New to me 2006 Buell Bast!

[Jim Rogers]

This will be the second (along with UseOnceandDestroy's) post on the current page introducing an '06 Blast purchase!

Here's mine-- all stock, 17K miles, I'll be the third owner. Person I bought it from says it starts and runs fine, but I wasn't able to test that as I bought it last Sunday when it was -15 degrees and blowing snow! I know I took a risk, but I decided to take the owner's word for it. Only paid $1,000 for it, so that lowers the risk some.

Unfortunately, with our weather, it looks like it's going to be a while before I can ride it, but spring is coming!

 

[Cooter]

Welcome to the forum! Hope you can enjoy that little thumper soon

-15 and blowing snow? Are you in Texas? :black_eyed:

 

[Jim Rogers]

I'm not in Texas, but up in the Great White North. Unfortunately, though, our state is in the power grid that also covers Texas. Due to the demand there, we had to have rolling blackouts here as the grid tried to deal with the Texas situation.

I've lived here for over 50 years, and have never seen a power blackout due to cold. Let me tell you, there are plenty of discussions up here about why our power had to go out in order to deal with another state's problem that's thousands of miles away!

Yesterday it got above freezing (for the first time in the last 16 days!), so I unloaded the bike from my truck and tried to start it. I charged the battery (which only took a few minutes as it was almost fully charged), and at first the starter motor wouldn't turn; there was just a click (like a relay, not the solenoid). It was really hard to roll the bike because it was in gear and hard to find neutral when it wasn't running. Strangely, it wouldn't roll (it was clearly turning the engine-- compression is good) even with the clutch in.

I messed around with it a bit, and finally got it in neutral so that it would roll freely (even with the clutch out), but when I would try again a few minutes later (and without touching the shift lever) it would act like it was in gear again (either with the clutch in or out).

So, not sure what that problem is, but in the course of working on it, the starter began to work. With it acting like it was in gear, I duck-paddled the bike to help the starter out, and it turned the engine decently, but no start. I sprayed some gumout directly into the card as a starter fluid (you can start anything on gumout!), but it didn't fire at all. One thing I noticed as I rolled with the starter turning was that the gears sometimes "skipped," like if there were some teet missing off the flywheel or something.

It was getting dark, so I quit, and now we got 4" of snow this morning, so not going to mess with it today. But I'm left with these questions: why does is it always act like it's in gear, turning the engine and skidding the wheel even when the clutch is in? But on occasion, it lets go and rolls freely? And why won't it fire? With good compression and gumout in the carb, it would seem that it's a spark problem. The people I bought it from claimed that is running a month ago (when someone else came to look at it), and the charged state of the battery when I got it home would support that statement.

I don't mind working on this bike. It's going to be a project/hobby. For some reason, I've always been a bit intrigued by the Blast. Never owned a Blast, any Buell, or any Harley, but always had the Blast in the back of my mind. Love the fact that the engine is Sportster-based. I also generally like single-cylinder bikes (I also have a KLR650 and a Savage 650), and single cylinder, standard street bikes are a bit rare (a few examples do exist like the TU250, and SR400). The Blast is not only a single street bike, it's American and (basically) a Harley-- rare and interesting (to me, at least!).

I'll probably try to start the Blast next weekend. In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Cooter]

The severe cold in the primary fluid, or bad clutch cable adjustment would easily explain the sticky clutch.

A no start may take a little more fiddling but they are supremely simple machines. Does fuel come out of the carb if you drain the bowl? Does it smell like varnish? Full of junk? Got spark?

 

[34nineteen]

It’s probably a sticky clutch plate(s).

For the no start, have the battery load tested to make sure it has enough juice (amps) to crank the starter. A good test is if the headlight dims a lot or goes out when trying to start, that’s amps.

Also try hooking up a jumper cable between the negative terminal and a clean unpainted part of the engine. If that solves it, you have a ground issue.

Also try to pull out the relays and reseat them. Could be a flaky connection there and the removal and replacement of the relay could “fix” the connection.

I would recommend pulling the carb off (super easy) and pulling the float bowl and diaphragm cover off and cleaning it out with some high quality carb cleaner(not the cheap stuff). It’s pretty quick and easy and can make a big difference).

 

[Jim Rogers]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Agree that the cold weather may be causing some kind of stickiness in the clutch-- the amount of pull at the lever feels very normal/typical, so I don't think it's a cable problem. We're supposed to be in the 40's later this week, so maybe that will sort out on it's own.

