Bad Mouthing Buell XBs

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Gloomshadow

Gloomshadow

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I was surfing the web last night and I found alot of nugs badmouthing the XB12 and the 9 and I noticed a trend in the responses. Guys that knew thier **** came to its defense, people that owned them all reported that they loved them..and squids tended to make wildly negative clamis that dont match up with my experience on my XB12R.

How did all this badmouthing get started anyway?

They say Buells are "ugly"..mine looks better than a ducati IMO

They say Buells "break" mine has been rock solid for 11,000 miles.

They say Buells are slow, Im stomping 600s constantly in the twisties and some of the 1000s (seems like alot of the 1000 owners are scared to death of thier bikes)

I just dont see where the **** talking is coming from..
 
All those guys don't like to stand out in the crowd and like their jap bikes to be slathered in gaudy graphics and sound like a weedeater on steroids! I've been a Bueller since 2005 and have owned 4 XBs and they've ALL been reliable and a blast to ride ! They're just bitter because everywhere they ride their jap bikes there are 10 others just like it in the parking lot. That's just my opinion. BUELL BABY !!!!!!! [up]
 
Yeah, conformists. They writers were the same way..saying that it had "wonky" handling and **** like that, just bc it didnt feel like a Jap-4. I think it handles great! Not top-heavy at all.
 
I havent heard anyone call it top-heavy yet but this is my 6th bike and all the others felt top heavy compared to the XB12R AND NO ONE EVER MENTIONS THAT! Jap-4s all feel top-heavy as hell, especially with a full tank of gas in one. Going back to 1990, Ive owned CBRs, ZX6s and Gixxers and by far, this one feels the best to me. I can slide it all over the road if I want to and it still feels stable and under control. I even hit some pine needles in a hard left turn and the front end slid about 10-15 feet with no problem, I just powered out of it without changing the lean angle..my ZX would have never done that and I think my old CBR6 would have barely made it..the XB barely noticed it. I stomped a pretty good rider on a naked SV1000 too, the old man suprised him..he was one of those guys that thought the XB was a dog and he didnt expect a 43 year old man in full street armor to bring him any game..WRONG!
 
well if a person is talking speed, the inline 4s are going to beat us after a certain point. i dont give a **** about that, because from 0 to 100 is where it is at.
most inexperienced riders go off what they read or hear others say...and they repeat it because they just dont know any better. and frankly, i dont care what they think. i like my buell.
 
Yeah sure but most of these guys I run into really get into trouble at speeds above 100 so they cant use that top speed agianst you for very long...they lose it all back when a turn comes up. so like you said, **** the 100+.. I rarely hit 110 on the back roads and its only for a few seconds, its all that midrange that really helps you...and I noticed that the tranny and heavy flywheel that they complain about in the mags alot is ******* forgiving as hell, its usable power pretty much anywere at any time. The 4s gotta be shifted spot on to really "sing" and alot of these jap-4 owners that you run into around here dont really know how to conserve energy or shift right. Most of these guys around here in Florida are squids, total squids. No helmets, flip-flops, the whole nine yards, its disgusting. I saw one on a nice Trimph just the other day, brand new..I pulled up next to him at a light and he just looked at me.. I always ride suited up bc Ive been hospitalized before back when I was young and stupid. I just had to look at him and shake my ******* head.. "body bag" in the making.
 
Fukin-A, Dragon..I cant stand em! Most of them on bikes that one day are gonna write a check that they cant cash.. and they have no idea whats underneath them and they have no idea what roadrash is like,
 
all the i4 are higher performance than our buells.buell is a great street bike the jap r bikes are made for the track.personally i have a better lap time on an r6 than a lightning.iv seen harleys out corner a buell it all depends on the rider.
 
idk about where you all live, but 95% of the riders i see wear no gear. i expect that from harley riders, but i notice most metric riders seem to shun it as well.
 
yeah I4s have more but what Im saying it that its mostly on paper, on a track with a good rider. But that isnt the average rider in street conditions. From what I see, I tend to think the average street rider would be a little bit faster on a XB. Its easy for me to go fast on the XB12R with the race ECM, Im alot faster now than I was on say, my old 91 GSXR750 or my old CBR600..for sure. The average squid I see on a i4 looks like hes constantly saving himself from wiping out and holding back. Its too much bike for them. On a XB, I got the feeling that they would be more confident. What do you think?
 
