| Author | Message | ||
     Zane |
I finally had a chance to get out and really ride my Blast for the first time. All the rides before tonight were about practicing skills and getting comfortable. Even though I was never more than about 5 miles from home tonight, I put on about 40 miles. I got to deal with some light to medium traffic and even found a couple of mild turns to glide through. On the highway I got up to 55 mph. I swear to God it felt like Warp Factor 2. I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!!!!!! My Blast did her part and just hummed along doing everything I asked of her in a very forgiving manor. If she could just cook, I'd marry her. Excuse me now, I need to go into the garage and fondle myself. I'm so glad I bought my Blast. | ||
| Ezblast |
 | ||
| Rainman |
Excuse me now, I need to go into the garage and fondle myself... The Blast will even do that for you ... uh, don't ask how I know that. | ||
| Styxnpicks |
just wait, in three months you'll hate the blast. | ||
| Gbaz |
ive had mine for 5 months, and still love it, but i really use it as a gas saver and hobby. depending on what you want out of a bike you can ride a blast forever and be happy. some peeps ride ninja 250s for years and never move up to bigger bikes. | ||
| Zane |
Styxnpicks, Why? I can see moving to a bigger bike someday when I get more experience but I can't ever see "hating" it. I'm with Gbaz, I bought her mostly as a gas saver. My round trip daily commute is 38 miles. My normal transport is a Toyota Tacoma that gets about 17-18 mpg in mixed traffic. I'll pay for my Blast in gasoline I don't burn and have fun on the roads at the same time. | ||
| Reuel |
I love my blast! 7 years, 3 months, and 32K miles. Gas saver? When I first got it, rubber cost more than gas. With today's gas prices, and the low cost Pirelli tires, it's not so any more. I remember my first ride. Poked around in a parking lot for about 20 minutes while a cop watched. Went up the road and found some really sharp curves and went way too slow around them. It was a Blast! | ||
| Zane |
Reuel, Glad to hear you're still enjoying yours. They really are fun aren't they? Maybe that's why Buell has sold so many of them. | ||
| Gbaz |
na, they sell because of the riders edge course. every HD store that has the class needs to keep so many on hand. | ||
| Styxnpicks |
I'm on my 3rd riding season with the blast and I'm sick of the lack of power, sloppy shifting, stiff clutch, poor lean angle, lack of tire selection... i could co on, the only thing I am happy with is the gas mileage, and low cost of ownership everything else disappoints me now.. in retrospect I shoulda bought a lightning when I had the chance. now the cost of living is so high I'm stuck with the be-last | ||
| Zane |
Styxnpicks, I hear what you’re saying. It does sound like you’ve outgrown your Blast. It no longer is the bike that fills your needs and that’s ok. I’m not there yet and most likely never will be. I’m a 53 year old fat guy with no interest in pushing a bike to it’s very limits. The 25 year old I was might have felt the same way you do but the 53 year old that I am doesn’t. After a certain age, being edgy looses it’s appeal while calm and comfy starts to look better and better. It’s not the perfect bike for everyone all the time. It’s just perfect for me right now. You’re right the tire selection sucks but that’s not the bike’s fault, just the market place speaking. If I wanted to get aggressive in the turns and scrap my knees in the twisties I’d think it was underpowered too. But don’t make the mistake of judging the Blast against what you want it to be, judge it against what it is. The Blast is an economical starter bike. It’s a light duty small bike that will never compete with the XB12’s of the word. But compare it again the other bikes in the same class and it comes out looking pretty good. I’m damn happy with mine. In a couple of years when I buy something bigger (phase 2 of my plan) I suspect I’ll still be damn happy with it. Now, who’s right? I suspect we both are. (Message edited by zane on May 08, 2008) | ||
| Styxnpicks |
if the blast had about 70-80ish hp and 17" wheels I'd be alot happier. keeping up with the sportbikes in the straights is impossible. I can in the corners but im pushing the bike to its limits...and hitting the rev limit mid corner is starting to get on my nerves too... i'm 23 and push everything to the limits. lets just say its not unusual to see me doing 125 on the freeway or half sideways in my truck... I really need to be on a 1125r for what I want | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - when its comfortable to do so - buy a second bike and keep your Blast - because you won't want to park your other bike in the city for errands and it will always be a lot better on gas than the other bike. EZ | ||
| Styxnpicks |
I'd definitely keep the blast... it'll always be my little commuter. | ||
| Luckyduck |
Styxnpicks, The XB9 sounds like what you are talking about. For my riding, I am looking at moving to a "smaller" bike. The Yamaha WR250X in fact. Same hp as Blast, 70lbs lighter, a foot higher seat and top shelf suspension and brakes. It turns out that I have a really hard time getting over my years of riding dual sports and am really hard on the muffler of the Blast. It also has to do with all the work my Blast needs and it only has 5k miles on it. The Blast is a great concept, it just needs better execution (build quality, component and suspension quality). Heck the dealer by me doubled his usual order for Ninja 250's with the revamped '08 and sold the last one before May 1st. He had 6 of the little super moto and only 2 left as of today. Paul | ||
| Gbaz |
im wating to see if all the buells will get the 1125R treatment in the next few years before i get another bike  | ||
| J2blue |
I'm just starting out too, and the Blast seems to be a very good choice for me. The things that I do love about it are exactly the things you mention are bad about it, since anything more right now would either be a distraction or dangerous for me as an inexperienced rider. Of course for those same characteristics I can see how annoying they may quickly become. For a few years I doubt I will NEED more than the Blast offers so much as I will WANT more. If I get another bike the Blast may still stay with me like a good little pet. | ||
| Reuel |
The seat is a foot higher? The standard seat is 27.5 inches, so I'm thinking you'd have to be 6'6" at least to keep that upright at a stop. Personally, if/when I get another bike, that XB12 will be parked right beside my Blast. means I need a bigger garage first. I test drove the XB9 shortly after it came out, and I think I could be happy for it indefinitely. If I had something like the 1125R when I was 23, I would have likely not made it to 24! (Message edited by Reuel on May 08, 2008) | ||
