Need input.

My ZX is so fast, I get home before I leave...

 I am wigging out because of this time distortion.

I need your input regarding this... there must be a solution

 other than riding a Honda.  

Yeah....there is definitely some distortion going on.  

 Mine is the exact same way.  


Chris  

I have a Gixxer 1000...

Hey--what did the Suzuki man say to the Kawasaki and Honda men?  CARS SUCK!!!

What I always say, whether you buy a bike that's a Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, or Kawasaki--they're all winners in my book.

I have 11000 miles on my Gixxer 1000 and it is still as reliable as a hammer.  I doubt you can say that about a Triumph, Ducati, or Buell.

Ride to learn, learn to ride!!!  

Yeah, when you can CRUISE comfortably at 130mph and the bike is like *yawn* "Is that all you have for me?"...suh-weet.  

Well I'm planning on buying a Buell XB something (unless there really is something new at HD/Buell's dealershow in July) later this summer, although theres a small possibility a friend's RC51 might find it's way into my garage first.  I think both are great bikes, on a spec sheet they don't look that close...but I don't ride a peak hp #.  I'll get back to you on the whole Buell reliability issue, I'm sure I'll put 10-12k miles on it in the first year.  BTW the XBs have come a long way reliability wise compared to the old Buells.  

I agree, the buells have come a long way in the last few years.  Yes, they are nowhere near the power level of other sportbikes but what Eric Buell has been able to do with that old lump of a harley motor is pretty amazing.  If harley would front him the money for a new engine I believe these bikes would be more competitive power wise.  On a back road riding the curves the buell is going to keep up.  A guy I occasionally ride with has an XB12R w/10k miles on it and hasn't had one single problem.  

It is apparent that the Buell design team knows how to

enigneer a motorcycle around the HD motor; the HD motor is

the problem with the Buell.

I think it is time for Eric Buell to once again brake-away

from HD, find investors, engineer his own motor and re-

design the Buell around the new motor. Or, reach an agree-

ment with the 'Big Four' or Ducati for motors.

A re-designed Buell with a ZX-12R motor or a Ducati twin,

think about it.  

Well if he broke away from Harley he could no longer make "Buell" motorcycles per say as HD owns the entire company (atleast 90 some odd percent of it).  I'd take a Buell 1203cc air cooled motor over a RC51 motor transplanted into a XB Lightning that's for sure.  The '02 RC51 I've rode for a couple hundred miles doesn't get into it's sweet spot until 6k rpms, it's a twin but it's a racing twin tuned for hp (as you can see as the peak hp is AT redline or above on most dynocharts).  The Buell motor loves anything from just above idle to redline.  SR's dyno chart for an '02 RC51 (first year for SP2) shows it starts making 60+ ft-lbs of torque at 5,500rpms, a XB12 makes over 70+ ft-lbs of torque from 2,500rpms.  Peak torque on a RC51 is 70.2 (according to this graph) @ 8,250rpms, XB12's is 77.5 ft-lbs @ 6,750.

Am I saying the XB12's are faster than a RC51, no way.  Will a XB12 beat a RC51 in a race, no way (well maybe somewhat in the corners, see link to Performance Bike magazine's test).  Is the XB12 motor better for riding on the street, imho yes.  Even if you think you're dicing up some twisty canyon/mountain road...you're still not racing.

Buell does A LOT more demo days than the 4 main *** guys do, and Buell dealerships are much more liberal about test rides than any of the supermarket style dealerships with 3 or 4 *** brands.  I went to a Buell demoday this past spring, took me 1 whole minute to do the paper work and then did 3 demo rides that lasted 35-40 minutes all together.  It doesn't hurt to test ride, you'll see these bikes as fun as anything else out there (probably helps if you like v-twins in general).  IF you still feel the need to buy your next STREET bike based on TRACK lap times, well I don't know what to tell ya.

http://a1264.g.akamai.net/7/1264/1354/61...rmanceBikes.pdf  

I have nothing against Buell, but if you have a wife like me that puts you on a "one bike policy", why not get the best/fastest/most powerful motorcycle for the money?  In 2003, I came across a brand new 2003 Gixxer 1000, the king at the time--for only $8999.  Needless to say I jumped on that.

So if I could have more than one bike, then I might consider getting something like a Ducati or Buell, but only after I buy the latest Gixxer 1000 that kicks major buttocks.

I had a friend that demo'd a Buell Lightning and he said the engine vibration was so bad that he could't see ANYTHING in the side mirrors, even at a stop!  

I LOVE the styling of the Firebolt 12R and the chassis is pretty sweet too.

They don't need a new motor, they need to use what is already in house I can't believe none of you guys thought about this.

Why not use the 1130cc water cooled 120HP V-Rod motor? Seems like the perfect choice, HD put the motor that should be in the Buell in an overweight cruiser.  

zyglob, that's true but the "best/fastest" isn't always the most powerful...especially on the street.

Z31maniac, people have screamed for the V-rod motor in a Buell chassis even before the v-rod came out (HD VR1000 anyone).  The Buells are using a 45 degree air cooled push rod v-twins, the V-rod motor is a 60 degree water cooled DOHC v-twin.  The V-rod motor maybe shorter (but maybe not with the DOHCs?) than the Buell motor, but it's going to be longer since the cylinders and splayed outward farther front to back, even more so if you tried to stick the radiator (as needed for the water cooled motor) up front.  You'd have to get even more crafty than Buell engineers got with when designing the XB's frame to get a v-rod motor to fit in there, I don't think it's possible.

