| Author | Message | ||
     Rey |
1991 Buell RS 1200 VIN # 1B9RS11G7M2133035 9373 miles Stunning Unrestored Condition For Sale by Original Owner, who is a 66 year old collector See Photo Album at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/reykirkman/album?.dir=/3842scd. Located in Salem, Oregon US$6,500.00 email: Reykirkman@comcast.net Phone: 503.588.3973 CONDITION • Properly stored the last 13 years, in good operating condition, ready to ride or display. New Dunlop Sportmax touring tires and new Westco sealed battery. It was stored with a full tank of “Stabilized” gas; the carb float bowl was drained; battery removed; and cylinders oiled and filled with marine foam motor preservative. Restoration included draining old fuel. Bike was run on starter with plugs removed until there was full oil pressure. Once everything was hooked up, it started within five seconds. • Color. Blue. It is the color shown in brochures of the RS1200 prior to 1991. It was not an option in 1991, but was painted this for an additional negotiated cost of $500. • All RS1200s were delivered with mirrors mounted on the fairing. Road tests by motorcycle magazines indicated the mirrors were virtually useless. I negotiated with Buell to delete these fairing-mounted mirrors; and replace them with bar-end mirrors. The bar-end mirrors supplied by Buell were convex mirrors and of poor quality, so I removed them for better “flat mirrors”. • All RS1200s came with turn signals that were stock Yamaha items, complete with stalks that stuck them way out beyond the fairing. I “sectioned” the stalks, tucking the turn signals tightly to the fairing. • 67 RS1200s were produced in 1991. In addition, for the California market 15 bikes were sold as kits. • White Power rear shock. Bike was originally delivered with a Works Performance shock, which is included. • C. R. Axtell #1 cams. C. R. Axtell is a legendary, but reclusive Harley tuner. His cams were sold solely through XRV in Los Angeles. These cams have quite a bit more duration than stock and about 0.007 “ more lift. Stock cams are also included. These cams are just terrific with smooth even power from idle to redline. • Stainless steel braided brake lines custom made by Earls Performance. Included also is a stainless steel braided front brake line that supplied after delivery by Erik Buell. • 1200 RSS dashboard complete with oil temperature gauge. Gauge is not hooked up, and may be inoperative. Stock dashboard is included. • Dyna single fire ignition. Model number is unknown. • Mikuni carburetor adapted to stock-appearing air cleaner. K&N deep stack air filter. Set up by XRV with 17.5 pilot jet, 165 main jet and different air jet. • Zipper billet oil pump with stainless braided oil lines. • Most fasteners have been replaced with polished stainless steel fasteneres. • E-Z Pull clutch assist mechanism. • Chrome Harley clutch and brake levers. • Rare billet foot pegs, shift and brake levers that were briefly marketed by Buell. • Bike has rare Buell touring bars, which were rechromed by Browns. Stock bars are included. • M6 primary chain tensioner. • EZ Touring motorcycle cover. • Currently running with sixteen Supertrapp Discs. PARTS, ITEMS, PAPERS AND MEMORBELIA INCLUDED • An extra complete set of painted body parts, except for gas tank. • Extra tachometer. • Chrome Lockhart oil cooler and thermostat together with stainless steel braided oil lines. It is not mounted. • All correspondence with Erik Buell; original documentation; most receipts; original brochures; original Buell RS1200 tee shirt. • New Sun Tech balance master crankshaft damper. • New Sun Tech clutch damper. • Barnett Clutch diaphragm removal tool. • Lockhart race stand to raise rear wheel.. • Amp clutch lever assist. • Original Keihin carburetor • Spare tachometer. • Spare main circuit breaker. • Extra Buell body reflectors. • 1991 Official Buell shop manual – without a cover and without pictures. This manual was never published, but I talked Dave Gess out of a draft copy. • 1991 Sportster shop manual. • 1991 Sportster parts manual. • 1995 Buell shop manual. • 9 extra Supertrapp Discs. • Original ignition system. • Two PowerArc ignition systems. One has never been used. HISTORY I am the original owner of this motorcycle. It was bought from American Motorcycle Classics of Corvallis, Oregon. I had been thinking about a Buell for some time, but didn’t particularly like the four-speed Sportster motor. When the five-speed Buell was announced in Fall 1990 I decided to make the purchase. I saw the first road test in the January 1991 issue of Motorcyclist, which I received in late November. I wanted also the White Power rear shock, which had been announced as a new replacement for the previous Works Performance rear shock and so specified this on my order. Also, I didn’t think the mirrors as mounted on the fairing either looked good or functioned very well. I specified that these mirrors be deleted and replaced with bar-end mirrors. I also wanted the blue color that had been so prominently illustrated in previous models. That color was not available in ’91, so I negotiated first with Mike Farmer of AMC and then directly with Erik Buell for the ’90 color. The original price was $15,000 plus $300 for the special-order color. The order was placed on November 27, 1990. Some weeks later I got a call from Mike who said that Buell couldn’t do