Considering buying a 2006 XB12X

[outlander]

Hello everyone. I am considering buying an xb12x, probably a 2006 model. Is an 08 model onwards significantly better than the 06s and 07s.

1. The buell heated grips, are they relatively easy to retro fit?

2. If I am gentle on the throttle what kind of mpg will I get and how many miles will I get on a tank before it hits reserve.

3. Are the correct TKC 80s finally available?

4. The bike im looking at has a lowered corbin seat, Im a tall guy and find it uncomfortable. What is it worth second hand and how comfortable is the tall xb12x seat?

5. I read a lot about race ecm's, is it road legal, how much and what does it do? Is it a new ecm or reflash at HD?

6. The bike has 22,000 miles, is that considered fairly low mileage for the buell?

7. The buell gel pad that slides onto the triple tail, are they still available?

8. How much does it cost for all the parts to upgrade to the 2010 rear wheel?>

9. Will changing the gears to xb9 increase fuel consumption?

10. Which gps mount is best suited to the handlebars?

11. Is the factory buell tank bag still available? If not what is a good alternative?

12. Is there anything specific I should be looking for before buying, I know the local harley/buell approved dealer can inspect the motorcycle, is it worth it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Thats a lot of questions. But regardless of what the answers are, get it. 20k miles isnt bad, a member here thrstrmech has 55k in his and sprung his first leak after 10 years.

1. Grips - idk i live in southern cali dont beed um.
2. MPG- sea level im aggressive and get about 35mpgs in the mountains about 45mpg, reserve comes on 110-120 but i believe the X has a bigger tank, find 09bolt user click on his profile http://www.buellxb.com/index.php?a=member&m=6049

3.the tires, not sure but google can prob be of more light than the forum on this.
4. I also find aftermarket seats unconfortable, but thats personal preference go sit on it.
5.Race ECM- not road legal but people do it anyways, 2 options buy an ECM from erik buell racing ($$$) or you can learn to tune and reprogram your stock ECM theres a lot of info here on that.
6. Answered
7-8 idk
9. I believe changing to a 9 sprocket lowers your engine RPMs there for better fuel mileage but a slight loss of torque.
10. Who needs a GPS thats part of the fun of a bike getting lost.
11. Not sure try http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/ccp0-catshow/XB12Xseats.html
12. This isnt exactly for bew buying but i nade a list of things to check before riding.
http://www.buellxb.com/Buell-XB-Forum/General-Motorcycle-Chat/Pre-Ride-checks

 

[sprk_sprd]

Hey Outlander,

I have a 2006 Uly. I don't know if there is a big difference between the 08 and the 06-07 years. (Someone may correct me there.) I believe the biggest reason one may want an 09-10 model is the newer and more robust rear wheel bearings. Having said that, you can always upgrade a pre-2009 model with the newer 2010 wheel + the 2010 bearings + spacer + axle kit (~$375?).

1) I don't have heated grips, but I doubt they'd be too difficult. I've swapped grips on other bikes before and it wasn't that hard.

2) I ride my Uly with all the hard luggage (2 saddle bags and top case), and can never manage to get anything better than low-mid 40s mpg. I surmise without the luggage I'd be able to get higher mpg. But without the luggage and I may as well take out my Lightning.

3) According to these folks, yes: BadWeb thread

4) I don't have the Corbin seat on mine, but I do have both the "tall" seat and the "low" seat. They're both comfortable, but the "tall" seat is literally all-day comfortable. I'm 5'11" and I rode the Uly from Detroit, MI to MD in one day with the "tall" seat. That seat is THAT comfortable. On the other hand, when I put the "low" seat on, I start feeling some discomfort after a couple hours. You can find the tall seat online for $111.

5) A race ECM is technically not road legal, but it's situated under the seat or behind the front fairing. So it's not as if a LEO is going to ask you to remove the seat to inspect it. There are a few different ECMs out there (pre-programmed and programmable). Here is EBR's race ECM.

6) Mileage on a motorcycle isn't necessarily a good metric by which to judge a bike. It really depends on how well/poorly the previous owner took care of it. The good thing about bikes like Uly's and other sport/adv-touring is that their owners are typically older and take better care of the machines (i.e. as opposed to buying a CBR600 from a 22 year old. No offense to you 22 year olds out there. Well, sort of...)

7) I found this one, but I doubt it's OEM: gel pad on eBay

8) $375 from American Sportbike dot com: 2010 wheel with new axle/bearing/seal kit

9) Changing to the XB9 gearing will increase your overall RPMs (i.e. they are shorter gears), giving your slightly increased low and mid-range torque. One would think you would correspondingly lose mpgs, but I'll leave that one to those who have performed the mod. Here is a good thread BadWeb

10) There are too many out there. You can search for "RAM mounts"...

11) I only use the hard luggage and the small handlebar bag that came with mine. So I can't answer that one.

12) You will definitely want to read more about the wheel bearing issue. There are a couple of ways to detect if they are going bad (mainly by rolling the bike forward and backward, or spinning the rear wheel while on a stand, and listening for noise). Assuming this isn't your first bike, perform the usual due diligence: ask the owner about maintenance, oil change intervals, wrecks/drops, has the belt been replaced, any electrical work that may have been done (read up on ECM relocation, etc. The more you read/learn about the bike, the more you'll know what to look for and the better you will be able to discern whether the previous owner took care of the bike.

Good luck!

 

[BuellyBagger]

ill try and answer the ?'s that i have experience in...

the stock tall seat is positively the most comfortable seat ever fitted to a buell (of course ULYs r the most comfortable buells neway).

As far as the ECM i went EBR bcuz im lazy, but it is very easy to flash ur own maps id suggest Tuneversity ad on the right>>>>

22,000 miles isnt low mileage for a bike here in nebraska but ive met quite a few buell riders with 30-40,000 miles and have never done ne engine work

all the old factory upgrades for bags and seat pads and the comfort kit are availible from various suppliers including most HD dealers

with 22,000 miles i would suggest having it inspected (would also suggest finding a good independent shop that has worked on a buell B4 if possible, the majority of Harley dealers aren't very interested in actually maintaining bikes, especially buells they want to sell chrome and charge butt loads to put it on.) If u want to do ur own quick inspection, check for ne oil seeping, pull the seat and look @ the condition of the wiring and battery, if theres a bunch of scum or corrosion obvious under the seat theres a good chance of annoying wiring issues(these things are sensitive to bad connections. The engine isolators especially the front one, i beleive theres a thread demonstrating the difference between a warn one and a good one on here somewhere. The ECM should have a little 1x2" block on one mounting bolt the keeps the seat from crushing it, the Bank Angle sensor should be moved to the rear of the tail if that recall hasnt been done ull find it attached to the ECM bracket right under the ECM. And of course ask about all parts replaced(and by who) and all maintenence. This that should have probably been replaced once maybe even twice by know: wheel bearings, brake pads, spark plugs, fork oil and seals.

The '06 is a good bike for a few reasons: its DDFI2 which is easily programable with ECMSPY, it does not have the 1 year only TPS sensor, so u can get a replacement from ur local parts store and everything else is the same as the newer ones (except the steering lock degree which is higher on the 08+ and the fork size the late model X's have 47mm front forks while the old X's and all the XT's have 43mm) so u can bolt on all the upgrades that Buell put on the newer ones.