but it was worth it. I had to wake up early catch a bus downtown at 530, catch a ride with a co-worker who just happened to be driving through harrisburgh. I arrived at the dealership about 10:15, and at 11 I was on the road with my new bike....
(http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5948_20100619132456_L.jpg)
(http://www.buellxb.com/buell_images/5948_20100619132603_L.jpg)
The ride home took me a total of 5 hours, including multiple stops at rest stops to make sure I stretched and ate, since it's been a long time since I've ridden on the highway.
First impression is that this bike is tiny. The bars were like 5 inches closer to me than I expected them to be. I felt like I was sitting vertical the whole way home, and can actually scoot by butt onto the rear seat and still feel like I'm an ok distance from the handlebars. I have some renthals I'm going to trade for and see if they feel any better. If I look behind me when I'm sitting on the bike I can't even see the rear seat. The engine is super torquey too. I have to give the GS a good bit of gas before I let out the clutch, but the first time I tried to let out the clutch on this bike it just lurched forward. I was pretty surprised. The power seems to be perfect for the kinda riding I do. It has pretty good pull just over idle in trade for only having normal acceleration up top instead of the mind numbing hp that you get from inline 4s. It was definitely nice being able to actually accelerate at 2-3k rpm as well, not to mention cruising at 80mph on the highway at 4krpm.
I'll have to do something about the yellow. It only has 3500 miles(it was a wife's bike, post-divorce special for $3200), so everything is still in great shape. I'm hoping someone around here with pretty much any color will want to trade. There must be someone out there who wishes they had a yellow bike. That rear fender will need chopped down, but I'm going to wait until I can find a spare on ebay instead of chopping into mine. Otherwise I'm going to leave it stock. The exhaust has a really nice sound without being loud, and you should hear the intake roar at 30mph, I've never heard anything like it.
It also turns out that my helmet isn't as quiet as I thought it was. I got a massive headache from all the noise the wind made. I stopped at a rest stop and made some ear plugs out of toilet paper, which seemed to help, but the damage was already done. I'll remember to buy some ear plugs before I have to ride on the highway again. If I'm ever going on the highway for a couple hours I may try to find some kind of big ugly clamp on windshield for the trip. After I get some more time in I'll write up a good review for the comparison thread.
xb9s? i had one as a loaner while my 883c was in for service. BTW the engine is a sportster plant with high comp. heads. ( i am qualled to do warranty work on these things. before i let my sportie go i purchased heads from one of these, along with teh pushrods, and :icon_twisted: a supercharger. that bike went from PDQ ( pretty damned quick) to evil fast. i pulled the charger and heads from it, before i said goodbye to my sportie though and restored it to stock. these are fun rides. no matter what the anti harley ( and usually uninformed too say bout it. i AM a harley guy by heart ( WHO btw loves the gs too ;) BUT if i see a harley design thats a POS or a bike thats a POS ill be the first to tell you. BUT tt congrats
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on June 19, 2010, 10:41:16 PM
these are fun rides. no matter what the anti harley ( and usually uninformed too say bout it. i AM a harley guy by heart ( WHO btw loves the gs too ;) BUT if i see a harley design thats a POS or a bike thats a POS ill be the first to tell you.
Welcome back. Did you get a new computer? It is an xb9, I forgot to mention that.
The anti-HD market doesn't care for them, but so does the HD market. They can get away with hating japanese bikes because they try to stick to that 'american muscle' thing, but obviously when Buell is making bikes that are just as american, and have more muscle, and they still hate them just as much, they're really showing their true colors. All they care about is the name, and having a bike that looks like it's strong, even if the size of the engine is way larger than it needs to be for it's displacement. I'm always curious where these bikes would've gone had HD actually put their name on it, painted them black and orange, and encouraged HD riders to check them out.
What is "trade count (1)" under your name?
OMG... you have records!
As for the Yellow... I guarantee... if you just live with it for a short while you'll grow to like it - and its uniqueness.
With the exhaust, does it come out blowing on your left foot when stationary?
So... the GS is relegated to the dusty corner again?
Michael
Quote from: Homer on June 20, 2010, 10:22:00 AM
What is "trade count (1)" under your name?