the special paint for $300. It would take $500, and I agreed. The bike was completed and shipped on December 27, 1990, delivered in Oregon on January 19,1991. I had a home in Oregon and registered the bike there even though I was working at the time in Los Angeles. My intent was to keep the bike in Oregon for recreational riding during summer months or until it had at least 7,500 miles when it could be registered in California as a used bike. This bike was one of 67 made in 1991. It was a 49 state bike and could not be registered in California as a new bike. The 15 bikes sold in California in 1991 were all “kit bikes” in that they were shipped to the dealer without a motor, and the dealer installed a California motor. This bike has always been registered in Oregon, but has never been ridden in the rain. At almost the same day I ordered the bike, I met my future wife. We were married in July 1991, and this changed my motorcycle riding. I slowly began looking for something more suitable for two-up touring. In the meantime, in spring 1991 rode the bike down to Los Angeles for work by Roger Kallins of XRV Performance. XRV had done a lot of Sportster development work at that time and was getting 90 reliable rwhp of a Sportster. I had ridden their demo bike and was quite impressed with its power range. Roger was a protégé of C.R. Axtell, the reclusive tuner of Harleys. Axtell has been around a long time, and together with Jerry Branch were outside consultants to Harley over the years. Axtell had one of the few dynos in LA at that time, and was selling cams and modified heads through XRV exclusively. I had XRV install Axtell’s #1 cams. These cams have much increased duration over the stock cams, but lift is only about 0.007” greater. Previously, I had installed a PowerArc single-fire ignition system. Kallins insisted that the PowerArc was an unreliable system and installed a Dyna system in its place. Roger Kallins and XRV seem to have disappeared from the Harley scene; and I understand that Axtell’s latest work is with Ducatis. Just before that trip I dropped the bike onto its right side in my garage in Oregon. That snapped the right front turn signal and put a break in one of the louvers in the right side of the bike. The turn signals are Yamaha items, so it was easily replaced. While so replacing the turn signal, if reduced its stem length thereby tucking the turn signals closer to the body. During that same trip, I noticed that the paint was bubbling around the gas cap, and returned the gas tank to AMC for warranty repair. AMC sent the tank back to Buell, and about six weeks later Buell not only returned a repainted tank, but also a complete set of new matching body panels. Now I had an additional set of panels. The old panels matched perfectly, so I merely installed the new fairing, and have kept the other panels in their bubble wrap. I wrote to Buell asking if they wanted the old panels returned, but never heard from them so I have kept them to this day. I kept the bike in LA over the summer, and rode the bike back to Oregon in September 1991 taking a side journey to join the Three Flags Rally from Mexico to Canada. I had several 600 mile riding days back-to-back and one 800 mile day on that trip. I had visited Buell’s very small factory in Mukwonago, WS in June ‘91. Erik Buell was traveling and so I met Dave Gess, who gave me gratis a dashboard for the new RSS1200, which has an oil temperature gauge. I thought an oil cooler might be a good investment and installed a chrome Lockhart cooler with chrome thermostat that summer. I installed it also with braided oil lines I made up from stock bought at Earl’s Performance. That summer I also installed braided brake lines fore and aft custom made by Earl’s. Later, Erik sent me a braided front brake line, which he said was an upgrade that was being installed in all new Buells. My experience with the oil temperature gauge was that it is unnecessary. Except for one time in hot stop-and-go traffic riding two up it never got much over 200 degrees. So, I dismounted the oil cooler, and it is included with this sale. Once the bike was back in Oregon, it was seldom ridden. I kept it always on a Battery Tender, and kept the gas tank full with fuel stabilizer. With my marriage, I was visiting Oregon less often. I still managed to install a Mikuni carburetor, which I had bought from XRV. XRV advised on jetting. The main is #165 and the pilot is 17.5. I think these are stock, but Kallins supplied another air jet. This was a job because I had to dimple a frame member to accept the Mikuni’s deeper float bowl. Then I adapted the “Ham Can” Buell air filter base to the Mikuni air filter base so I had a stock-looking air filter. By 1994 it was apparent that I was no longer riding the bike very much. This called for serious long-term storage, which in addition to a full tank of stabilized gas, draining the carburetor, new oil throughout, Sea-Foam in the cylinders, and WD-40 film over every surface exposed to air. Then the bike was covered with a breathable cover in garage space. | ||
| Steveshakeshaft |
That sounds like a stunning bike. If I was in the US rather than the UK. I'd have that off you in a heart beat. I hope it finds a good home. | ||
| Easy_rider |
I'm kicking myself for spending about $6K more than I needed to for a "new" car. Now if the house should suddenly sell.... |
