Dang, that new logo suit is tight. Seems to me it'd be the height of snobbery to ride in that kinda style.
Time to start digging in the couch cushions.
BTW, speaking of rider snobbery, I went for a late-morning 100 mile jaunt today and was greeted with a pinky-wave from an HD rider. Apparently, if you ride a Road King Classic, you're entitled to your own for of entitlement.
Geez Crusty. Where did you ever see Buell "badmouth" the Blast. I saw the opposite. All they did was explain that it didn't fit the focus of the company is all.
Yeah, the cubing/crushing I can see as off-putting, but geez, it wasn't that big of a deal, was it?
Maybe it's my perspective. It seems that Buell is disowning their most reliable product because it isn't a sportbike. Yet, they are still making Blasts, they just refuse to acknowledge them as Buells, even though the MSO states they are manufactured by the Buell Motorcycle Co. I never saw Honda (or any other sport bike manufacturer) disown their entry level bikes because they weren't sportbikes. The implied message that I get is that quality and reliability comes second to sportiness, and if I want a motorcycle for any other purpose, I should look elsewhere. As I say, It might just be my perspective, but all summer long, either my 2008 XT or my wife's 2008 Ss has been down for numerous problems (wheel bearings (XT), clutch hub bearings(XT), rocker box gaskets(both), malfunctioning speedometer(Ss), clutch throw out bearing (Ss) and my wife's Ss is at present sitting at a dealership in central Pennsylvania waiting for wheel bearings, spacer and axle). If it were just one of the bikes, I would say that we got a problem bike; but when it's both, then I think that maybe the factory needs to focus a little more on reliability, and a little less on how ruthless their engineering is. I think they should let Ruth design in a little more durability, and leave the chip off their shoulders..
I'm likely to be all over celebrating the big win . . . I've got to refinish the front doors tomorrow and then I am going to spend the rest of the week wandering about . . it you pass through let me know when. . . I have a meeting at JFJK at 1:00 on Tuesday and Friday in the Hamptons . . other than that I'm not going to do much.
Court, I forgot to ask you about your BOB thoughts. Remind me to ask you next time
Crusty, Honda ain't disowning anything, they are not s sportbike company. They would have to disown 3/4 of their lineup. That would be fun to watch in my opinion.
>>>The implied message that I get is that quality and reliability comes second to sportiness...
I sure don't see that. I didn't know the Blast was the leading quality flagship of Buell. Darn sure that the sport biking community, at whom the ad was aimed, surely didn't know that either.
The ad is not aimed at us, so we shouldn't interpret it as though it was.
all summer long, either my 2008 XT or my wife's 2008 Ss has been down for numerous problems (wheel bearings (XT), clutch hub bearings(XT), rocker box gaskets(both), malfunctioning speedometer(Ss), clutch throw out bearing (Ss) and my wife's Ss is at present sitting at a dealership in central Pennsylvania waiting for wheel bearings, spacer and axle).
OUCH! That is horrible! I agree with your disappointment on that count.
But back on topic. Obviously the presence of an XT in your garage alongside an proper Adventure Sport Bike was going to start trouble. Park the XT out back and make it HTFU before you let it share the stable with the X.
Posted on Thursday, September 10, 2009 - 02:51 am:
I would love to have a Blast... with knobbies, a taller suspension, bigger tires to shod the new rubber, Mx bars, off road fender, chain drive, mid controls, and of course in Orange
(and afer the last round of warranty work on the CityX, I just maybe headed there for more reliablity off road) or atleast a lower cost index when shiate fails to work the way it should.
Posted on Thursday, September 10, 2009 - 11:39 am:
Well used Blast's are cheap enough even more so now. A DP Blast would be an interesting project. Front end should not be to hard ,graft a KLR or DR front,not sure what you could with the rear to get more travel.