New guy with an old XB9

Hey everybody, just wanted to say hello and show off my new to me -but otherwise old- '03 XB9SL.

I picked her up over the winter for what I felt was a very good price, although there were some items that needed attention.

This is what she looked like when I got her:


This bike has had at least two previous owners, and I think that meant two different rounds of customizing. Some stuff, like most of the carbon fiber and the tail tidy was nicely done. Other stuff like the pegs, turn signals, and blacked out taillight just screamed Squid! to me. It also had a melted headlight lens and a broken clutch lever end from a garage tip-over.

So the headlight got replaced with a new stock "Worldwide" unit, the clutch lever got replaced, and a set of factory Buell lowering pegs went on to help my tall ass actually fit on this tiny bike. Old mismatched tires got replaced with Bridgestone S21's.

Oh, and I ****ing hate yellow. So that had to go.









Cosmetically she's nearly done. New turn signals, black clutch lever, maybe have the seat recovered. Little stuff. Not sure about the belly pan because I'm not sure what I'm going to do exhaust wise yet.

But for the most part I've just been riding the piss outta her. Like any relationship, it has it's ups and downs (sometimes me and Neutral don't see each other for days, and the transmission bangs and clanks like a 1920's tractor... falling down an elevator shaft) but for the most part life is good.

Nice job so far cleaning her up, good save. Nice to see it in better hands. Looks REALLY nice so far. IMO put the chin fairing back on.

Bike looks great, nice job :up:. I would totally put a black chin fairing back on for now, but that's me.

I have the same bike and have been going through it, I'm currently battling fuel pressure issues but I love buell lightnings. Mine is yellow and I really don't like yellow, but I really like the yellow on the lightnings.

Thanks guys, maybe I'll plastidip the belly pan to see if I like it blacked out before buying a new one.

Jeff, I'll admit the yellow started to grow on me, but when I took the airbox cover off to check the air filter I found I really liked how it looked with the plain black airbox. And the new plastics and headlight have made the bike look 10 years newer.

Very nice looking bike....

Do the belly pan...there are brackets for it even with aftermarket exhausts. IMO these bikes just don't look complete or 'right' without them.

Great Job!!! Awesome!!! Welcome and thx for sharing pics. Complete ur customizing Get a tune, custom pipe, short levers, drop ur bug screen one screw hole lower.

WhiteKnuckle said:

Thanks guys, maybe I'll plastidip the belly pan to see if I like it blacked out before buying a new one.

Jeff, I'll admit the yellow started to grow on me, but when I took the airbox cover off to check the air filter I found I really liked how it looked with the plain black airbox. And the new plastics and headlight have made the bike look 10 years newer.

Click to expand...

Your bike looks good!!!

I like the headers. Jet hot? Any better pics of those? I'm going to send a 12 header out and not sure on the color yet. I like the Black. My 9R is white...without the chin fairing. Gives it a more mechanical look. Don't forget the white wire mod. Disable it in the ECM.

I put lowered pegs on mine and had trouble finding neutral as well. Part of the peg was hitting the bike. Few passes with a file. Check the clutch adjustment as well for the banging into gear.

Holy crap, I can't believe its been two freaking years since I got this old girl on the road.

I also can't believe that it took that long (and a slight global pandemic) to get me off my ass and to take care of some tragically overdue maintenance and easy mods.

Today I did:
Engine and primary oil
Clutch cable
White wire mod
Breather re-route

I also pulled the plugs and would have replaced them if anywhere local had them in stock, but no luck there. I put the old plugs back in and took her for a spin, and I gotta say I'm a little pissed.

Pissed that Buell would neuter their bike so badly from the factory.

Pissed that you guys don't have some giant flashing sticky at the top of the XB subforum saying: "Noobs! Do these mods first!"

Mostly just pissed at myself for not taking 2 minutes out of the last two years to google this ****.


So yeah, she runs so much better now. More power, more noise, and best of all; better throttle response. I swear the ****ing thing even corners better because I'm not wasting mental energy worrying about the throttle as much, or whether I really need to downshift another gear because heaven forbid you try and pull out of a corner at 2500rpms.

All gone. Can be used below 2k now, sure it's a paintshaker at really low rpms but at least now the throttle feels like it's actually in control of the engine. Nice bump in the midrange now too, I'm sure it still needs spark plugs to reach anywhere near its full potential, as the electrodes were pretty worn, still nice to get those little mini wheelies in 1st and 2nd.

Really I'm just pissed I put 2 thousand miles on her in the last two years, and while I had fun, it would have been a lot better if I had put in an afternoon's hard(ish) work. Consider this a PSA, don't be a lazy **** like me kids, eat your vegetables and mod your bikes.





Stay safe out there everyone.

Well, I'm glad your ..................... happy with the results ?

loving the black, well done