Apparently someone was pleased with something I sold them on here. I never even noticed that was there, or knew that we could leave feedback like that.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?action=trader;sa=detail;feedid=579
and mister, I do, I have a pretty hard time keeping up with technology. I have a ton of cassette tapes and over 800 vhs. I own roughly 10 dvds.
Anyway, the GS is going to get a slight makeover to actually clean up some of the mods I've done to it. The valves need adjusted, the brake fluid needs replaced, and it kinda sputters if you go wide-open throttle. Hopefully I'll have it running smooth and good to go and sell it in spring. It actually belongs to my wife, but she parked it in her parents shed 4-5 years ago when I sold my last bike. I only pulled it out this time last year when I decided I wanted another bike, and I figured I should just pull out the GS until I found one. She's kinda lost interest, plus she's getting surgery on her wrist in July, and I'm pretty sure the vibrations the GS puts out is the last thing she's going to need for at least a couple years. Hopefully I can find a loving home for it.
The exhaust does blow on my foot sometimes. It's plenty easy to put my foot down and have the exhaust not blow on it, so I'm sure after a couple more rides I'll be in the habit of just putting my foot down in the right place and it won't be an issue. Same goes with the sidestand. It's a bit more forward than the one on the GS and I always have to look for it.
I'll see how the yellow goes. The GS was actually the same color when we got it. I'll probably put an ad on craigslist to see if anyone local wants to swap, although I doubt it'll get any responses. I'm also going to a big bike thing at the end of July. I'll probably print out a little sign and tape it to the flyscreen incase anyone there is interested in swapping. We could just switch all the parts while we were there and I could come home with a different color bike, which would be awesome.
Quote from: tt_four on June 20, 2010, 07:10:16 AM
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on June 19, 2010, 10:41:16 PM
these are fun rides. no matter what the anti harley ( and usually uninformed too say bout it. i AM a harley guy by heart ( WHO btw loves the gs too ;) BUT if i see a harley design thats a POS or a bike thats a POS ill be the first to tell you.
Welcome back. Did you get a new computer? It is an xb9, I forgot to mention that.
The anti-HD market doesn't care for them, but so does the HD market. They can get away with hating japanese bikes because they try to stick to that 'american muscle' thing, but obviously when Buell is making bikes that are just as american, and have more muscle, and they still hate them just as much, they're really showing their true colors. All they care about is the name, and having a bike that looks like it's strong, even if the size of the engine is way larger than it needs to be for it's displacement. I'm always curious where these bikes would've gone had HD actually put their name on it, painted them black and orange, and encouraged HD riders to check them out.
no TG ( thank you sir :D ) sent me one. im still trying to get that oen working. when i opst now its either from work, or if im working on a pc for someone. ( finishing up with one now )
Quote from: tt_four on June 20, 2010, 03:59:38 PM
Apparently someone was pleased with something I sold them on here. I never even noticed that was there, or knew that we could leave feedback like that.
I wants me a 1! :o
You liked those boots, didn't you?
Edit: You gonna powdercoat the muffler before it rusts?
I'll look into it and leave you one for the boots.
I'm not too concerned with the muffler. I know I've seen some that have rusted, but it's gone 7 years so far without rusting, so I doubt it's gonna start any time soon. I need to chop off that rear fender too, and once I do I doubt I'll spend much time in the rain anyway, as you can imagine the punishment I'd get from the back wheel in rain with how short the tail is.
ugh you bought a harley clone...the buell. man if i were given one i'd light it on fire.
i think the color is fine...about the only thing on a buell that is ok
I like it color and all and almost bought a buell for my second bike but got the gs for some unknown reason. I dont understand why people give others so much crap if they buy anything other then the bike they think you should buy. Ill ride any bike anyone else wants to buy me but until that day i will ride what i pay for, and i beleave everyone else should do the same.
josh is right....if you are happy with the bike then that is great ...it your bike for you . don't listen to dingus' like me :)
Yeah man, I don't know. I was pretty close to buying a gsxr750 before I changed my mind last fall. Once I started really looking into the Buells, nothing else even excites me anymore. After having a bike that will actually accelerate out of a turn at 2k rpm in 4th gear, I'm not really sure how I'd feel about riding a bike who's peak hp is at 12k rpm. I guess we can't all be 18 forever.
