| Author | Message | ||
     Torquehd |
Hello all, it's been many years since I was on this forum and I wanted to pop in and say hi. In 2019 I drained the fuel from my 1125r to ship it across country. Being overdue on a valve service and having a weak battery, I never put gas back in it and it became a paperweight. Well I recently acquired a 1200 sportster that didn't run. After getting it running and riding it for a few months, I found myself really missing my Buell. I set the XL up with clubmans and taller rear shocks, and it already had mid controls. But it will never be a performance motorcycle, not compared to the 1125r. With a gallon of fresh gas and the battery from the Sporty (same part number!), the 1125r fired up on the second crank. I figured after 5 years, the fuel lines would be gummed up, and if it ran, the oil pump would be cavitated, and coolant and fuel would start spitting out of dry-rotted fittings. I was wrong! I can't believe it fired right up, and I also can't believe how amazing this thing is to ride. The contrast between the XL and this is night and day. I'm going to ride it until it breaks I guess, since there is no support for these anymore. At least it's not sitting collecting dust for now. I should have never let it sit. Anyway, glad to see the forum is still going, although it looks a bit like a ghost town these days compared to a few years back. I have missed riding my Buell, and the Buell community. God is good, all the time. | ||
| Hootowl |
Glad to hear you got it running. Welcome back! | ||
| Tootal |
That's awesome! It's funny how sometimes you don't miss something until you use it and then you can't figure out why you quit in the first place! I'll get stuck riding one of my bikes and then decide I need to stir up the oil in the other one and wonder why I don't ride it more often!! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Just went through that today with my S1W. It's been sitting with a cracked header for 3 years or so. Finally got the machinist nailed down to fix it a couple weeks ago (he is an ARTIST with a welder), and added a brace plate between the primaries in front of the engine to help prevent future cracking. Cleaned the carb, new battery...and let's go abuse the local roadways! Damn, that thing is rowdy. I forgot how much fun a race-piped S1W can really be! | ||
| Torquehd |
Thanks for the replies. I've never owned a tuber but I always wanted an S3T. I kicked myself for passing the opportunity to buy one when I was a tech at the HD shop back in 2006 or so. But I already had an XB9SX. I also miss that bike. Buells are kind of all over the place in terms of availability and price these days. Sometimes you can find them on FB marketplace for dirt cheap and other times people want top dollar for a rare motorcycle. I feel like we're all on borrowed time. I know Buell Motorcycle Company is running again under I think Bill Melvin, but it's hard to be optimistic about their future. I remember when the 1125r came out, Erik said he picked "black and blue" because that's how he felt after fighting to exist for 20 years or whatever it had been at that point. Little did he know what the future held. It still blows my mind, the way that EBR was mostly ignored by the general public. Those machines were incredible, still are. The new BMC seems to be received about the same way. No one seems to want an American, world-class superbike that's overpowered and underweight and handles like a laser scalpel. I hope I get to ride one some day. | ||
| Hootowl |
I would like to have one just to complete the collection, but my interests have veered into dual sport and moto camping/ADV. I do not see myself spending a lot of time on the street. | ||
| Torquehd |
I am very interested in the HD PanAmerica. However, it seems exactly like something HD corporate will feel the need to kill in just a few years. It's more of a pure "motorcycle" and less of a "harley". I anticipate the PanAm and the Sportster S will go the way of Buell and the V-rod. I hope I'm wrong. I pretty much got out of Harley world when I quit wrenching in 2008 to join the Army. Walking back into the dealership now... I couldn't believe they stopped making the V-rod, the Dyna, and the Sportster. And I cant believe how big the Trike business has become. | ||
| Hootowl |
Trikes make sense for their customer base. If they want younger customers, they need to build eBikes and sub-600 cc motorcycles including dirt and dual sport. I fear that HD is not long for the world. Their management lacks vision. |
