jeffgre_6163
Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2007
- Messages
- 17
I have had my XB12Ss for about 2 months now, in that time I have chalked up 2800km.
After riding for 27 years, owning 26 or so bikes including many of the latest sports bikes [Fireblades, R1’s etc] riding countless others, I have to say that the Buell is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.
I love it.
Prior to settling on the Buell I had also been seriously considering a new Triumph Speed Triple.
I had done a lot of online research and read all the press I could on both bikes so when I went in to the dealer I think I was well prepared to make an educated choice, pending a ride on both.
On final decision day the plan was to ride the XB12Ss and the Speed Triple back to back.
Fortunately the dealer is a combined Triumph and Buell dealer, so the dealer came out on the test ride with me with the plan to swap bikes half way through.
I had previously ridden both bikes before but weeks apart never back to back.
I rode the Triumph first up.
I’m thinking “Bloody fast, dynamite brakes, high level of kit, looks pretty hard except for all the liquid cooling hoses but it feels “raw”, “brash” and somewhat crude, but can I live with the lack of 35+ HP if I go with the Buell?”
By the time I got back to the shop I had made up my mind, I went with the Buell.
I loved the quirky design, awesome bottom end grunt, smooth belt drive and I did not think the lack of 35 HP would be missed in the real world.
2 weeks ago my very good mate and riding buddy Mick bought a brand new Speed triple.
We have both eagerly been waiting for him to run it in so we could swap and have a decent ride on each others bikes.
Today was the day.
So it was with some trepidation that I swung a leg over his bike this morning.
I was thinking “Shit, I really hope I don’t like his Triple more than my Buell or it will eat me up inside ”
We had a decent route chosen, a good mix of a very tight, twisty mountain range opening out to some fast sweepers.
There is no doubt the that the Triple eats the Buell alive when it comes to top end power but the Buell does everything else better in my opinion [with exception of the brakes perhaps, more on this later]
The Triumph felt unsettled on the rough sections of the range where the trucks had cut up the tarmac and had a tendency to push the front end and drop in to corners compared to the Buell which seemed to be able to handle more corner speed and changed direction much faster [weight centralization perhaps?].
The Buell can also hold a much tighter line through corners with the suspension being much more supple.
[Mick and I agree on this and will attempt to twiddle with his knobs to iron it out].
Don’t get me wrong, the Triumph handled, just not as refined as the Buell.
You also need to be in the right place at the right time as far as the gear box is concerned if you want to get on the power with the Triumph.
Maybe I have been getting lazy with the Buell, but the comparative lack of bottom end, midrange on the Triumph was obvious.
If you are caught napping on the Triumph you will go no where fast unless you do some rapid tap dancing on the lever, where as the Buell is basically “Twist and go”, any gear, any engine speed over 3k
Very cool, just don’t expect to still be accelerating hard past 220kmph on the Buell
Once the Triumph was spinning over 8k it was bye, bye Buell, that Triumph is fast, make no mistake.
On the brakes.
The radial calipers on the Triumph grab the disks with tremendous initial bite, to the point that caution was needed before I got used to them.
Grab a handful in automatic reaction to a scare on anything other than a perfectly dry, straight road and they would dump you on your arse real fast.
The Buells brakes feel less powerful initially, without the huge bite of the Triumph but come on stronger as you put on more pressure.
More progressive I guess you would say.
Both are excellent but very different in the way they do things.
The Triumphs almost seem more track orientated with the huge initial bite likely to get the novice in trouble before they can blink.
So the bottom line was I was very relieved I had chosen the Buell.
I my opinion it handles better, looks better, has more “X” factor than any bike I have owned [Park a Buell and a Speed triple side by side in a busy street and see which attracts to most attention]
And who needs another 30 HP any way?
After riding for 27 years, owning 26 or so bikes including many of the latest sports bikes [Fireblades, R1’s etc] riding countless others, I have to say that the Buell is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.
I love it.
Prior to settling on the Buell I had also been seriously considering a new Triumph Speed Triple.
I had done a lot of online research and read all the press I could on both bikes so when I went in to the dealer I think I was well prepared to make an educated choice, pending a ride on both.
On final decision day the plan was to ride the XB12Ss and the Speed Triple back to back.
Fortunately the dealer is a combined Triumph and Buell dealer, so the dealer came out on the test ride with me with the plan to swap bikes half way through.
I had previously ridden both bikes before but weeks apart never back to back.
I rode the Triumph first up.
I’m thinking “Bloody fast, dynamite brakes, high level of kit, looks pretty hard except for all the liquid cooling hoses but it feels “raw”, “brash” and somewhat crude, but can I live with the lack of 35+ HP if I go with the Buell?”
By the time I got back to the shop I had made up my mind, I went with the Buell.
I loved the quirky design, awesome bottom end grunt, smooth belt drive and I did not think the lack of 35 HP would be missed in the real world.
2 weeks ago my very good mate and riding buddy Mick bought a brand new Speed triple.
We have both eagerly been waiting for him to run it in so we could swap and have a decent ride on each others bikes.
Today was the day.
So it was with some trepidation that I swung a leg over his bike this morning.
I was thinking “Shit, I really hope I don’t like his Triple more than my Buell or it will eat me up inside ”
We had a decent route chosen, a good mix of a very tight, twisty mountain range opening out to some fast sweepers.
There is no doubt the that the Triple eats the Buell alive when it comes to top end power but the Buell does everything else better in my opinion [with exception of the brakes perhaps, more on this later]
The Triumph felt unsettled on the rough sections of the range where the trucks had cut up the tarmac and had a tendency to push the front end and drop in to corners compared to the Buell which seemed to be able to handle more corner speed and changed direction much faster [weight centralization perhaps?].
The Buell can also hold a much tighter line through corners with the suspension being much more supple.
[Mick and I agree on this and will attempt to twiddle with his knobs to iron it out].
Don’t get me wrong, the Triumph handled, just not as refined as the Buell.
You also need to be in the right place at the right time as far as the gear box is concerned if you want to get on the power with the Triumph.
Maybe I have been getting lazy with the Buell, but the comparative lack of bottom end, midrange on the Triumph was obvious.
If you are caught napping on the Triumph you will go no where fast unless you do some rapid tap dancing on the lever, where as the Buell is basically “Twist and go”, any gear, any engine speed over 3k
Very cool, just don’t expect to still be accelerating hard past 220kmph on the Buell
Once the Triumph was spinning over 8k it was bye, bye Buell, that Triumph is fast, make no mistake.
On the brakes.
The radial calipers on the Triumph grab the disks with tremendous initial bite, to the point that caution was needed before I got used to them.
Grab a handful in automatic reaction to a scare on anything other than a perfectly dry, straight road and they would dump you on your arse real fast.
The Buells brakes feel less powerful initially, without the huge bite of the Triumph but come on stronger as you put on more pressure.
More progressive I guess you would say.
Both are excellent but very different in the way they do things.
The Triumphs almost seem more track orientated with the huge initial bite likely to get the novice in trouble before they can blink.
So the bottom line was I was very relieved I had chosen the Buell.
I my opinion it handles better, looks better, has more “X” factor than any bike I have owned [Park a Buell and a Speed triple side by side in a busy street and see which attracts to most attention]
And who needs another 30 HP any way?