Once it started working, the starter was tuning fine and strong, and I was pedaling the bike to help it. I've not taken off the carb, but will if I need to. I can have the carb off my KLR650 (which I believe is the same carb as Harley uses) in about 10 min. I plan to have the carb off at some point soon to clean and re-jet it, but I was just hoping to hear it run before I did that.

However, the fact that it wouldn't fire even with gumout sprayed into the intake would indicate it's not a fuel problem. I would have checked the spark at the plug, but it was getting late and the plug wasn't super-simple to reach (since it's kind of under the tank) so I quit for the night.

As I mentioned, the bike is claimed to be working fine and was started and ridden just last month. The gas in the tank is good and the oil is clean. I bought it from a middle-aged woman who was selling because the Blast was her first bike and she had bought a Sportster (which was parked right next to the Blast). That doesn't necessarily prove anything, but the vibe was good with both the person and the story-- I think it's more likely than not that she's telling the truth.

Really nice meeting you two, and I appreciate the advice. One of the appeals of the Blast is the "supreme simplicity" (love that phrase!) of this bike, so I'm not too worried about getting it running. I'll check back in after I look into it a bit more.

 

[Barrett]

Jim: in the world of XL's....XR's...XB's...and P3's, your problem is more common than you'd think. it's a 4-stroke single so keep in mind that if it has compression-spark-fuel-timing, it has no choice. it has to run and it will run. you are likely missing spark, assuming the air intake system hasn't been inhabited by vermin or other nesting creatures. check it!

do your fuel and carb work
replace the spark plug
check both the primary/trans and engine oil levels and leave in place for now
then when procedures are completed, attempt to start in neutral....clutch disengaged....battery fully charged...rear wheel off the ground....relay contact points checked and cleaned
after it starts, and it will....get some heat in the motor and free up the clutch pack. DO NOT attempt to do this by placing the front wheel against an immovable object and forcing it into 1st gear. if you don't know the proper procedure, simply ask me to walk you thru it.

then change all the fluids and replace with correct quantities and viscosities...and correctly adjust the clutch cable....clutch pack...primary drive chain.

click my name...click latest posts....scroll to blast/P3 post....click link i provided to online P3 service manual.

 

[34nineteen]

The master has spoken. Bow twice before leaving.

 

[Jim Rogers]

Thanks, Barrett, very helpful.

Having never owned a Harley, Buell, or any other bike with a separate transmission case, that part will be a learning experience for me. So your advice on that is very helpful to me as that's an area where I'm a true newbie.

As far as getting it started, I may have overstated my question and made it sound more like a plea. In fact, I've restored quite a few (Japanese) bikes over the past 30 years and have never failed to get one to start. My guess is that there's nothing seriously wrong with this Buell, and my question on starting was mostly to make sure I wasn't missing anything specific to this bike (e.g., kickstand position, clutch engagement, secret kill switch, whatever) that I may not know about that's preventing it from starting. Doesn't mean that I won't be back with a question on that if I exhaust all the normal stuff and it still won't start, but given the straightforward nature of this bike, I'm not expecting any big problem with that.

I have a very busy job, so I won't be able to do a ton of work over a short time, but I'll work on it as I can and expect to have it running soon. I'll do as you advise as per oil changes, etc., and thanks for the link to the service manual. I'm also going to peruse this forum a bit to try to get more info on this bike. I expect to have it for a while, and it will be ridden, so I'll do my best to learn from previous posts here.

I want to ride it a bit as is, then will look to re-jetting the carb and possibly changing the exhaust (it's pretty rough with some holes rusted through the header pipe). I'm not looking for any performance gains, just want to remedy any factory lean conditions and perhaps save a little weight with the exhaust change (I don't particularly care about the sound of it).

I don't have any grand aspirations for this bike-- I just want the same as I do for any bike I've had: I'd like to get it tuned/modified only to the extent that it is as it's full potential in stock form. So not looking to mod it to 100 hp, just want to remove any arbitrary restrictions (e.g., lean jetting, any overly-heavy components) that keeps it below it's maximum potential as stock. Rather than focus on performance, I generally attempt to achieve maximum reliability as I like to do weekend trips on my bikes.

After I remove any artificial restrictions and feel confident in the reliability, I don't plan to mess with it any further-- I will just ride and enjoy it as is.

I really do appreciate the advice from everyone, and I'll update my progress here as I make it.

Thanks again!

(Bowing *three* times as I leave! )

 

[34nineteen]

FYI, this bike does not have a separate transmission case.

FYI, I like single cylinder bikes as well, and am considering a Husqvarna Vitpilen. I've always thought the Savage 650's were pretty awesome. What is a SR400?