| Zane |
The one thing I would change about the Blast would be dumping a carb and going to Fuel Injection. More reliable and would a power boost. I don't expect to see that any time soon. There really isn't an incentive for Buell to make a change like that. As for my next bike I'm not so sure. When I started all this I was sure I'd get a Road King after a 12 to 18 months on the Blast. But after wandering around at the dealership, I sort of fell in love with the Ulysses XT. I've got plenty of time to decide. Right now, I 'm happy as can be tooling around town on my Blast. When the time does come to get another bike, I full expect to keep the Blast as a commuter/play thing/comfortable old friend. (Message edited by zane on May 08, 2008) | ||
| Ezblast |
Heck - I'm waiting to see if Buell releases that Rotax supermoto single;0) EZ | ||
| Zane |
Ok, Who let Ez in here???? | ||
| J2blue |
Did you mean "Rotax with a Rotrax"?  | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - the Austrian motor company - Rotax - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Wood-Rotax-Road-rac e-bike_W0QQitemZ160237548855QQcmdZViewItem?hash=it em160237548855& EZ | ||
| Fast1075 |
Well lets see....isn't there already a Buell with a Rotax motor?  The first Rotax I saw was the 250cc rotary valve 2 stroke in the Can AM dirt bikes in the 70's....a little massaging a port here...a little trimming on the rotary valve there...little different pipe...the thing punched WAY outside its class...I saw dyno numbers +42 with those things. Then there was the 500cc tandem...holey smokes batman!!! | ||
| Reuel |
My brother is sending me a throttle body with an injector, so maybe a Blast will have fuel injection some time this summer.  | ||
| Zane |
Reuel, You have to try that and let us know how it comes out. I bet it runs as fast as a scalded ape! Just to cool! | ||
| Reuel |
I'll be posting updates on my web site as projects go on... | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Styxnpicks: You are really negative about the Blast, but its sounds as if you really just hate the situation. Starting out small is always good advice, but some people have natural ability and a penchant for the edge that they quickly outgrow everything. Thats seems to be you. But you're stuck with the Blast. There's still lots you can do to better the Blast to suit your needs. Rearsets would be a big step in that direction (with probably a taller seat). Suspension can be upgraded along with a higher rev limit. If you have some mechanical ability a lot can be done on the cheap. I've watched many 'fast' bikes get passed on the track by Blasts. Any squid can twist a throttle and go fast down the straights, talent is in the corners. Take this time to hone your skills. It will pay dividends when you can afford a faster bike. IF I had to own only one bike it'd probably be a Sportster or maybe an XB (TT or Uly). After years of riding though I know the Blast is a darn good bike to start out with for many reasons. Lastly: The are old motorcycle riders and bold motorcycle riders, but there are no old bold motorcycle riders. (for those who haven't heard that). | ||
| Dummkauf |
I have had my Blast for a couple months now and have already put 300 miles on it and have loved every minute so far(I'm in Minnesota so there would probably be even more miles if it weren't for the weather) and I have to say that this is a great starter bike which is one of the reasons I bought it, the other being gas mileage. I can also relate to your need for more power, after having ridden it for a while I am already wishing it had more power, however this is also exactly the reason I talked myself out of the XB and got a Blast instead. The saying I've heard every dealer I talked to say of "You don't have to use all the power just because you have it" is BS, if I had the power of the XB I'd probably be using it and most likely wind up killing myself in the process. The reason I say this is because I have done quite a bit of research, as well as read most of this site, and learned that learning and practicing technique is far more important than speed(and you may have the technique necessary for a faster bike, I'm just speaking for myself), as well as everyone I know who rides has made it very clear that once you have the technique mastered the speed will come on it's own. Due to the limited speed and power of the Blast it is giving me exactly what I needed for a starter bike. Which is exactly why I will be riding the blast for the rest of this summer and not start looking for a bigger bike for atleast another year or 2 Like I said before, I also did my research before buying the bike and knew going into it that most other bikes would kick it's ass in the straight aways, and even some cars could take it. In fact every review of the Blast I found when researching it pretty much all indicated 2 things: 1.) It is a fun reliable starter bike 2.) It is a very slow bike for a 500cc bike You should have known this before buying it and if you were going to have this much of an issue with it you probably should've looked at getting a different bike. On a side note I have been on an R1, R6, 780cc Honda Interceptor, and a Ninja(all friends bikes), the Blast is still a blast to ride  (pun intended), even though those other bikes were fun to ride, and significantly faster, none of them really falls into the same category as a blast so I have a hard time comparing them to it. I got exactly what I was expecting to get out my Blast | ||
| Reuel |
When I went home on leave at the age of 20, I scared my big brother with my driving. A couple years later, I continued to drive this car in a foreign country for about 2 weeks after the brakes went out. The parking brake still worked, so I just planned ahead. Parts were on order. It would have been 3 weeks if I hadn't wrecked because when I couldn't stop, I had to go off the road. I noticed a ditch, and decided I was going slowly enough to get back on the road. I started sliding sideways, bounced around in the ditch, bending my rear axle, front control arm, and associated wheel wells. I then center-punched the bumper with a telephone pole. Fortunately, I was going slowly enough from the bouncing around that only the bumper was damaged at the final impact. Can you imagine what my current condition would be if I had that maintenance attitude and a motorcycle? When I got my Blast, I was 32, married with children, and much more maintenance oriented. (Message edited by reuel on May 09, 2008) |
