HD XR vs Buell XB

[BuellRider3158]

Yeah sorry about the rant guys it just kills me when everybody slams Harley for no good reason. Honestly had Buell not existed I'd probably be riding a 1200 Sporster right now. Luckily enough that didn't have to be the case.

 

[anrkizm95]

with out harley we would still have had xb and it would have been better.water cooled possibly turbo.thank god you didnt get a sportster.their nick name for years has been"bitch bike".

 

[BikerTrash]

Oh, there are PLENTY of reasons to slam HD. Yes, Erik gave us the XB under HD, and for me it is the perfect street bike, but just think of what he could have made under a company that understands sport bikes.

"Had Buell not existed, what would you be riding?"
That is a good question. The sport bike "seed" I got was from sitting on a Buell at HD dealership, back in '01 (specifically, a blue race stripe X1 with the side pods painted blue). While I owned a VRod, I took a co-worker's '96 CBR900RR (or whatever, it was purple and yellow) for a ride, and fell in love. The following year, my local dealer had a CityX on the floor. I got my VRod sold and bought it, almost as an impulse, and to get away from forward controls (instead of getting used to them, I was hating them more and more).
So, had the first seeds of a sport bike not been planted, I still had that ride of my co-workers, and I probably would have sold the VRod and bought a Honda CBR600.

 

[anrkizm95]

eric did research a turbo xb hd closed the door on that.1125s and the race bikes he builds now WATER COOLED.sportsturds never had 103 hp eric was the best thing that ever happend to that engine.he brought more technology to that company in his time there than they have ever done for them selves.vrod engine was not desighed by harley and its WATER COOLED.ive been told that eric researched the vrod engine first and hd told him no and used it for them selves.not 100% on that though.

 

[BuellRider3158]

At the time of the Firebolt and Lightning's creation, Erik Buell pretty much had free reign to do what he wanted. HD wasn't really interfering in Buell's design. You could argue that they forced him to use the Sportster motor in the xb's, but as history will show us Buell had willingly used Harley motors in the past, such as with the 1988 Buell Battle twin race bike, which used a XR1000 Sportster motor. Honestly I never really got a "sport bike seed" I got a "Buell seed". I've rode the CBR's and the Ninja's and R's and they just don't have the same feel because they lack that v-twin.

 

[anrkizm95]

i agree with that, the sporter engine was cheap and plentiful.i feel that when other options for better performance presented themselves hd reined him in either for being to agressive or for not fitting in with their image.

 

[LeFox]

just a clearify a little detail.

tubers (s1, x1, m2) have a sportster engine
xb have an engine based on the sportster but not at all the same...

 

[03Firebolt9R]

If you wanted a water cooled motorcycle go buy a japanese bike. You can get your turbo and your straight line speed there, which is not what Buell is all about and if you think so your obviously riding the wrong motorcycle then. The sportster motor is what makes the XB exactly the fun torquey motorcycle that it is. Without that motor you mine as well ride a damn Euro or Jap bike. It's disappointing to see such narrow minded bigots riding Buells.

Wow, who is the one being narrow minded?

So what is the 1125 in your opinion? It has straight line speeds, is water cooled, has as much torque as an XB, and will carve corners as well as an XB.

 

[BikerTrash]

Have you guys read the May 2010 Cycle World article "The Death of Buell"?

To recap, Harley was the reason we didn't get:
1. Variations of the Blast
2. Upgradable Blast motor to a 1400 twin
3. A liquid cooled bike sooner
4. XB short stroke 1350
5. XB turbo
6. 1125R with full fairing
7. 3 cylinder middle weight models

 

[BuellRider3158]

The 1125 is an awesome bike but your wrong in one aspect, the 1125 has less torque than a xb12. But unlike Japanese motorcycle it uses a v twin, rather then an inline motor, giving character foreign competitors bikes simply dont have. harley didn't stop the turbo from happening that was all buell. They had a deal with aerocharger to put one on the firebolt and it fell through, they then tried to build an in house turbo and completely failed at that, pushing the base msrp of the original firebolt up 2000 dollars.

 

[Alfatango1]

They use the same motor after all.