Japan doesn't even make any bikes with nice parts that aren't race bikes with headlights. I could possibly be interested in an sv650, but every bike they make all comes with junk suspension and cheap components. This is one of the only bikes I've seen that's meant for the street that has a real suspension and some good brakes. I hate HD as much as the next guy, but Erik Buell knows what he's doing. I can't wait to see what he comes up with once his non-compete contract is up in a year or so and he can start putting out street bikes again. Just for reference, he developed most of the motor in the V-rod, as it was originally meant to be in the XB line, but HD kept forcing him to make it larger and heavier just so it would look better in the v-rod, so he eventually had to dump it. Some of the XBs were also supposed to come with turbos off the showroom floor and would've been even more reliable than the normal motors, but HD canned that idea too.
Glad to hear your change of heart. Luckily GStwin lets you know when someone else posts a response before you submit it, so I'll make use of my backspace key....
Quote from: frankieG on June 22, 2010, 07:24:05 PM
josh is right....if you are happy with the bike then that is great ...it your bike for you . don't listen to dingus' like me :)
exactly. dont trash talk somehting unless youve spent time on one. opinions are like assholes everyone has one. and msot are uninformed. especially teh uninformed harley haters here. i only see one fault with teh current hd setup. is the BAS. ( bank angle switch ) when it dies. you are stranded. its nice to have. BUT like i said. above. anyhoo when your warranty runs out. PM me ill show you how to bypass it ;)
Man what a POS, if you wanted a sportbike why did you buy a Hardley Abelson...... :flipoff:
Just Kidding I believe I have mentioned before that the XB12R was on my shorlist of bikes when I decided on my 954, I actually thought the Buell was a little too stable and turned a little slower than I liked. So I had to go out and buy the twichiest lightest most unstable fastest turning of the big bores at the time.
If you don't like yellow get it painted a couple of hundred and you get the color you want.
Meh, all the colored pieces are just plastic, so for a couple hundred I could just replace them all with brand new pieces. I own some paint guns that I haven't learned how to use yet, and I found a website that collectes totaled buells from insurance companies and resells the salvagable parts. Currently I see the chin fairing for $35, an airbox cover(piece that goes where the tank is on the GS) for $45, a transparent red flyscreen for $25, and a front fender for $25, so the prices seem pretty decent. I may wait and see if anything pops up that's even cheaper since I'm not gonna be concerned with scratches or any of that business.
yamahon: is the bank angle switch on the Buell or on other Harleys? It sounds familiar, but I can't remember where I heard about it before. Does it shut the bike off if it leans over too far? Let me know what I need to do with it. There's a couple free mods I need to get to working on eventually, such as doing what I need to with the wiring so that both headlights come on instead of 1, and supposedly you can unplug one of the white wires from the ecm and get a little boost in HP, as it's only there for emissions purposes or something like that. I'll have to spend some time looking into all of them.
yup it shuts her down essentially when you lean over so far youd be in a highside. try it out sometime SAFELY take yourself and a trusted friend. clutch teh bike. fire it. put it in gear. and lean it over, if equipped it will shut down IIRC past 45 degrees or higher . ill find teh BAS bypass article and pm it to you but yes it kills her if she goes over too far so god forbid if you went down teh bike would NOT keep going
So if it ever does shut off, how do you get the bike to start running again??
stand it back up ;).hte one that failed on my 883c failed while i was at work, so the dealership came and got it. and dropped off an xb9s as a loaner. after i got her back, i bypassed teh B.A.S but kept it where if i had to bring it in for warranty work, could be re enabled . if the standing back updont work, removing the negative cable, for 10 secs, will reset it
Most tipover sensors require the bike to be returned to vertical after a get off and the key needs to be turned off for 30 seconds then back on. Good information to know when you corner work club races.
ok, well that makes sense. That's kinda what I assumed it would be, but then I figured it might be something more serious since you were talking about getting stranded. Now that I read your initial comment about it I see you were saying you'd be stranded if it died, not if it was just activated by you leaning too far.
Quote from: bettingpython on June 28, 2010, 03:50:34 PM
Most tipover sensors require the bike to be returned to vertical after a get off and the key needs to be turned off for 30 seconds then back on. Good information to know when you corner work club races.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ :thumb: