| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
Jim: You chose wisely. One of the defining elements of the "Buell Experience" is inclusion, rather than exclusion. I've a host of tales, but...based on your experience...you know the moral of the story. Leave.....Love......and enjoy your Buell AND the GS500. Frankly, there are some people that a Buell is not right for. I'd rather see my 5'0" 100# SO ride a BMW F650 than not ride. That offends anyone, they need therapy. Ride safe, lean much, smile more.... Court | ||
| Mavinwy |
To Court, and the many who responded to me privately: The attitude of friendship and welcoming is exactly what I was talking about. The responses I have seen here and in in my mailbox have done nothing but re-inforce in my mind that I made the right decision, both on buying the Buell, and on walking away from the group. Now on to friendlier subjects. Continuing this line of discussion would simply be beating a dead horse. Jim Oh, and Court, My lady is 5'2 and 100 lbs, which is why she chose the GS500. Her requirements were 1. touch the ground with at least the balls of both feet 2. highway worthy 3. Able to be picked up by her alone in the off chance she dropped it. 4. less than $3500.00 (at the time) She has had it since '92 (it is an 89)....but now she is considering going to a Blast.....Hmmmm | ||
| Seatonii |
I just Purchased my first Buell after looking for over a year. I bought a 00 Blue X1 and I love it so far. I have a lot of plans for the bike over the winter. The bike has a race ECM, V&H and a K&N now and it runs great. This board has been very helpful so that to all that post information on this board. Also if anyone know of a device that I could get that I could change the timing curve on the bike I would REALLY like to know about it. Thanks DWIGHT | ||
| Newfie_Buell |
Sold my ride last summer, KLR650, was a fun bike until "BUELL-Ah" as I have appropriately named her. I looked for a bike and purchased a 98 S1 Lightning that was still sitting on the dealer floor. This was about 3 weeks ago. The dealer was 1500km (about 900mi for the American friends), I had to fly to the next Province, pick up the bike, take a 6 hr ferry then drive for about 1000km (600mi) to get home. There is no Buell Dealer here in Newfoundland (An island Province of Canada) and the local Harley Dealer does not intend to become one. Too Bad because if more people found out how much fun these are then they would sell a bunch. But I am happy to have the only one on the island. I get a lot of strange looks and when I ride with the local HOG group I find myself leaving them for some fast twisty roads. The HOG guys prefer the open highways. Best damm bike I ever owned. Have fun & ride often. | ||
| Jazlawyer |
Greetings from Mississippi. I had seen an article back in the mid '90's about this strange concept bike called the Buell and it stuck in the back of my mind. I recall being fascinated by the idea of HD power coupled with the unique chassis design. The price seemed a bit steep at the time but in 1997 I staggered out of a bar to stumble upon a black S1. At about the same time my younger brother wheeled and dealed and ended up with an 883 and a mid '80s softtail in exchange for professional services. Having been involved in racing my entire life (youth motocross in Germany in the mid 60's, flattrack/TT in TX in the late 60s, MX in the southeast in 70's, SCCA roadracing more recently) I convinced him to convert the 883 into a street legal flattrack cafe racer and began to toy with the idea of a street bike. Still the Buells stuck in my mind. I had never owned a street bike until about 2 months ago when an ad in the local paper for a 97 M2 ran for about 4 weeks. Bored one sunday afternoon, I called and met with the seller...rode it...loved it...found out the seller needed cash desperately to take delivery of Turnip Speed Triple and cut a great deal for cash. Ten days later (with 1500 miles under my belt on the M2), yet another Buell ad appeared in the paper...very unusual for Mississippi... this time for a 98 S1. Again I found a motivated seller and struck another embarrasingly great deal. Soooo....in the space of 10 days I went from never owning a street bike to having two Buells in my stable. A friend who was an old time HD cruiser type who got out of the bike scene when the proliferation of yuppie outlaw posers hit chastised me and said I should have a real HD...until he rode them. To quote him.."WOW...a Harley that is fast, shifts clean, handles and even stops when you want it to...now I understand". Enough ramblin'...about the bikes. M2 is plain jane with typical mods: V&H slip on, Screaming eagle ign., CF air cleaner, and a 44mm carb upgrade I had put on due to my mechanical stupidity. The S1 is another matter...the seller didn't have all the info (he owned it since 600 miles in 11/98 and only put another 2200 on it in the remaining 32 months). It apparently belonged to a buell factory rep as a demo(?). I have ascertained it has been sent back to the factory to be balanced and B/P, roller rockers, heads, cams, revalved forks, factory race exhaust/CF intake, factory race ign. It runs like nothing I've ever ridden...literallly exploding when it comes on the cams at 4500 rpm and pulling hard past 7000. Its so smooth above 1500 rpm you almost don't think its a HD Vtwin. It is Molten with Nuc frame and absolutely a pristine garage queen (until I got it...2800 more miles in 3 weeks!). If anybody knows anything about this bike or how I can get info let me know...HD of Central Mississippi recalls the bike being sold directly to the previous owner by Buell and that they did none of the work on it since it was sent back to the factory for extensive mods. Sorry to have rambled but it is great to now be a Bueller or should I say a DUELLER. | ||
| Sportyeric |
My first bike was a '72 500 Honda Four that me and a buddy and a bottle of Jim Beam dis-assembled 'til no two pieces were together, in my room in a construction camp at Fort McMurray, Alberta. I took the block in to a shop in Edmonton to get it kitted to 635cc. When I went back to pick it up, they showed me that they had fitted it with 750 cylinders, bored 50 thou over and said that it was gonna be a 735 and was gonna go like stink! I had doubts about whether the tranny would hold up, and harbored in the back of my mind the suspicion that they had buggered up the boring process and had had to go that large to overcome the damage. Without any thought of combustion chamber volume, I guess I would have had a compression ratio of 14 or 15 to one if it had ever been put back together. It left my possession a few years later in a couple of 10 gallon buckets. I remember one bike magazine article of the time that intrigued me. It was explained how the ignition on a twin could be up-graded to a higher voltage coil from any car, which could be had from K-Mart for $10. Since the current through the primary(?) would be so much higher as well, it would be necessary to weld up the ignition cam and shorten the dwell angle to avoid draining the battery. 25 years, and I can still remember the argument. Unfortunately, this operation could not be done on a four cylinder, as each coil had two leads and so couldn't be replaced by car coils. And I've wanted a twin ever since. My Sporty is my redemption project, although it didn't set out to be so. I'd had a couple of dirt bikes and an 82 Virago that served me well (but electronic ignition screwed up my ignition upgrade project.) I was irked with the Virago that it reached the point where, if I needed new tires, or wanted to buy a backrest, I had to consider what portion of the value of the bike that represented. I wanted something that would retain its value. Not for re-sale purposes but for my own mental state. That was one factor. Footpeg position was the other. On the early Viragos they weren't as full cruiser as now but still too far forward. Test-riding a few rice-burners, I found the posture to elicit a "reckless" attitude. (That's pretty funny, now). So BMW or Sportster were the only "Standards" to choose from. Over the years, making changes to the ergonomics,rearsets and drag bars, clip ons to come, to make it work for my riding style, which was receiving bad influences from a new riding mate, I end up with the rice-burner posture that I haven't the maturity to resist. At the same time, used, discount, or freebie parts would come my way, bringing the anemic 45 rwhp 883 to become an 82 hp hotrod that I disassembled and reassembled myself. It started the first time I put it together, making up for that Honda all those years ago. I take satisfaction in the fact that I can count in my head the total number of parts, from airfilter to sprocket (I have a boring job) and I have inspected and polished and caressed each one. I keep getting a different number, but that is not important. I can't sell the bike in its current configuration even if I wanted to, since anyone who would want such a set-up would buy a Buell instead. Damn you, Erik Buell! Returning the bike to stock form would break my heart. I love the broad power band, instant delivery, that we share but I envy you folks the stability that the modern suspension provides. When I'm mid-pack with Buells, my pucker factor is way higher! The only solution, and I do see the way there, is for the Sporty to be the first bike of the fleet. It needs to last one more season, I hope, and then will get some down time for a major, when I will try something new. I may settle for something new to me, like a certain S2 or I may be up for the Firebolt(?). I wonder though, if it will be as easy to caress all the parts? I'm still a little disappointed about not being able to use the car coils. | ||
| Newfie_Buell |
Hey Sporty, I have a 1971 450T and a 1975 500T sitting in my garage if you realllllly want an old Honda. Will car coils really work, I am having ignition problems with them.?????????? Sorry shouldn't be asking questions about other machines here. Until then I will stick to the S1 Lightning. Also I may know where you can get an outrageous deal on a new 98 M2, if they still have it. Bye | ||
| Sportyeric |
Don't tell Buellnuts but if the shed had room for a restoration project, I would pick a 68 Triumph 500, like my brother taught me to ride on. Old Hondas just remind me of being conned, although the 450T would be great for my son. There was an estate auction here about two months ago and one of the items was a 73(?)Norton Commando. I polished up my VISA card and went to watch. This bike was being sold with the fibreglass container it had been stored in for the last 15 years. No B.S. It had 15000 original miles, original tires, original pipes. And it was U-G--L-Y !. I was still ready to bid if it went unappreciated by the plebes. All it needed was to swap the buckhorns for clip-ons and lose the sissy bar and it would have been beautiful. Turned out that half the crowd was there specifically for the bike and two guys duelled it out to $5700 (Canadian,of course,) A friend told me later that it was a special, limited edition "High-Rider, or some such thing and the ugly part was original equipment and it was worth a lot more. I couldn't have ridden it like that so its just as well I couldn't afford it. Hope it finds a good home. Getting a great deal would be a great excuse to ride an M2 the length off the country ( and wouldn't that take a while to tell all the tales of), but it's all I can do to keep my current ride up. Soon though. The coil thing requires that you weld up the points cam and reshape the lobe so the points stay open longer. When I was seventeen, I thought that could be easily done, like maybe with a file and some sandpaper. If you have the technology, I could elaborate on the elecrical theory, etc. but I doubt if its the easy solution. I'm not sure if you're serious about that one. Did you see the pics of my riding bud's S1? Posted a couple of days ago.I have had the pleasure and it is wicked. An S1 is an absurdly fun bike. | ||
| Witchburner |
A just recently bought myself a -99 M2 and I just love it... A really enjoy having a rideable "Harley" with attitude. I have a lot of friends who ride lead-sled Harleys and it's always fun to go in circles around them.. ha ha ha Anyway, since I'm new Bueller this BBS is really a goldmine! I live in Sweden and there aren't that many Buells around, therefore it's sometimes hard to get expertice advice (if you see what I mean). By the way, does anyone know of a Buell picture archive (where people have done different mod:s on their bikes) I know that there are a couple of pics within this BBS, but I'm actally looking for a larger archive... It's very good for the inspiration, you know (were going towards winter here... crap) | ||
| Eeeeek |
This is a good site with a lot of pictures. All text in German. http://www.grabo.de/forum/index.html Vik | ||
| Tripper |
DCBRAG Be sure to hit the BACK icon and view the rest of the site. | ||
| Kpo |
who has some kool pic's? | ||
| Cal |
I've been reading this site for a while and up until about aweek ago never had any thing to add so I didn't. When I posted a few parts I couldnt belive how many people were interested not to mention how many other Buellers there are here and abroad. I'm from out side Madison Wisconsin and have seen very few Buellers compared to what the dealerships say there are on the streets around here. Glad to here there are others as interested in these bikes as I am. I ride a 99'M2 it is my first bike. It has been good other than leaky rocker boxes and a broken ring. That just made it ok to go ahead with the up grades. I started out by doing a bowl blend on my heads and rejetting my carb but I only picked up a few ponies. So I had Mike Roland have his way with my heads and make me a set of cams and pistons that will work good together I hope to see 100+RWHP the engine has 12/1 compression it should realy get with the program. Any way hope to see some of you on the road this season. Ben Herheim aka "Cal" PBR1893@aol | ||
| Court |
Cal: Welcome aboard and it's good to hear from you! Beleive me, there are lots of folks amazed at how many Buell owners there are here and abroad....particularly those of us who were Buell fanatics when there were only 6 of us in the world! Here's looking toward summer andn 100RWHP! Court | ||
| Lake_Bueller |
Cal, Welcome to the board from a fellow cheesehead!! I like to get up your way about 1x per month in the summer for some good twisties. Check out the Prairie Thunder info in the Stormfront section. We're planning a rogue homecoming. BMC couldn't find it in their heart to have one this year. Mennis | ||
| Jim_Witt |
Welcome Ben, We have our up(s) and down(s) here just like anyplace but you'll never find or meet a more generous, friendly and helpful group of hooligans anywhere (notice the anywhere) like the BadWeatherBikers group (except Neil G .... smile) Cheers, -JW:>) | ||
| Shot_Gun |
Hello fellow Buellers and Bikers. I'm new to this site having stumbled upon it a week ago. There is so much good info on here. I have a 95' S2 wich I bought in 99' I was going to buy a Suzuki TL1000R till after I took a test drive. Lets just say it was painful! A friend said we sould go to look at Buells. I hadn't heard of them so I went as moral support. When my friend went upstairs with the salesman I saw a good looking bike along the wall with hard bags lower fairings and in a cool color blue. Well I accidently sat on it and the rest is history. Take care and watch the cold asphalt!Ride on!! Chris Lovenduski aka: shot_gun | ||