FYI, someone is selling a Pro Series exhaust on eBay.

PS. I get having a busy job and limited time to work on bikes. Welcome to my world.

PS. Read up on Blast mods and advice on buellridersonline.com. Our good friend, jetlee is the bossman over there and does a fine job keeping the wisdom of everything Blast in one spot.

PS. Also check to make sure the auto enrichment circuit is working correctly (exclusive to the Blast, its basically and auto choke).

 

[Jim Rogers]

FYI, this bike does not have a separate transmission case.

Oh-- when Barrett said "check both the primary/trans and engine oil levels" I assumed that meant there were separate cases. Is there separate oil but not separate cases?

FYI, I like single cylinder bikes as well, and am considering a Husqvarna Vitpilen. I've always thought the Savage 650's were pretty awesome. What is a SR400?

I love absolutely everything about singles except the sound. There's no way around it-- they sound like lawn mowers when idling. But I'll take that one downside to get all the other upsides.

The SR400 is from Yamaha: https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/sport-heritage/models/sr400

I really like the Vitpilen, but man, reliability seems problematic on Husky's and KTMs. On the big Svartpilen 401 thread on advrider, the guy who started the thread had his engine implode at about 500 miles. Not good. And they're expensive too. I don't ever see myself spending that kind of money on any bike. However, the Vitpilen is definitely a bike that's right up my alley, so I'm definitely interested in it.

You're probably going to laugh at this, but I swear that I consider the Blast to be a poor man's Vitpilen 401! There is a little similarity in the styling, and they have roughly the same displacement singles. I would say that if the Vitpilen 401 is a new Miata, the Blast is a 1977 MGB.

FYI, someone is selling a Pro Series exhaust on eBay.

Thanks-- I'll need to study exhausts to determine exactly what I want. Mostly looking for weight reduction (I like my bikes light!) and low cost.

PS. I get having a busy job and limited time to work on bikes. Welcome to my world.

I guess we're Busy Buell Blast Brothers!

PS. Read up on Blast mods and advice on buellridersonline.com. Our good friend, jetlee is the bossman over there and does a fine job keeping the wisdom of everything Blast in one spot.

I have been to that site, but posted here first because it seemed like this site had a little more activity. Maybe I'll post an intro at the other one as well.

PS. Also check to make sure the auto enrichment circuit is working correctly (exclusive to the Blast, its basically and auto choke).

I'm kind of suspicious of the auto enricher, and I asked the previous owner about it. She said it worked great. I'd prefer a manual choke. On my KLR650 (pretty much the same carb) I removed the handlebar cable for the manual choke because it got kinked. In order to simplify, I installed a pull-out knob right on the carb to do the enriching.

Due to the way it is set up, it doesn't look like the Blast auto enricher can be swapped out as easily. Even if it was, the way the carb is twisted to the right, not sure that would possible to even reach a knob, so there would need to be a cable.

Dealing with things like that is what I meant when I said I only do mods to remove restrictions and/or make a bike more reliable. An auto enricher looks to me like a future failure point-- I think I'd like to get it converted to a bulletproof manual system. But that will come later after I've run it a bit.

 

[34nineteen]

Oh-- when Barrett said "check both the primary/trans and engine oil levels" I assumed that meant there were separate cases. Is there separate oil but not separate cases?

The case is divided. Its a single casting, but the fluids dont mix like a "normal" bike.

I love absolutely everything about singles except the sound. There's no way around it-- they sound like lawn mowers when idling. But I'll take that one downside to get all the other upsides.

I'd definitely look into that Pro Series muffler if I were you. Its going fairly cheap now.

The SR400 is from Yamaha: https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/sport-heritage/models/sr400

I really like the Vitpilen, but man, reliability seems problematic on Husky's and KTMs. On the big Svartpilen 401 thread on advrider, the guy who started the thread had his engine implode at about 500 miles. Not good. And they're expensive too. I don't ever see myself spending that kind of money on any bike. However, the Vitpilen is definitely a bike that's right up my alley, so I'm definitely interested in it.

Agreed!

You're probably going to laugh at this, but I swear that I consider the Blast to be a poor man's Vitpilen 401! There is a little similarity in the styling, and they have roughly the same displacement singles. I would say that if the Vitpilen 401 is a new Miata, the Blast is a 1977 MGB.

It would have been neat to see Buell do a XB-ish single, rather than cut costs for the Blast. One could build an XB with a Blast motor, which would be neat and cool, but why neuter a XB?

Thanks-- I'll need to study exhausts to determine exactly what I want. Mostly looking for weight reduction (I like my bikes light!) and low cost.



