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Buell Firebolt

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Joined
Jan 28, 2004
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Location
New Braunfels
First Name
Philip
Has anyone on here ridden one of the new firebolts? I always liked the look of them and saw one in motion on campus last week and really liked it. It had to be one of the quietest bikes I have ever heard too. After sitting at one at the local H-D place it felt pretty good. Only downside is the almost non-existant backseat.

If they came down on their price or raised their performance, I could definately see owning one. As it is now, if I am gonna pay 11k for a bike, I will get one of the new 170hp 1-litre death machines.
 
Tooooooo many Buell stories for me to risk one. I'm not into liter "death machines" because I consider them excessive, but that's my preference. I'm into handling above all else. If I didn't ride once in a while with crazy sportbike guys I'd have a MuZ thumper or something for my jollies. Love those Skorpions. I keep up with the "death machines" pretty well on a SMR with my SV650, though. I prefer 'em to get a good lead on me into the next corner anyway so I don't run over their butts in the corners. :mrgreen:

http://www.mybuell.com
 
I raced a lightning 1200 once from a stop light. He had a V&H pipe on it too. We took off and stopped somewhere around 100 mph. He had 3/4 bike length lead on me.



And your saying so what.......










Let me remind you what I ride.........















It's a 1981 'Zuki GS 750E. Pipe, pods, and jets. All of about 75 horsepower. 'Bout 500 pounds of bike and 280 of rider and gear.


And he only had 3/4 of a bike length on me at a 'hunnert :-?

I would spend my cash elsewhere....
 
As I said, if I am gonna drop the kind of money they are asking for those, I am going to want something with more performance and especially reliability.
 
I test rode a 2004 Firebolt 1200. That thing moved! Full coverage insurance was about 3500 a year (would have had to finance it). The thing I most didn't like about it was the fact that the riding position is very agressively arched forward, much more so than on other model sportbikes. I felt even more comfortable on a Ducati superbike than this thing. And the seat height kept me tip toe'ing on the stops, but let's face it, these things are not made to be standing still! Cool, nimble, fast bike. A tad overpriced if you ask me, but a nice bike nonetheless.

strat1701
 
To me, they could spend a lot of time on the little things on a Buell to refine the thing, I mean, assuming they could make the thing reliable in the first place, which hasn't happened. The shifting is typical HD, ten seconds to get the danged thing into second gear with a HUGE clunk and easy mis-shift, false neutral if you don't yank the crud out of it. I'm too used to slick Suzuki gearboxes. I don't even use the clutch to upshift the SV, it's that slick. It's stuff like that why I couldn't live with a Buell, even if it were reliable.
 
Old man Suzuki knew how to build a gearbox thats for sure. I don't use the clutch to shift my 23 year old bike. Its still that schmoove..... 8-)
 
Jack Giesecke said:
The shifting is typical HD, ten seconds to get the danged thing into second gear with a HUGE clunk and easy mis-shift, false neutral if you don't yank the crud out of it.

Jack, how long has it been since you've been on a HD? My '04 Sporty shifts better than my SuperHawk! Admittedly, Honda has never been known for slick trannies, but I'm amazed at how well the Sporty shifts. Not quite like the SV, but close.

Since the Buell's are Sporty motors (or vice versa now depending on who you talk to) I can't imagine a new Buell would be that much different.

Maybe you need to ride mine sometime before you continue spreading the "myth". You know, like the one where all mini-racers are thirteen years old. ;-)

Daryl
 
I've ridden a lot of Hogs, never rode one with a "slick" tranny. They were all clunky. My old Wing, a GL1100 is terrible clunky, but it's a touring bike and I can live with that. The Ultra is a touring bike and I could live with it, but on a "sport bike" which the Buell claims to be, it should shift slick and quick and right now, no clutch and the sportsters and and Buells I've ridden were no where near what I'd call slick. The newest sportster I have ridden was in 97, I think, the year the XLS Sport came out. I rode it in Laughlin, Nevada. I rode two Buells in 99 at Sturgis, one of the "sport tour" ones and the lightening. They were clunky. I've not ridden anything newer than a 99, but what I read about the Buell in tests confirms to me they haven't changed in this respect. They are not refined in areas like clutch effort, shifting smoothness, braking, etc. All the mags rag on the Buell for it's clunky tranny.

