New guy

[Tacoclaw]

Hello, everyone. If you've been looking for used, and now possibly stolen Buell parts tonight you may already know me. I'm from Cheshire, Ohio, waaaaaay down in the southeast corner.

I picked up an '03 Buell XB9S a month or so ago and have been riding it mercilessly since then. Not counting the recent tire drama I can say it's been a completely wonderful bike and I'm extremely glad it's the first street bike I've ever ridden!

Here it is in it's current habitat,

And there's the beautiful scar from the PO.

I found out that complete frame covers run around $200 on Ebay, so I had him knock it off the $3k asking price, but once I noticed I couldn't even see the dent from the seat I spent the $$ on a helmet instead. [cool]

Here's the first pic I got of it:

and here it is after a tail chop, bath, and some other miscellaneous stuff I did:

I'm looking into some bar end mirrors and whatnot, but to be honest I think I'll just shut up and ride the thing for the rest of the season.

 

[Tacoclaw]

And yes, it has an SCG seat and suspension on it, but the 'bar clamp is marked XB9S. I like it this low, so I'm not going to change anything.

 

[CrazyTexan]

Well officially welcome now that you have a dedicated thread to it. lol

Thats a nasty dent there in the frame...I'd get that fixed/replace it and get some frame Pucks ASAP!!

Now that you boarded the bad ass motorcycle train, Kiss the Diesel world Goodbye.. I dont care what kinda stick or turbos you have under the hood...Wont be NEARLY as fun as the Buell.[up]

 

[oh9bolt]

That is a SL model. They had regular S badges but it is a SL.

 

[Tacoclaw]

Yeah, Texan, I'm semi-dissapointed that I have less in this bike than my turbos on the dodge and I think I could walk that poor thing in 2nd gear. Another local guy here has another compounded 1stgen that's properly tuned and I offered to race him on the Buell.

It's a depressing thought once you finally start thinking bout it.

Thanks, Bolt. I read that somewhere throughout my months worth of reading before I bought it but couldn't recall the actual name. It does have a factory race pipe and K&N filter, but I'm not too sure if the ECM got switched to match. I grabbed a 'spy cable off Xopti and reset the TPS and whatnot, after a new set of plugs and a breather reroute but I haven't really dug into anything deeper.

Once again, I'm officially gunshy. I just want to be able to ride it the rest of the season.

 

[wolfo68]

the 03's didn't really have the specific badging since it was the start. but I agree you should do something about that dent.

aluminum filler works nicely if you don't want to replace the frame.

 

[ChuckieE]

Welcome mate

 

[Tacoclaw]

If I do anything it'll be a frame replacement. I'm not a fan of all the silver on the bike, especially the wheels. They're too hard to keep clean. One good ride and there's dust thrown back into every crevice around the disc brake mounts.

I may look into blacking it out, as played out as it's getting, and looking into some color to throw at it afterwards.

After the riding season, of course.

 

[netty2424]

Welcome Tacoclaw! [up]

 

[Tacoclaw]

Thanks for the welcome, Chuck and Netty, glad to be here.

 

[Tacoclaw]

Annnnnnnd, I'm back. Call the tire guy again today, for those of you in the know of my current tire drama, and finally get him to tell me how much I owe him for the tires it took 2 weeks to get.

$390... [down]

I suck it up and get the $ out of the bank thinking it's all over and I can just go home semi-violated and enjoy my bike. [down]

As I hand him the $$ I spot the wheels behind him. I immediately notice they're not Pilot Power 2Ct's... I contemplate asking him wtf that's all about, but in my head the only thing I can picture myself doing is letting out some Chewbacca-esque yell and foaming at the mouth before I run out to my truck and ram it through his garage.

I stfu, throw my tires in the truck, and leave as fast as I possibly can. Turns out he ordered me Pilot Roads 2ct's, which look nice, but aren't the tires I asked for in 3 phone calls and 2 face to face visits. In the end I put them on the bike and went riding, and that's all that matters. Well, that and smearing his name with so much shit that no amount of TP will clean it up.

Then I learned that apparently Buells don't enjoy getting randomly parked for three weeks in the middle of summer. Battery was dead, clutch both didn't release all the way and slipped once I was moving, and the neutral safety switch had apparently gone bad. [down]

Since my bike has the kickstand shutoff switch I imagine you all know the pains I went through jump starting it with my Dodge, then having to hold the clutch in while I pulled the clamps off and wrestled the seat on. Then as I went to leave the driveway my front brake made a really odd thump. Turns out when Dad stopped over to see how the tire fiasco unfolded he timed it just right to distract me from tightening my front caliper bolts...[down]

Whatever, through it all I got in a 2 hour ride around town tonight and at that point none of this shit mattered. [up]

Until I dropped $115 on a new battery. [down]

On the plus side I won't have to worry about this again for at least another 5k miles. Here's hoping. [cool]

 

[uly luigi]

Yep, weird shtuff happens when the creature sleeps, glad you got in some stress relief anyway

 

[Tacoclaw]

Oh, and Snrus:

My Dodge (I'll never call them Rams ) is a '90 W250. 5.9 Cummins with the old VE rotary injection pump. AFE filter and home made inlet tube, 62 over 75mm compound turbos, water to air aftercooler setup that I've made (though I'm going to a factory-style heat exchanger now for piping simplicity), ported and o-ringed head, Hamilton 188/220 camshaft, SteedSpeed exhaust manifold with 38mm external 'gate, and one hell of a cobbled up 5" to 4" exhaust that I just can't get to dump where I'm happy.

Anything else you wanna know just ask, that's the first time I've ever made a list of the stuff done to it in recent memory. If I forgot anything I'll tack it on later. [cool]

 

[d_adams]

Ok, since you seem to be somewhat mechanically inclined, I'll point you this way.

http://www.nomartirechanger.com/


Go get/order one of those. Tire changes are EASY. It takes 3 sets to pay for itself, depending on the cost of the tires you buy later. I justified it by having the wife call the dealer and ask for the cost of tires and a for them to do the work, wheels on the bike. $500 just for the tires, another $150 for them to do the changeout. The No-mar was $500. Tires online at that time were $250 shipped. She did the math. I got a tire changer the next day.

 

[Tacoclaw]

Thanks for the link, Adams! That rim clamp looks like something a fellow could throw together himself over the winter.
I'm pretty used to barring tires on an off, but I really don't have a way to hold the rim.

I did go on a trip this weekend. I had to get out of the county so I hit the road. It ended up being around 500miles round trip, and I was hurtin' for certain.

I managed to get rained on going both directions. Rode through it like a boss, but the bike looks like hell now.
I did have to stop for Hot chocolate, I couldn't feel my hands.

Here's the cabin, a super nice place right on the banks of the Greenbrier River.

And here's the view

I didn't get shit done but an afternoon of hammock-laying, but man it was good. [cool]

 

[MrFantastic22]

Howdy, Howdy, welcome to the Jungle.

 

[Retrax]

How did you black out the primary and the gear cover? I've got the multi toned 2007 XB12Scg (graphite frame, silver seat rails, grey engine, bronze looking primary and gear covers). I like the black look. I have heard the gear cover is a PIA to remove and replace though.

 

[Tacoclaw]

The colors on the bike are how I picked it up from the guy's house. The finish looks to be the same on all the black engine stuff, some sort of wrinkle coat, so I'd assume it's factory.

Thanks for the welcome, MrF.

 

[BuellSki]

Yeah the 03's came that way factory. Don't know if it's a pain to get off. I've got an 03 also. I just wish they blacked out the engine too.

 

[FastTimes]

Great looking bike! I recently picked up my 1st Buell and I'm hooked