If Buell could make an XB like bike with a v-rod like motor I'd definately take it over an air cooled XB IF, they kept the wheelbase out of touring/cruiser territory, kept it under 500lbs, had atleast 75 ft-lbs of torque and over 100rwhp.  Oh ya and one more thing, it'd have to be priced well under the $18k they ask for their non sportster cruisers.

AMA:  VR1000 stats

MO: some v-rod stats

Quick specs on current XB motors

1203cc
bore x stroke
3.5" x 3.812"
redline 7,000rpm
Compression Ratio 10:1

984cc
bore x stroke
3.5" x 3.125"
redline 7,500rpm
CR 10:1

RC51
999cc
bore x stroke
3.937" x 2.5" (100mmx 63.6mm)
redline 10,000rpms
CR 10.8:1

So even the "short stroke" XB9 has a considerably longer stroke than a RC51/TL/SV/Duc/Aprilia RSV etc, that's a BIG reason why the XB9 with it's 3.125" stroke redlines at 7,500 and the XB12 with its ridiculously long stroke of 3.812" redlines at just 7,000 rpms when a RC51 has a stroke of just 2.5" can redline at 10,000rpms.  Notice HD's VR1000 had a stroke of just 2.6" and redlined at 10,000 rpms and the v-rod motor has a stroke of 2.83" and redlined at 9,000 rpm.  If the piston speeds were lower due to shorter strokes the motors could redline higher, and since hp is calculated using torque and rpm you'd (more or less) start to see higher hp numbers.  

enp83,

I detect a divergence in your point of view and type genus.

When you say, "...that's true but the "best/fastest" isn't

always the most powerful...especially on the street." as

well as other statements in this thread, you are on your

way towards getting a "real" motorcycle and a chain for

your wallet.  

I'm not trying to get you to not buy a Buell.  But my point is: Look at all of the major magazines and test riders.  When asked to name the "best" standard or sport bike you can buy, the experts almost always choose a Japanese bike.

"Best" is relative I know--but it means quality/handling/power/speed/response/practicality/price/etc.  Very low on the list is "looks", "aesthetics", or "pride", which is why most people buy a Buell--because it's American and it looks different.  The same reason that you would buy an Italian Ducati/Augusta/Aprilia--because of it's exclusivity.  No expert is going to try and claim that a Ducati is the "best" motorcycle in any class, likewise with a Buell or Harley Davidson cruiser.  It's simply not true.  They might make the top of the list as the "coolest" or "the most expensive to maintain and own", but never overall best.

I admit I am partial toward Japanese bikes, but that does not taint my point.  If I had money to burn, I would buy a Ducati 999 as a second bike just to cruise around and show off.  It's high cost of maintenance and lack of power compared to the Japanese 4 would mean nothing to me, especially since I would still have the latest Gixxer 1000 in my garage waiting to be thrashed.

And concerning torque--I often stay in 2nd or 3rd gear on my Gixxer 1000 when at a stop sign, because the 1st gear torque is so brutal that a little too much throttle and it's instant high side/wheelie/tire spin (choose one).  Also, the torque is so plentiful that I can stay in 6th gear all the way down to 25mph and still have enough to pull me away from anything on the road.  You tend to get lazy on a liter bike because you don't have to shift as much.  If that's what you mean by streetable power, then I understand exactly.

Like I said--just my opinion and I hope the Buell suits YOU better, which is the main thing.  

open_roads, is that some sort of sly comment that I'll be on a HD cruiser real soon  Only if I had an excessive amount of money burning a hole in both my pockets.  A YZF600R and SV650S are most certainly real bikes, and I've never had a chain attached to my wallet.

zyglob, I'd have to say a lot of people who buy Buells by them because they have great motors for the street.  And expert schmexpert, a former road racer (with A LOT more talent than I) testing a bike on a track (pushing it A LOT harder than I) is FAR from an "expert" on what ENP83 likes to ride on the street.  I would have to say that I am an expert when it comes to what makes a good street motorcycle for me, naturally.  And in that case, I'll take a Buell XB12R over a GSXR600 any day of the millennium, even though a GSXR600 will sprint away from a XB12R on a race track ridden by a former road racer turned motojournalist expert.

You say you tend to get lazy on a liter bike, very true, but I think people may get even lazier on a v-twin.  Even though the new liter bikes have great pull in the lower part of their midrange I still think V-twins have a slight advantage in the low revs and begining part of the midrange.  Then the V-twins doesn't have anywhere near the top end rush of power the I4 literbikes bikes to, so theres no temptation or reason to tap the shifter and try to exploit it.  Which imo is nice on the street, you do become slightly more lazy, but not lazy as in not checking your mirrors/scanning traffic/getting sloppy...but just puts you at a more relaxed pace (but doesn't necessarily mean slow either.)

I also think I just have the v-twin bug more than the average sportbiker.  I'm not saying I'm a saint but maybe I realize more so than the average sportbike (maybe not anyone here but you KNOW how many *** ride sportbikes) that drag racing (on the street) two 10 second (1/4 mile times) bikes to find out which one is "quicker", popping wheelies for french fries/girls, or trying to drag a knee isn't worth getting jailed, seriously injuried or killed.  So I don't need "the best" race replica track bike to ride on the street, I just need the best, most fun motorcycle for me...and that may just be a slower (slightly) Buell.