Test Rode a Buell Rant

[nweaver]

jambimmer: I've not just had ONE ride to base my judgement. I'm a demo ride junkie.

I've demoed basically every bike Buell has made in the past few years. (BeeLast and XBs, naked, faired, DP)

And its always been "Put a real engine & transmission and they'd be brilliant".

 

[jambimmer]

I do concur nweaver the engine and transmission are the imperfection. your posts are very objective

 

[jiffy]

Funny, I haven't had to find a good dealer with any of my other bikes, only the Buell's. On everything else I didn't have to worry about getting work done, or when I did it was no problem getting it done. When I had the Buell I was always having to call around looking for parts because no one ever had them. I called 4 local dealers (San Fran, Fremont, Walnut Creek, Bob Dron) to find a damn clutch cable, and only one dealer had it. Ever since Modesto stopped selling Buell's I had a tough time finding things.

Modesto is the only place I never had problems with. Fremont guys always talk about how great they are, but the couple of times I went there I was not happy. Seemed like people that were anxious to take my money, not make me happy.

I'd say your the only person on the planet that hasn't had a problem with dealerships then. I see threads on problem dealerships everyday on BARF.

 

[jiffy]

So am I supposed to be non-biased?

Talk about fires, isn't it Buell that has that problem?

Either way, I'm not going to argue, I was merely presenting my point of view. Read that article posted a bit back on the comparisson. Read Bike magazine a few months ago (GS 1150 Adv was rated the coolest bike of all time). Watch Long Way Round (lame example, but still). Look at most adventure riding sites and in all cases you will see that the GS is the weapon of choice. Sure you can make darn near anything capable as a do-it-all machine. Heck, a guy rode an R1 around the world. Have fun with that.

He mentioned he was thinking about a GS and I thought I'd add my thoughts and experiences.

Buells are still poop.

Your right. BMW's are one HOT bike.




http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220313

Sorry Buell bashing seems to be the popular thing to do. They are good streetbikes with an older desinged engine that does it's job well.

 

[tsyoung]

EZ is pulling 50 hp out of his Blast with only a few hundred dollars in aftermarket parts. He has at least 30k on the bike after riding up and down the coast and it is his daily rider. He claims his top speed on the bike was 115 mph at the salt flats.

A stock Blast is slow because it was made for newbs to learn on without killing themselves; but it does not take much effort to turn a Blast into a really hot flat track bike.

 

[longtallsally]

Your right. BMW's are one HOT bike.

Sorry Buell bashing seems to be the popular thing to do. They are good streetbikes with an older desinged engine that does it's job well.

So what's your point?

And you think BMWs don't get bashed? On ADV, you will find countless threads pissed at the GS for whatever reason in GSpot- and those from people who OWN them. It's just that Buells are easy target due to their poor quality and- contradictory to what you said- pathetic power train.

Every run down, article, story I've read over many years always mentions some quality issue with a Buell. Like I said, they look cooler than even the Italian bikes, and are said to handle better than many bikes on the road, but are utter junk based on the congenital heart failure they are born with.

If you tell me that you would choose to have a Buell to ride around the world as opposed to a GS (and money WAS a factor), then I'd say have fun. Dealer support, reputation, capability, and general durability all point to the GS as near as I can see.

I'm done. To each his own. Again, I was merely presenting my experience.

 

[Sidewalk]

EZ is pulling 50 hp out of his Blast with only a few hundred dollars in aftermarket parts.

Yep, because those bore kits, carbs, pipes, cams, porting and polishing, and all the other performance parts he has is only a "few hundred dollars"

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/ekitbuellblast.shtml

According to the NRHS site, a Buell pulling 50 HP has this work done:

"NRHS Stage 2X head work

NRHS 515cc Bolt-On Big Bore Kit
Andrews N9 cams
Mikuni HSR42 carburetor

Home made exhaust
Screaming Eagle Ignition"

The big bore kit alone is $375, cams another $265, carb $370. Not counting the ignition and exhaust that is $1000. Add in the Stage 2 head work, that is another $850.