Talk is just talk. Most people I've riden with (including myself) ride to about 50-60 percent of what their bike is capable of anyway, so comparing the specs is sort useless.
 
i ride with 6 guys two 600s and 4 1000s and none of them can keep up with me in town.4 have gone down this year.not saying it dosnt happen to everyone but imo 3 are due to the characteristics of theyre bikes and theyre skill set mainly being young.none of them wore proper gear and would give me **** until the first 2 went down.now they all wear jackets,gloves and helmets only one wears pants.
 
Talk is just talk. Most people I've riden with (including myself) ride to about 50-60 percent of what their bike is capable of anyway, so comparing the specs is sort useless
Click to expand...

[up] there are very few people that can take a jap r bike to its limits
 
Just guessing here:
some of the "badmouthing", I'm betting", is simply because of the parent company (Harley). HD has an EXTREMELY negative image in the sportbike world (mostly for good reason). Anything Harley = bad so therefore Buell= bad.

"Ugly" is simply a matter of personal taste, which is HIGHLY subjective. Buells do have a unique look to them. "Unique" tends to be polarizing as far as opinions go. It stands to reason that those who LOVE the fully faired look of the Japanese bikes wouldn't really go for the naked Buell look, especially if their too close minded to accept different kinds of bikes as being attractive.

Buell earned a reputation for breaking in their early years and it stuck with them to the end. the XB's were pretty reliable bikes but even they had occasional issues.

Slow is a matter of perspective and in a lot of regards, Buells are "slow". Now, a properly dialed in XB will hang with the very best there is on a twisty road but as far as acceleration and top speed, Buells are very much lacking compared to what the rest of the world offers. Given equal riders an XB12 is about a full second slower through the 1/4 mile than a Japanese 600 and a solid 10-15mph less on the top end. Those are pretty significant numbers. The 1125 was going a LONG way towards fixing that disparity but HD never really let Erik fully develop that engine/bike.
Comparing an air cooled twin (the XB) to a multi cylinder, DOHC, water cooled race ready sportbike seems silly to me in the first place though. A Ducati Monster compares pretty lousy to a Japanese sportbike in terms of power and speed but that comparison is just as silly as those who expect an XB to perform like an "RR" bike.

Most of the trash talk is simply a lack of understanding as to what Buells are/were. They were NEVER meant to be race replicas like the Japanese bikes. Why people insist on comparing them to them is beyond me. Compare them to other sporty standard style bikes and the Buells come out looking pretty good, especially where suspension/handling are concerned.


agreed Dragonslayer. If I lived anywhere near the Gap a Buell would unquestionably be my weapon of choice. Mine was absolutely sublime when I rode it through there this summer.
 
to anrkizm ..thats what I needed to hear..thats what I figured. From what Ive seen so far, after 5 months of riding this XB, Its never really suprised me with anything bad. The way it puts power down to the ground is very predictable compared to my old i-4s, Ive slowly pushed it and pushed it to find the envelope and Ive pretty much been able to predict what its going to feel like. Even when I lose adheison..it doesnt suprise me when it happens. You had the same experience?
 
to captian choas.. yeah. Ive run into guys that try to copare the XB to the 'Busa becuase they are both 1200s..its insane. I always saw the XB12 as something to compare to a Monster too but, its air-cooled and there is something to say about not having to worry about a cooling system. Ive never ridden a Monster but it wouldnt suprise me if the XB handled better for the average guy.
 

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