The XB motor is derived but not the same. The pistons, valves, valves springs, intake and exhaust are unique to Buell. The engine case is about what's left from HD. You should know this from being on here as long as you have. That's why a 984 is putting out better numbers than the XR1200.

 

[tommygun]

To be fair not all Jap bikes are inline fours the RC51 is a large twin that is a lot of fun. To each their own I do not hate "rice burners" or cruisers. I just love my Buell. I have the XB and I will never sell it even if another bike is added to the garage at some point.

 

[BuellRider3158]

I don't mind Asian bikes at all, they are fun in their own right. Like you I simply prefer my Buell to them and am totally in love with the bike. I feel arguing about this over this post however, seems to be pointless because we all have our different opinions. So I'm just gonna say agree to disagree on this one.

 

[tommygun]

Good call BuellRider to each their own [up] Buy what you like and ride the hell out of it! Thats what I do with my XB [smirk]

 

[BikerTrash]

Like you I simply prefer my Buell to them and am totally in love with the bike.

+1

And by having a Jap bike as well, it only strengthens my preference of my Buell, which I could ride all day long. The Gixxer, 2 hours tops, and I'd be sore.

 

[vroom]

The XB motor is derived but not the same. The pistons, valves, valves springs, intake and exhaust are unique to Buell. The engine case is about what's left from HD. You should know this from being on here as long as you have. That's why a 984 is putting out better numbers than the XR1200.

If I take a bare block ford 351W, install trick flow heads, crane cam, scat crank, keith black pistons, etc, etc, etc....what have I got?
I'll tell you. A ford 351W.

 

[upthemaiden]

It's hard to say where he'd be if HD hadn't picked up the bikes. I think Erik had the potential to make bikes even better than he did, but obviously didn't have the funds and resources. Other companies could have provided him with what he needed and given him the freedom to develop a better motor without telling him it needed to stay large enough to have the right 'look' so they could use it in a cruiser. Chances are any other american company would have come with a price tag of at least $20k for the same bike. I know some sacrifices were made to the XBs since HD was in charge, but that's life and while people are dissapointed that bikes didn't come with certain options that they could have, I think those things are just sore subjects because it's like the salt in the wound since we only found out about a lot of the things later on down the line after Buell was closed.

The real downside is just how they trashed the bikes once they had enough of them. Yes HD is a company and closing Buell was just a business move, but completely smashing the brand and taking a loss on it shows you some things about what's wrong with the company and what people get so upset about. I don't think people would have hated HD nearly as bad had they given another company the option to take over Buell, or didn't treat us like trash when we go into a dealership to try and buy a part for a bike that we bought from them. When you treat your customers like a step-child I think it's generally accepted that there's going to be a little contempt coming your way. The fact that they're willing to let their former customers squirm just because some stupid $20 part on their bike breaks and soon they'll have no way to replace it is pretty unforuntate, and really doesn't back the HD loyalty they push so hard for.

I really really hope somehow down the line that EBR or someone else has the ability to produce some replacement parts for the XBs. It would be nice to know that I'm not going to have to just part out my bike down the line because the stupidest little piece broke on my bike and it's impossible to find a new one.

I wish they'd also stop selling people inflated egos so a couple F'n HD riders would wave back to me when I go out on a ride, like I'm a leper or something...

 

[vroom]

I haven't had that experience. I've been treated extremely well by the people at my HD shop. Even if I feel a lot out of place when some of them are wearing fingerless gloves and sporting pony tails.
They are just people that work there. If where you go, you get an attitude, you can't blame HD. Blame the jerk giving you the attitude.

 

[Alfatango1]

If I take a bare block ford 351W, install trick flow heads, crane cam, scat crank, keith black pistons, etc, etc, etc....what have I got?
I'll tell you. A ford 351W.

If you designed and engineered new pistons, cams, crank and the like and manufactured them yourself and then installed and sold it I would consider it a Ford 351w. Now if you bought all the parts out of the Summit Racing catalog like in your example sure.

 

[vroom]

If someone who knew a little about cars asked you what kind of motor you had in it, what would you tell them? Even in your example, I'd still say a ford 351w.