If EZ claims that he didn't spend that much money, then I don't believe it. I don't think NHRS would post up a dyno sheet with 50 HP if they could have gotten more HP with the same amount of money invested.

 

[EbolaMonkey]

That bike on fire picture is crazy with a k! krazy!

Anyway, earlier today in walnut creek this weekend (visiting my woman) we were on our way to watch a movie, and i saw a harley/buell dealer. I figured we had some extra time, so i pulled over to check out the ulysses. As with the fremont store, even though there were harley customers there, the salesguy(im terrible with name) was really cool about everything. They didn't have one on the floor, but he pulled out their demo bike for me to check out. I did not ride, or bring my riding insurance, but he said it was cool and offered me a loaner helmet. I really wish i could have taken him up on the offer, but we would have been late for the movie. Anyway, i decided to at least check out the ergos and my first impression was this was a tall bike. They had the short seat on it (07 seat on the 06 model) and i had to really stretch to kind of flatfoot it. If you are not around 6' tall, i assume it would be a real pain backing up or pushing it around. The lady tried the passenger seat and she gave it two thumbs up - Especially with the beavertail backrest. (we left with her begging for me to buy one) After i got off and begin to inspect it further, i quickly noticed that the demo bike had been lowsided on its left side. I did not really inquire about this, but it seemed like the bike took the fall very very well and the frame pucks seem to work great! Other than a little scratch on the front turn signal handguard, and frame puck, i could not notice any other damage. We had to leave quickly, but i am very very eager to get a demo on one asap!

whoever that dude is who is in love with his GS, thats great that you love your bike and all, but yeaaah you arent biased at all... hah...

nobody seems to be selling used buell ulysses' so that should be a good sign too right?

 

[tsyoung]

If EZ claims that he didn't spend that much money, then I don't believe it. I don't think NHRS would post up a dyno sheet with 50 HP if they could have gotten more HP with the same amount of money invested.

Yes, you are correct. But I think he did it over a few years, not all at once. The cost is more reasonable when you buy the parts over time. I am just happy that somebody was able to give the bike that much extra power.

 

[Sidewalk]

nobody seems to be selling used buell ulysses' so that should be a good sign too right?

Can't resale a bike that didn't get sold in the first place can you? (that was a joke, don't anyone twist your panties)

Yes, you are correct. But I think he did it over a few years, not all at once. The cost is more reasonable when you buy the parts over time. I am just happy that somebody was able to give the bike that much extra power.

Maybe for some, but not me. More power to him that can put that much money into a bike. I know a lot of people won't hesitate to drop $2000 on a full exhaust alone for a bike, so I will try not to be hypocritical about it (even if I am not one of them).

But $2000 (plus suspension work, body kits, etc probably adding another $1000) into a bike that is over priced to begin with at $4700 and still being slower then a long list of superior bikes for the same amount of money just isn't my thing. He probably has about $8000 total into one of those Blast's, compare that to the cost of one of the available SM's on the market.

My wife put about 15,000+ miles on the Blast she had in about two years (bought it with 3000 miles used for $3000). So there isn't a shortage of experience with it. I had fun on the bike, but the most I could see myself putting into it is rear sets (home made) to increase the cornering clearence.

Just realized that this thread is getting jacked, sorry. Back on topic, and to restate what I said before, there is a long list of good bikes available besides the Uly and GS, don't settle just yet.

 

[nweaver]

Yes, you are correct. But I think he did it over a few years, not all at once. The cost is more reasonable when you buy the parts over time. I am just happy that somebody was able to give the bike that much extra power.

Yeah. $2k+ in parts and lord knows how much in labor to make a 500cc engine power competitive with an EX500, a nearly 20 year old Japanese 500cc engine...

Thats a real testament to Buell right there.

Any 500cc bike which gets, out of the box, less power than an EX250, a 20+ year old Japanese 250cc, should not be proud.