What an interesting question!

I can only talk from personal experience, but the main reasons why I bought a Buell (XB9R)were (and remember that I bought it without ever ahving seen one in real life, let alone having ridden one):

1) The way it looked - small, lightweight, nimble...

2) It wasn't mainstream. I know enough people with their R1s, GSXRs etc and its all a big highest up the wall pissing contest. I wanted a bike that would be fun to ride without having to "compete". I was all set to buy a Duke but (oh, the irony now!) the salesman was a to$$er and looked down on me as a lower form of life because I wasn't upgrading my Duke but trying to buy into the "club" for the first time. I thought about a MV but was concerned about the possible reliability issues ( ). I nearly bought a Falco - perhaps, objectively, I should have done. But then I got taken by the look of the 9R.

3) I do enjoy fettling and actually wanted a bike that would need a bit of regular TLC. The "ride and ignore from one service to the next" wasn't what I was looking for. At the time I had two other bikes, so it was a fair bet that at least one of them would be on the road on any given day. (Now I'm down to just the XB and its been up on a paddock stand for the last fortnight.)


I could actually do without some of the Buell issues - eg shearing sidestand bolts are just a complete pain. Its a lousy design that probably wouldn't have got through Honda's current quality control (yes, I am old enough to remember the disaster area that was the original Honda VF 750!).

I like the way it tries to shake itself to pieces on tickover (mine does actually tickover now!). I don't mind the regular fettling; although it would be nice if the torque settings in the workshop manual were correct. What gets me is not so much the fundamental flaws but that the MoCo won't address them. I was a beta tester for the XB seven years ago and they are still making this year's models with tensioners that don't work, gearboxes with a "destruct by" date, reflectors on the forks, front discs that warp etc etc.

My next bike? I'm just waiting for the half faired Moto Morini Corsaro. (I'll be keeping the Buell though!)

Dave

I suspect that many people like Buells exactly because you can work on them and modify them in ways one used to be able to do with every car and bike on the road... but now, how many bikes can you actually take a spanner to? With online fora, all we hear about are the problems and "issues" particular to the bikes, so our online view of these machines is also skewed.
I love being on a bike, so perhaps I would be fine with all sorts of different bikes (give me Jay Leno's garage and I'll let you know once I've tried). But I do think the Buell is a bit of a cult item, and takes at least a small sip of the grape Buell-ade to appreciate the beasts.

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2006 XB12Ss..... 1998 S1W..... 1996 S2T
We do not need the help of our friends so much as confidence that they will help us when we need it. –Epicurus

What if this pretty much described your Buell experience? In 20 months of ownership the only failure on my bike was a front brake light switch. Ok I paid for a quality service at 5000 miles which was around the £200 mark, and spent about £500 on aftermarket products, but that was really it. What spoiled it for me was exactly your question - What if............?

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In a purple fug

First one I had - 02 X1 had a monthly major component failure, cracked disk, failed shock, cracked subframe, failed clutch, broken fork leg, failed fuel tank etc etc...disgraceful service from Buell UK who were worse than useless, Excellent Service from the supplying dealer, unfortunately now gone.

Second one - 00 X1 was delicious - someone else had done all the testing and fixed it before I bought it - until it ate itself on a trackday, 000's in repairs to charging system, primary, clutch, gearbox etc excellent once fixed by Maz and fettled/10k serviced by Tubbs though.

Third one - 98 S1WL - modified and thrashed, just about everything broke or fell off - me included

Fourth one - still on the bench

Excellent fun machines but only useable as a second or third bike (6 or 7th in Adam's case) and only then once they have been modified out of all recognition from factory spec. I don't know of another machine that requires so many "upgrades" to make it acceptable......what is the current "must do/have" list for a tuber?
Late style Swingarm (if an S1), Throw away rear hugger (if S1) replace crap shock, replace crap airbox, sort unattractive gap that appears, feck about with breathers and catch cans, replace crap carb (if not already fitted with FI), replace complete exhaust, replace/reflash ecm........sort crap front suspension, change crap front disk.....change gearing.....change rocker covers......sure there is more.....and that is (or at least should be) before all the bling merchants get polishing everything in sight.

And then you have an underpowered motorcycle that requires more attention than Jordan and has been modified as much.....

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Life is short - drink the good wine first

I thought only XBs were shite...

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08 Specialized Langster

I'll take it, how much?