| Cgcchd |
hey all I'm callin from south jersey and I just wanted to say how much I like this site. I don't own a buell just yet. I'm trying to pay off my hog first. But I did get a part time job at a good friend's dealership being their buell salesmen. I have always loved these bikes but for some reason I bought a hd instead. So any special info anyone could send me about these bikes would be grately appreciated so I can help more people be like you in owning a buell. I work at camden county hd in New Jersey. Thanks and look forward to maybe seeing some of you in the dealership. | ||
| Mad_Jester |
Greetings All, I just bought an M2 Cyclone from the local dealer. I have wanted one for some time now, and broke down when the weather changed. It's brand new, and I am looking forward to putting some serious mileage on it. I am going to need advice in the future on mods and upgrades. The air filter has to go...  | ||
| Bambam |
 I have owned a number of bikes in my life, and all of them have come from the east. They have all given me good years of service and I was sad to see each one go. I purchased my 2002 S3T and took delivery December 1, 2001. Since that time I have put almost 2,000 miles on it. Not a big deal if you live in the Sunbelt. I live in the "Windy City" Chicago. I couldn't help myself. The Bike was just that much fun to ride. I got off on the looks I would get from people in their warm cars who thought I was nuts. I didn't care because I was having so much fun I didn't feel the weather. Isn't this the emotion a bike should impart? My new Buell does that for me. I am already looking forward to purchasing another Buell, perhaps an X1, they sure are sweet. I am happy to be part of something different and look forward to meeting some of you at the 100-year celebration in Milwaukee next year | ||
| Oldman |
saw where your from mad_jester, next time your at the shop, if it's the one across the street from the home depot there tell the people back in the service department the people that where there on the trike and trailor back during sturgis says hello and thanks again for the help and when we got back to tampa we had lehman go back through the hole bike and haven't had any problems since.(knock on wood)nice town and a great little restraunt around the corner from the camping store also across the street. | ||
| Mad_Jester |
Oldman... I will be sure to pass along the message. It's kind of nice to hear good things about home. | ||
| Rick_A |
Long ago as a young lad in my early teens I came across a small article in an Easy Rider mag (that I was looking at purely for the bikes, btw) about a quirky little bike made by an ex road racer and Harley engineer...the Buell RSS1200. I loved the concept and thought it'd be an ideal streetbike...except for the price. I always loved Harley engines, especially Sporters, but craved a bike with a sportbike chassis. At the time, Ducati's two valved SS models and later Monsters were the only things that loosely fit my bill. S2's later came about, but I thought these were still overpriced and somewhat lacking that pure and bare-bones stance of the Monster. In 1995 while I was off at USMC boot camp, my mom's sent me a Cycle World featuring a pre-production S1 Lightning. That was it. A bike practically built to my wants and needs. Little did my mom know that 6 years later that I'd own one...and that she was so helpful in my decision! she'd always claimed I'd be disowned if I bought a motorcycle Well, I have only owned my S1 since late fall last year, and after a couple thousand miles, a crash, a couple small stationary mishaps, and after a few minor maintenance issues, she's still going strong and I am still just as proud of my ownership as the day it arrived at my door...probably more so as every day it gets closer to my ideal (as money allows). I am impressed by it's toughness, both structurally and visually, and by the way I can throw this lump around better than the dirtbikes I've rode. It's the first streetbike I've rode/owned...and most likely the future will see me with another S1. I thank all the knowledgeable folks on this board who are have been instrumental in making Buell ownership all the more pleasant...and who have let me know what to expect since I started lurking through this site in '99. | ||
| Buellbob |
Greetings All I found this site about a month ago , read a lot for couple of weeks then started asking, commenting etc. then realized that you're all figuring who is this guy? So this is me..... I'm a 49 yr. old machinist who bought a 1997 S3T in 1999 after having been away from bikes for about 25 yrs. I can't tell you why but when I first started looking around and came upon Buells I knew it was the right bike for me with out even testing one. I really enjoy the bike, almost way to much fun for one person. It would be nice if I could ride all year but it gets just a little to chilly here in the winter. Haven't made a trip of any kind yet. Hopefully I can get in on something in the near future. BOB  | ||
| Blake |
Welcome Bob, Come South for the winter. | ||
| Jdbuellx1 |
It was May of '99 when I first laid eyes on a '98 S1W. I was on my way to the Richmond night race and the bus made a rest stop in Winchester, everyone went to eat while me and a buddy walked over to the H-D dealer and there it sat, I couldn't stop looking at it, asking questions about it, sitting on it. That was all I could think about that night except maybe the pounding headache I had from too much beer, no food and inhaling 76 race fuel fumes. The next day I picked up the phone book and behold, an ad for a shop only 60 miles away and the picture was not a Harley, it was the X-1 Lightning. I had to have one. I called the shop to see if they had any used Buells, the answer was no but he said he could put me on an M-2 for $8600.00 out the door if I was approved. I jumped in my car and off I went. I bought a '99 Reactor Yellow M-2, excited and ready to take it home the bad news came, I couldn't take it home, it still needed recall work done. The owner saw the look of dissapointment on my face and said we could go for a ride before I left. It was almost August before I got the phone call to pick up my bike and I was out the door. "Good news" John said when I walked in the door, "You get to pick out a helmet and leather jacket at no cost for having to wait so long". Picked them out and I was gone. I had only put 1400 miles on it when I saw the '99 lightning blue streak with race stripes, if its there in the spring its mine I thought to myself. Come the next spring I went to the shop and there it was, even fitted with the Pro race kit. He gave me $8,000.00 for my bike and sold me the X-1 for $10,500.00 (base price even with the kit), I was floored, I picked up my jaw and took my new bike home. I've had it a little over two years now, spent over $6000.00 in mods and I'm still happy with it, I will never let it go. Justin in PA | ||
| Sonomacyclone |
Greetings - I've been a rider since the mid 80's. Have always owned and loved my japaneese bikes but dreamed of owning a harley one day. All my bikes were touring / cruiser class - never saw myself ever having a sport bike. Finally got to where I was test riding Road King's and Sportsters, trying to find one that gave me the ride that I liked - never found it. Then I remembered reading about Buells. Did some research on the Buell website and figured that the M2 would be best for what I wanted. Found a '99 model for sale in my area and fell in love before I was in 2nd gear. I've only had it a couple months and I've racked up a little over 2000 miles (it's a daily commuter as well as a weekend toy). Haven't had any serious problems, but I've read a lot about various issues, here, on this board. Hopefully I won't be another member posting the woes of owning a Buell. I love the styling, handling, and power of the machine - not to mention the grin I get every time I roll on the throttle. This site has been a great source of information. There seems to be a good sense of community among the members. Thank you to those that maintain the site and give us a place to share info and ideas. I've already met a couple members (throught previous postings) and look forward to meeting more enthusiasts. As I understand it, there's quite a population of Buell owners in the Northern California area - I'm hoping to meet up w/ some of those riders for some more riding and new friends. bryan | ||
| Blake |
SonomaCyclone, Welcome! You certainly have the twisty roads and mountains for which the Buell was made to ride. | ||
| Reepicheep |
SonomaCyclone... Welcome! Relax, I have had just about every problem with my 2000 Cyclone that one can have... everything except serious big bearing failures. Make sure the shock recall is done, the front exhaust mount is updated, have a couple of the new firebolt style rocker box gaskets hanging on the garage wall and ready for install, and update the primary chain tensioner. You will be good to go. Even knowing all I know now, I would buy my Cyclone again in a heartbeat, and pay a grand more then I did without hesitation, and in hindsight would have gone for the 99 you have instead of the 2000 I have. Reliability is overrated... motorcycling is an experience, and I think a richer one when you are connected to a bike of great character by having worked on it. People riding uninspired appliances are missing something important... Bill | ||
| Jester |
Jester: Nick-Name for a clown named Jesse. Recently acquired a totally custom 96 S2T Touring, custom everything with less than 6,000 miles. Purchased in April and have had the pleasure of(or displeasure of only) putting 56.4 miles on the odo to date. Damn state registration (sales) tax nearly $500. What I find totally amazing is though I have reciepts for all the work done by the previous owner and can verify by sight the non-oem upgrades to the "beauty" I still find myself mentally spending my paychecks on "stuff". "My name is Jester and I am a Buellaholic" |
