To be fair, I don't get upset about it because they pick on our bikes for the same reasons we pick on HD bikes. "who the hell wants a 700lb 1500cc bike that only makes 80hp?!", only to them it's "who the hell wants a 400lb 1200cc bike that only makes 103hp?!". They're just used to something different. Granted we've all had more experiences with HD and understand the problems with them better than sportbike riders understand Buells, but I do kinda wish that Erik had never started calling them 'American Sportbikes' because all he's doing is opening the window for comparisons to bikes with an extra 50hp and an extra 50mph on the top end. We understand the bikes, but I don't expect everyone else to.
As far as the same kind of people riding Buells as japanese bikes, there's some cross over, but you definitely draw a certain crowd when you're selling one of the fastest vehicles in the world. I think to own a Buell you've gotta be willing to accept that there are going to be times that you'll be across people who are faster than you, and will probably give you a hard time for it, so you get a crowd that's a little more flexible, and that's definitely a good thing. I think there are way less ******** on Buells than there are japanese sportbikes, but sportbikes in general are ******* territory so I don't assume we're exempt.
I understand the logic for japanese sportbikes. I planned on buying a gsxr750 before I picked up the xb9, but I always get distracted. The numbers are there, but it just doesn't have the same appeal to me. It's fast, but there's more fun to be had than that. I'm hoping to pick up a 2nd bike this summer, but it's probably going to be a supermoto, which will have less than half the hp of the my XB and I assume is going to be way more fun than a new gsxr. After that I may start looking for a gsxr to make a fighter out of, but even then it will probably be a 91-95, because there's more to a good bike than having the newest/fastest. All that being said, we'll still be having a fun time while they're sitting at home with a suspended license, inflated insurance, or standing on the side of the highway staring at their 180mph rocket that just flipped over 45 times because they got cocky and tried something stupid, again.
