| Author | Message | ||
     Tunes |
Most of the people I seem to end up riding with own liter sportbikes... A coupla Hyabusas, GSXR, Honda Blackbird(?)... They claim I ride the twisties fast (too fast). I have ridden with several friends who own Buells... and they seem to keep up just fine. Yes, rider ability does make a difference, but a friendly handling bike also does make a difference... and Buells deliver. Going around corners is what motorcycling is all about. Where do you ride the most? Twisty roads with no traffic. Most of us will ride many miles to get to those roads... and the bike I always take is my Buell(s). Grin factor is the major reason!! Take your Buell around corners and enjoy... | ||
| 12r |
The GSX-R750 is the number #1 selling sportsbike in England and believe me, we lurve sportbikes ! I rode one while I was looking at Buells and objectively they are amazing. If you enjoy fast, effortless, clinical riding, it's the bike for you. After the test ride I parked up, stepped back from it and never looked at it again. It was like a domestic applicance that tries too hard. | ||
| Court |
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| Staindus |
I didnt move from a sportbike to a Buell. I came from a sportster 883. I wanted something to go a bit faster and really wanted something to go faster on twisty roads. MY choices were Ducati Monster 620 or a Buell. I chose the Buell XB9SX because of its technology, looks, low maintenance, higher revving (for a sportster type engine) and the new gear box for 06. My Brother in law has a Duc 620 and my wife has a Kawi 500r. Its great trying different bikes each one has a purpose in mind when it was designed. Ultimately you have to make your own decision. Ride as many types of bikes as you can and make sure you are happy with what you got. | ||
| Liquorbox |
It all depends on what you're looking for! If you're looking for performance, don't get a Buell. If you're looking for exclusivity, get an MV Agusta, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, or something rare. Here in FL, there are almost as many Buells as Gixers. I'm fortunate enough that I have more than one bike. So I can appreciate the Buell for the seat of the pants, motorcycle riding experience it is. The Buell is not a "sportbike" and really shouldn't be considered as such. I think that's where the confusion comes in. | ||
| Davy_boy |
I loved all of my gixxer's and I've had several , even tattooed GSXR on my left inner forearm . But I have to say that riding position gets old and all that speed was making me do things a man with a wife and kids should not do so I sold them all and got the Buell . I never realized how much I enjoyed riding till I got comfortable and slowed down to enjoy the scenery | ||
| Big_red_79 |
i run into the exact same thing at the bars around here, every one asks what kind of bike i got, and i tell them, and they laugh cause its not verry fast, 140 is plenty i think i hit it twice while riding on the road, and i know i can take a jap bike stoplight to stoplight, and when the people start ripping on me about my buell i ask them if they have rode one, and usually they havent, they just go off what they hear from other jap bike riders that see one, and people are always scared of what they dont know, | ||
| Xl1200r |
A gixxer looks comfortable? Are you kidding me? And Liquor - Not a sportbike? Not in the purest sense, but I'd have a hard time classifying my Firebolt as anything else... | ||
| Court |
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| Swordsman |
I'm an extremely unbiased rider. I love ALL bikes (except poorly-executedy homemade choppers). I was seriously eyeballing both a Kawasaki and a Suzuki when I was in the market. Ultimately I chose Buell because: 1.) Top speed just isn't my thing. 2.) The XB12Ss fit my build extremely well. 3.) I have a sick obsession for unorthodox vehicles. That's pretty much it. Oh, that, and Sunset Orange is the most awesome color ever.  The more I ride my Ss, the happier I am that I didn't choose the same bike everyone else did. Simple maintenance is a darn handy thing as well. ~SM | ||
| Budo |
Apples and oranges. Test ride both of them and pick the one that makes you smile the most. | ||
| Terribletim |
Man, now that's the best advice I've heard yet! I'm gonna go do that right now!  Oh, were you talkin' 'bout bikes? Dang it!  | ||
| Carparts009 |
I love my XBS but over the winter I bought an R6. Both bikes will get ridden. I just think as that I have the best of both worlds. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Came from Ninjas, and even a KLR250. The CityX does both well, corners lighter than my ninjas, is more comforatable and chews up the dirty back country roads with more power and heft than the KLR ever did. Any busa, ninja, hondasaki wanna run and gun, come looking. My course my rules, 50 on dirt is the new line to keep up with. Get on with the bendy and dirty. | ||
| Chadhargis |
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is maintenance and strength. Race replica bikes are built to very tight tolerances. You put one of them down and it's going to cost you a pretty penny to fix. Fragile parts break, fairings shatter, etc, etc. I've dropped my Buell a couple of times and only needed a handful of parts to fix it. It cost me very little. I also never have to fuss with a valve adjustment, chain lube, or coolant flush. I don't know about you guys, but I'm a big guy. At 6'5" 235lbs, I simply don't physically fit on many bikes. The ones I can fit on are very uncomfortable. At this point, there is only one bike made that I'd give up my Ulysses for and that's the new Ducati Multistrada 1100 S. A very similar bike, but when you start looking at price, maintenance needs, cost of parts, etc...the Ulysses is the better choice. Sure the Duc is faster, lighter, and handles a bit better (given an expert rider which I'm not), but the law of diminishing return applies. Why would I get rid of my paid for Buell, that I've put some tasty mods on, for a Multistrada that won't give me much extra of anything that I like in the Buell. I've had my Buell for a little over a year. My average term for a bike is typically about 2 years. I get the bug and sell them. I'll see what happens at the end of this year or the first of next year. I might change, I might not. I just ride what I like, and right now, I like the Ulysses better than any bike in the world. It fills my needs nicely. It's not perfect, but no bike is. | ||
