke or gold cast wheels... a couple I know had a '78 with cast wheels... I loved that bike and almost ended up with it (in around 1988) but money was in short supply... eventually I got their '80 SS instead, in 1993. They bought both of them new when they were young and crazy. Occasionally I still ride the '80 to their place in the mountains and they love to see it.

I agree about '78 being a peak year. I like the cast wheeled bikes myself, just because, and to my eyes the silver/blue '78 with gold cast wheels was the coolest thing ever... only problem is the wheels cracked until FPS wheels came along in '80. So on a practical level I got the better bike of the two.

I have seen pictures of them but never seen one in the flesh so I thought they were oddball. Maybe they didnt come to Australia???

[/quote]They actually made silver/blue Bosch-equipped '78 SS's with *either* spoke or gold cast wheels[/quote]

This is interesting to me. The 1978 parts book shows both silver/blue and black/gold bikes with Speedline wheels. When I stripped the old paint off my bike, made in November 1978, I found the side panels were originally painted silver but I assumed they were just using up old parts. Now I wonder what the original colour really was. Perhaps I have a choice of colours.

Bruce

Its probably not too hard to figure out which color the bike was painted from the factory: if a '78 900SS had silver/blue bodywork from the factory, the frame would also have been silver (not black). If the bike had black bodywork, the frame would've been black too.

1982 900SS's came with a (unique) silver paint scheme and black frame, but earlier bikes did not mix bodywork/frame colors.