I guess we're Busy Buell Blast Brothers!




I have been to that site, but posted here first because it seemed like this site had a little more activity. Maybe I'll post an intro at the other one as well.

from what I understand jetlee has turned off registration, so the site is technically "read only" for us outsiders. he does make a random appearance from time to time and is a pretty smart cookie. Cooter is pretty smart about Blasts too, but he just drinks all your beer and messes up the garage. He is a jerk.

I'm kind of suspicious of the auto enricher, and I asked the previous owner about it. She said it worked great. I'd prefer a manual choke. On my KLR650 (pretty much the same carb) I removed the handlebar cable for the manual choke because it got kinked. In order to simplify, I installed a pull-out knob right on the carb to do the enriching.

Due to the way it is set up, it doesn't look like the Blast auto enricher can be swapped out as easily. Even if it was, the way the carb is twisted to the right, not sure that would possible to even reach a knob, so there would need to be a cable.

Dealing with things like that is what I meant when I said I only do mods to remove restrictions and/or make a bike more reliable. An auto enricher looks to me like a future failure point-- I think I'd like to get it converted to a bulletproof manual system. But that will come later after I've run it a bit.

Agreed, it would seem like it should be easily converted to a manual choke.

 

[Jim Rogers]

I'd definitely look into that Pro Series muffler if I were you. Its going fairly cheap now.

I see the muffler you're talking about on Ebay, and I did a search on Pro Series exhausts. There are a couple of forum reports that say the muffle is great, but that it "fatigues to death" and the inserts degrade in 5-10,000 miles. Consistent with those reports, the one listed on ebay is described as having a rattle in one of the inserts.

He also says that his plan was to cut them open and install better, quieter inserts, but he sold the bike and now is selling the muffler.

What's your advice on the durability of this muffler? Would you agree with replacing the inserts? If so, any idea which would be best?

 

[34nineteen]

The SR400 is from Yamaha: https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/sport-heritage/models/sr400

IT HAS A KICKSTARTER! Holy crap... where is Cooter?

However, with a MSRP of $5999, its a hard sell against the Vitpilen at $5099.

 

[34nineteen]

I see the muffler you're talking about on Ebay, and I did a search on Pro Series exhausts. There are a couple of forum reports that say the muffle is great, but that it "fatigues to death" and the inserts degrade in 5-10,000 miles. Consistent with those reports, the one listed on ebay is described as having a rattle in one of the inserts.

He also says that his plan was to cut them open and install better, quieter inserts, but he sold the bike and now is selling the muffler.

What's your advice on the durability of this muffler? Would you agree with replacing the inserts? If so, any idea which would be best?

I have no idea of this stuff.

 

[Jim Rogers]

IT HAS A KICKSTARTER! Holy crap... where is Cooter?

It has *only* a kick starter-- no electric start at all!

However, with a MSRP of $5999, its a hard sell against the Vitpilen at $5099.

They quit bringing them into the U.S. in 2017, so it's used only on that bike now.

I have no idea of this stuff.

Fair enough-- neither do I!

 

[Cooter]

I'm waiting for someone to ask about drum brakes. Now THATS real motorcycling!

 

[Jim Rogers]

I am happy to report that the Blast yielded to my awesome mechanical skills and is now running.

Ok, just kidding. The truth? It warmed up to 50 today, I rolled it out of the garage, hit the starter and after about 10 seconds of cranking it fired right up and ran great!

It's still pretty wet/salty/sandy on the roads so I couldn't ride it very hard, but I did ride it around for about half an hour. It runs great and the transmission has totally quit sticking (even with the warmer temp it was still stuck today before I started and rode it).

Today was the first time I ever rode a Blast, and I can tell you that I really liked it. Power was good and I love the sound. It sounds a little lawnmower-ish at idle, but just off idle and as it revs it sounds great. Much better than the typical single. I like the small size and very slightly sporty riding position. That position may be due to the fact that mine doesn't have the stock handle bar-- it looks like a dirt-bike bar.

The only problems right at the moment is that the neutral light is on all the time and it needs new tires.

Can't wait for the streets to dry up and for the sand to be cleared away. As I wait for that, I'll work on the neutral light and change tires.

I'm dying to get riding this thing for real!

 

[Jim Rogers]

And, since I'm in such a good mood about this bike, I just went ahead and pulled the trigger on that Pro-Series exhaust on Ebay.

Thanks for the heads up on that, 34nineteen!

 

[Cooter]

Good for you Jim! Let me know what you need. I have a pile of Blast parts and hopefully didn't just toss the tires. I'll go check