“I'd always had a yen to own a Buell; deliberately went for a non Harley engine as they are cheaper and I can't understand why anyone would prefer a Harley lump when you could have a Rotax built to Erik Buell's specification. Unfortunately I found the experience distinctly underwhelming, possibly compounded by high expectations. The bike is a thing of beauty but the riding position is not very comfortable and just weird. If you have legs as long as mine (33 inch inside leg) the pegs are too high and too far forward. The fairing doesn't keep your head out of the wind if you are six foot tall.
There is plenty of power but the delivery feels lazy and therefore unexciting. There appears to be surprisingly little torque for a big V twin, but you get some vibes through the bars to remind you it is a twin. The front brake takes a bit of getting used to but does deliver awesome stopping power with little lever pressure. Despite the reputation for handling my bike felt a little skittish on anything other than a completely smooth surface, but that might have been down to tyres. Anyhow did not inspire confidence.
The switch gear is just plain cheap and nasty making it irritating to use and every so often the cancel on the indicators sticks meaning you can't cancel; which moves the poor quality issue from irritating to dangerous.
Overall I still love the quirky engineering but from now on will be admiring it from afar.”
“Second Buell. The other is the tourer, this one is for going out for fun. Brilliant, knife sharp handling and insane power to weight ratio.
It's a keeper.”