I reckon that has to be worth a

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

I can't face the thought of buying a bike from a massive corporate manufacturer who also makes lawn-mowers or electric organs or cars or whatever. I love the passion that goes into the smaller firms. And, yes, I know HD are a mega-brand sell-out, but Erik is still there, and Buells couldn't feel much further from corporate facelessness if they tried.

So that rules out the Japs and BMW. And (ugh) Victory.

I cannot stand the whiny sound of a high-revving IL4. Or the characterless smoothness of them. So that rules out the Japs again. And MV Agusta.

I really don't like the whole motorbike as lifestyle and branding obsession, where the logo is everything. There goes HD, Ducati and Triumph.

Three cylinder engines are just weird. Triumph - again - and Benelli are out.

I also want at least a vague feeling that the company will survive longer than I own the bike. So I'm a bit reluctant to go with Moto Morini (and whichever other Italian marque has been brought back to life this month).

So that leaves the three companies I actually rate: Guzzi (had three, never quite won me over), Aprilia (had three - too sodding fast) and Buell. And KTM. But KTM feel to me as though they are trying to hard to be cool.

Oh, and Confederate. And if I had kept my first Guzzi for the last seven years and not kept on replacing bikes every year or so, I reckon I could by now have bought a Hellcat instead. Damn.

So, lacking the funds for a Confederate...I'll stick with Buell. And if they were built by Aprilia, with the finish and reliability - and passion - that goes with that? Yup, I'd be happy. But the Japs? No thanks.

There's an interesting article in Bike this month when they compare the Kawasaki Z1, Laverda Jota, Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 and a new Hayabusa. The killer comment in early in the article where the muttering rotter says that despite the Z1 being a pile of mecahnical poo it is the nicest, most fun to ride (my parapharase).

Doesn't it seem that somewhere along the way we have lost the fun element of riding bikes. Modern stuff is so uber competent (most of the time) that it becomes boring and goads people into riding like a twat to get any excitement/enjoyment from the deal. May be Buells are closer to the Z1 experience and are just fun to ride.

Discuss.

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Be seeing you

I

Who cares what the brand says? just ride a bike that you like riding....and if you really think that Buell is in any way not part of the uber Brand that is HD then you are delusional and trying to convince yourself of something....Erik sold out the moment he could.....




Fun to ride when they have been heavily modded but not so much fun when waiting for the RAC man or fixing (or paying to fix) yet another broken part or another feckin service.....

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Life is short - drink the good wine first

6th or 7th - have you run out of fingers

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If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough.

Wearing mittens today.......that was all I could manage....

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Life is short - drink the good wine first

I saw that article too, I hope that more manufacturers, and buyers, are coming round to this way of thinking. The R1, 'blade etc are wondrous machines but really, on the road, why? How much more can you get from them than a, for instance, Shiver or Gladius? Are the manufacturers missing the point because so many buyers are missing the point?

Some may have noticed that I rather like the Fazer, it has 130 at the rear tyre, which is great on a dyno but on the road I'm mostly riding the torque around 4k-6krpm. That's why, as has been said many times here, most modern bikes can stick in a pack with the rider having more influence on the speed than the choice of bike until you get to significant speeds or vaguely insane cornering.

Ride a Buell with peeps on a sports bike, they'll rave about abilities that they can never use whilst you just sit there with a shit-eating grin on your face.

Less of a worry to ride if heavily modded but I think that many of the mods are there to reduce the uncertainty rather than add to the fun.

But that harks back to my original point, what if Buell had invested their (or HD's) R&D dollars into reliability rather than innovations, what if you could now buy an S1 which had 6k service intervals and didn't need new shocks, swingers etc to keep them on the road?

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Good in straight lines
2001 X1 "The Tart's Handbag"
2001 FZS1000 "The Fridge"

Just as a (serious) matter of interest ...... what do they retail at in the UK?

Just had a peek at the uk website & of course it falls under the category of "If you have to ask, Sir, you can't afford it"

If you had asked last year, then the answer would probably be "where do I sign"....but mine eyes have been opened, the attention to detail and engineering quality that Ducati now put into their motorcycles is exemplary, the end result is an uber hoot and the dealers, after sales and support is exceptional (Riders being the exception!)....where a decent Buell dealer is a rarity and much prized, seems the opposite is true with Ducati....no mods needed thus far either - Except the pipe which was a ludicrous indulgence.....

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Life is short - drink the good wine first