Too, have you looked at the asinine shift linkage on the Buells? That alone is going to exacerbate any transmission roughness the sporty tranny might have. I'm sure the sportster is slicker than a Buell because of that, though I must admit the sportster I rode was clunky and I didn't ride it back to back with a Buell to compare. I liked the XLS as a motorcycle though. It's not a pretend sportbike, but it had really good suspension, as good as a Buell except that it was twin shock, but it was adjustable. And the dual disc brakes it has by reports work better than the new perimeter brake on the Buells. From what I've read it fades bad and hadn't much feel. That XLS had a bit of braking effort, but it had feel and power and didn't fade on my test ride at least, which was 12 or 14 miles in length. The only thing I didn't like about the XLS was the God awful vibration. They've rubber mounted the sporty this year, but sadly, the XLS is gone. :-(
 
Um, you read about 'em, I ride one. Draw your own conclusions.

Pretty major overhaul on the Buell/Sporty motor since 99. Come on, give Harley credit for 5 years worth of Erik Buell working on the engine. I guess you'll just have to continue calling me a liar, but my rubber mount Sporty shifts better than my VTR. You're welcome to try it.

I'm far from a die-hard Harley guy either. The HD is only about 16% of my motorcycles. The brakes suck, and the Sporty R is the best of the line. If not for the mystique you could probably get a class action lawsuit together for the pitiful excuse for braking HD puts on bikes. But I didn't want to buy a Shadow and watch it depreciate 50% over three years.

Go test ride either a Firebolt or a Sporty R, you'll be pleasantly surprised. By the way, I think the XLS and the R are pretty much the same. Again, don't know for sure as I haven't had all the model designations tattoo'ed on me yet, but I think they are functionally the same.


Daryl
 
Wasn't calling anyone "a liar", just explaining my experiences. Since I have no desire to own a Buell or Harley and the tranny smoothness is a minor consideration on the one Hog I MIGHT own, sportster or UG Classic, I'm not worried about it. I'll test ride one if I ever go to another harley fest like Laughlin, but I won't go out of my way for one. I certainly, after reading stuff like the http://www.mybuell.com site, wouldn't touch a Buell with a 10 foot pole. :lol:

Now, there's two ways to look at depreciation. You can buy a new Harley and resell it in a few years and not lose much on the deal, or you can buy that USED shadow, avoid most of the depreciation, and ride the "better" machine, if you consider it the better machine, and avoid most of the depreciation. Personally, I'm not into cruisers and wouldn't own a shadow in any case. :lol: I don't know what I like about sportsters, but they're just different I guess. They're not exactly cruisers. They are more like a standard, but really they are sportsters. They sort of defy categorization. A rubber mount one would make a dandy all around motorcycle, though, and you can fix those brake with a small wad of hundreds. Lots of aftermarket for any hog that a shadow can't lay claim to. That sporty would be pretty unique with a pair of brembo four pots squeezing some major diameter twin discs, wouldn't it? ;-) Not sure what's available specifically for the sportster, but I'm sure there are upgrades. I gotta friend at http://www.directparts.com that can get you anything that might be available.
 
Oh, the R doesn't have the very tasty fully adjustable suspension that the XLS had. Not sure if it's got the dual discs, guess so. The XLS had decent, but not excellent, brakes. They were quite adequate and superb compared to any other hog I've ridden. The Buells I rode were pre firebolt, tube frame one and the brakes were excellent on them. The reports of the new perimeter brake have me wondering. I think they put that on the bike for the bling factor, and missed the function mark, but that's not unusual for Harley Davidson.
 
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