| Ridrx |
I think comparing an XB to a GSXR is silly to start with. Wouldn't a better comparo be to a Bandit1200? Maybe a CB1300? How about a V-strom? FZ-1? These are more apples to apples bikes IMO. That being said I maintain my XB IS the best handling, most fun to ride, most smiles per gallon bike in it's class FOR ME. | ||
| Typeone |
i didn't read any of this thread. my answer.. . bikes are fun, period. | ||
| Jeffnights |
\iI think comparing an XB to a GSXR is silly to start with. Wouldn't a better comparo be to a Bandit1200? Maybe a CB1300? How about a V-strom? FZ-1? These are more apples to apples bikes IMO. That being said I maintain my XB IS the best handling, most fun to ride, most smiles per gallon bike in it's class FOR ME.{ Why in the world would you compare an XB to a V-strom? I own a 06'1000 Strom. The Strom is a sport-Tourer, with the emphasis on the Tourer part, just because it has the TL1000's engine doesnt mean its a sportbike.} | ||
| Goozyman |
Moondust. If you bought a Buell "primarily for looks" you really really bought one for the wrong reason. The whole "Jap" vs "Yank" bike is complete BS it sucks how you cant own an American made product without all the "down comparison" to any similar products made in other countries, a good portion of the time, the domestic made product can be inferior to imported products, I am not saying this applies to Buell, but the whole HOO RAH attitude of American products being #1 is completely delusional. All bikes from ALL countries are good in their own way. | ||
| Staindus |
Quote Liqourbox: The Buell is not a "sportbike" and really shouldn't be considered as such. I think that's where the confusion comes in. LOL this made me even more confused. Do you mean its not your definition of a "sportbike"? | ||
| Djkaplan |
One of my faster riding buddies has a GSX-R1000. It's usually just me and him breaking away from the rest of the group and playing tag in the twisties. He paid me the greatest compliment once when someone asked him if the Buell was slowing me down... he said, "Shit... that bike ain't slowing him down". Of course... as soon as the road straightens out, he's gone in an instant... and he stays gone until he gets stuck behind a motorhome. | ||
| Terribletim |
LOL! I buy everything primarily for looks! Ask my wife!  (Message edited by terribletim on March 14, 2007) | ||
| Vanvideo |
Liquorbox, I live in Florida and I don't see that many Buells. We're completely outnumbered by GSX-Rs, not to mention any other Japanese sport bike. Where do you live that has that high of a Buell - GSX-R ratio? I have owned Japanese sport bikes. I prefer the Buell (and I'm a Japanese-American!) because of the torque, the brakes, the engine's vibration and the heavy growl it emits. Plus, they're comparatively rare. I find the me-too design of Japanese sport bikes boring. That's not to say I won't own another one day; they are incredible machines. | ||
| Ridrx |
Jeffnights, Just because the Buell corners like a roller coaster doesn't "make it a sportbike". The XB was NEVER meant to be a stats bike. It's a STREET RIDERS bike, therefore IMO it is defaulted to sports/tourer with the emphasis on SPORT which is fine by me. When the local ricerocket jockeys start with hp/top speed quotes I just offer to take them to the N. GA foothills to show me why my bike sucks. Usually by the end of the ride (IF they accept), they understand  . | ||
| Beastie |
I have to somewhat agree in a sense as far as the sportbike categorization. XB's and bikes like them borrow a lot from sportbikes, but I believe are in a category all their own. XB's, SV650's, Speed Triples are all in their own category I think. They blurr the lines between categories, and to me are StreetFighters.. Urban sport bikes per say. | ||
| Freezerburn |
The XB is the best street play bike ever invented. That's what it is to me. If you disagree, then obviously you are wrong (see first sentence). Most repli-racers are not ridden on the track (for which they are intended), whereas most XB's are ridden on the street which is exactly what they were designed for. Furthermore, the XB makes a nicer track bike than the repli-racers make street bikes. I think someone wrote "the Buell works". | ||
| Ridrx |
If it's gonna be apples/apples...My XB will SPANK the two SV650's that run around here, in fact the only bikes that can truly just walk away from me are ALL 600/1000 repliracers(and even they r scared to blast a twisty road). *No other bike outside of the "detuned for public" crowd can run w/ an XB through the twisties. *Just my uneducated, unsolicited opinion | ||
| Tleighbell |
Forget all the objectivity and false modesty. Freezerburn is exactly right. The XB is absolutely the best and coolest bike ever in the known universe. Fact. Hope that answers your question. | ||
| Vikingdave |
In 2003 I owned a 03 gixer and a xb9s lightning. I kept the gixer only 6 mos. The gixer was too perfect...no fun...it lacked the low end grunt that I like in aggressive street riding. It also didn't fit me at all, very uncomfortable. I was able to ride faster, and have more fun on the xb once I got the suspension sorted out to my style and size. The gixer's are one of, if not the all time great sportbikes, but it really is a track bike only. Very few are capable or even able to ride it any where near it's potential on the public roads. The air cooled Harley V twins are the ultimate street bike motor in my opinion. I don't have the patience for 12,000 + rpm's. | ||
| Jeffnights |
ridrx, Thats all well and good, I still dont understand how you can compare an XB and a V-Strom, two totally different types of bikes. |
