Greetings from another new member

[Eel]

Hello everyone!

Last year I picked up a Buell XB9S 2003 with 17000km on it (around 10k miles right?). I had wanted a Buell for years but never had the right timing, until this one came up for sale.
Fun fact: this is my first motorcycle! Maybe not the most beginner friendly bike, but I've gotten quite used to it. So far I have ridden it about 600 miles.
Part of the reason for getting the bike was to ride with my dad, who is my instructor and also teaches me things about the inner workings of bikes. I'm really interested in learning how to work on motorcycles; I think owning a Buell might further push me to learn how these machines work, where I live (Sweden) there's not a lot of mechanics who will take on a Buell (even HD mechanics).

Last photo: my gear shift lever came loose on the highway (on my third lesson), that was... interesting to say the least

 

[Heavy18]

That's a pretty unique paint scheme - I dig it!

I lost my shift lever on a ride once myself, luckily I was close to home. These engines rattle enough that it's worth your time to go through and apply blue loctite to any fastener that doesn't have a lock nut or similar. Another common issue is the kick-stand rattling off. After mine did I applied red loctite AND lock washers... that's definitely overkill but that's how I roll sometimes.

Welcome to the forum and enjoy that ride!

 

[Cooter]

Welcome to the forum and the shift lever delete club! After my incident I added that pinch bolt to the small bag of shouldered t27's and fuses that I keep on the bike.

 

[Eel]

Thanks my dudes! Hilarious that these things are a common occurrence and seemingly "part of the experience" lol!
I didn't have any spare parts at the time (very silly), solved it by finding a dry-cleaner nearby who was kind enough to spare a wire hanger that I could MacGyver a fix to keep the gear shifter hanging on (and working), so was able to ride it home.
In another episode of Buelling Around Stockholm the belly pan almost fell off, reused the same wire hahah, its my good luck wire now.
But I learned my lesson: always keep spare parts handy.