Buell Lightning

I was looking at buying a Suzuki SV-650 a month ago, but the deal fell through. The thing needed a lot of work and the title can't be obtained, so that is out.

Soooo.... I might buy my broseph's Buell Lightning! He's buying a new bike that he's been salivating all over for the past month, so I'll buy his from him.

Here's a stock Lightning

His is a little different-looking now with the blue / black seat. Also, he's got about $1,000 into a new exhaust, new lights, and some new software to manage everything. Hehe, it sets off car alarms every morning when he starts it.

They're definitely a unique beast, but the fuel-in-frames are certainly cool bikes. Nimble handlers and torque monsters.

He has the CityX model? I like that seating position over the rest.

It's the street fighter, so maybe? It sits you pretty high. And it has dirt bike handlebars lol. Not the ideal track bike, but that's why I have a Miata.

Here it is kind of looming in the back behind the purple one next to the Miata.

Yep, that's an XB9SX - I just saw the pictures in the bedazzling thread. What it lacks as a track bikes it makes up in street prowess. That's a great city bike.

I'm stoked. The little red Suzuki was supposed to be my first bike, but it's going to have to get the hell out of the garage now. It needs some TLC, but it would make a great track bike for someone who might do that kind of stuff.

This is what is taking the place of the XB9 for my brother.

MV Agusta Brutali 910R. Mmmm.

It has more horsepower than my Miata.

Those Brutales are very tasty. I know a guy with one of those here in town. Actually, he used to have a Buell, too. Odd.

The funny thing is, this guy is huge: like 6'6", 280# or something. Looks like a giant on those tiny bikes.

Yeah, a friend of ours bought his girlfriend a red one (not the 910R I guess). He is also about that size. He said he rides and can't even see the bike--his head is in front of the wheel almost lol.

I hate to say this but that buell is NOT for the novice rider. It has some odd handling "issues" an extremely short wheelbase, ton's of torque, with a novice wrist and brain means bad ju-ju to me. I worked at a bike dealer for a while, and saw a bunch of healthy young (and old) guys come back in much worse condition than they started out in. Even a modern 600 is more bike than any novice should have on the street, and they have less instant torque than that bike. YMMV.

I sat on a couple Buells while at the stealership last week. They have a "touring" Buell, sort of like a sport touring bimmer, I suppose, that looked pretty neat. The other ones looked really short to me. Kind of like stopping abruptly with your face should something to wrong.

The touring Buell comes in two flavors. The XB12X and XB12XT. The X is a bit taller, has an off-road front fender, and treaded tires. The XT is lower, street fender, different fork, and comes standard with hard luggage (optional on the X). Not quite as off-roadable as the BMW GS series, but at least as capable as something like the V-Strom.

wherethefmi wrote: I hate to say this but that buell is NOT for the novice rider. It has some odd handling "issues" an extremely short wheelbase, ton's of torque, with a novice wrist and brain means bad ju-ju to me. I worked at a bike dealer for a while, and saw a bunch of healthy young (and old) guys come back in much worse condition than they started out in. Even a modern 600 is more bike than any novice should have on the street, and they have less instant torque than that bike. YMMV.

Agreed. It's not as crazy as the XB12 I test rode a while ago, but still, it is a bit difficult for a first bike. The biggest problem is that while the throttle response on Buells is pretty linear, there's enough torque to still need very precise throttle control as they'll pull hard even off idle. You'd probably be better off starting on something smaller and more forgiving for a first bike.

But it would be a really cool second bike. I've been thinking of getting one myself, though now I'm saving up for a different car instead.

I learned to ride on a CR 125. You want tempermental? Haha. Rev engine to 6,000 RPMs and still maintain smoothness on the clutch or else it dies (or flips over backwards). I was just playing off road on a CR 250 early this june in mud and sand. That thing was touchy (and fun!).

Also, I've ridden this Buell a couple of times before . It thunders out a good bit of torque, but it's not scary.

You guys think I should back away? I tend to think of myself as pretty reasonable. Maybe I'm being convinced that this is a good idea when it isn't? It was my brother's first bike and he never had any problems except for outgrowing it pretty quickly.

Well, if you've been riding offroad for a while then that's different. Riding experience is all where it's at. I believe that a bike that has a high performance envelope, will hold you back as a rider. You wont have the skill to ride it to it's limit. When you do get to the limit it will bite back, hard. Hell I've been riding 10ish years and the biggest bike I've owned was an 83gs750e, about 85hp and odd handling (16in rear tire and a 17 front will do that). My last bike was a 250, helped me re-learn a lot of basic stuff I'd forgotten. My opinion is this, be safe and if you're comfortable with it then by all means. Would I ride that bike? probably yes, as my first street bike, no.

If you get this bike, just remember that the throttle is analog, not digital. I wouldn't recommend it as a first bike, but you could do a lot worse.

Yeah, we'll see. I was thinking about it today and I don't really want to take on more debt. I have enough to pay back with student loans steadily eating away at my bank account. What is today? The 23rd? Oh that's nice. In two days, $600 will evaporate from my bank account. Thank you, private school!

If I buy a bike, it will be in cash--without a loan.

And I want more car parts!

If you're a tinkerer go find a gs500, they are super cheap, super reliable and have enough power to be pretty fun, super quick handling, light weight, and you'll probably sell it for what you paid. Cold blooded in the morning on a cool day, and that's about it for the negatives. No expensive plastic to replace when you drop it, and you will drop it, I bought mine 11 years ago for 1500 cash, and I'm sure you can find one for cheaper than that that "doesn't run" and fix what ever dumb crap is wrong with it.

I've owned two Buells. A 97 M2 and a 98 S3. Both were tube framers so may not be an apples to apples comparison to new generation.

My bikes were very stable, easy to ride, and very heavy. They carried their weight well but were not lightweights. The M2 was my second bike and it was fine to ride. It practically fell over in the corners. It would turn faster than my TL1000S. For a new rider they might feel twitchy. The torque wasn't an issue for me. I just never twisted the throttle unless I was pointing in a straight line. Then, the power delivery was so linear it wasn't hard to manage.

A friend had an SRX600. That bike would do everything the Buell's would do right up to 90 mph. If you can find one of those you might want to pursue that. Lighter weight that's for sure.

This thing's pretty light. I think if I can take over his payments and not take out my own loan / deal with all the frustration and bull crap associated with that, I might take it from him. It's there, it works, and it's beautiful. I'll play with it for the summer and if I like it, I'll buy it outright. If not, then I'll sell it.

I just have so much that I want to do to the Miata (wheels and tires, seats, harness, etc.) that I would strain myself a bit if I did it all and got the bike.

confuZion3 wrote: I just have so much that I want to do to the Miata (wheels and tires, seats, harness, etc.) that I would strain myself a bit if I did it all and got the bike.

I feel like I'm in the same position with my mr2. Wheels/tires/stereo/runningAC or.... starter bike. It doesn't help that my wife wants a bike more than I do In certain ways, I'm a very lucky guy.

confuZion3 wrote: I learned to ride on a CR 125. You want tempermental? Haha. Rev engine to 6,000 RPMs and still maintain smoothness on the clutch or else it dies (or flips over backwards). I was just playing off road on a CR 250 early this june in mud and sand. That thing was touchy (and fun!). Also, I've ridden this Buell a couple of times before . It thunders out a good bit of torque, but it's not scary. You guys think I should back away? I tend to think of myself as pretty reasonable. Maybe I'm being convinced that this is a good idea when it isn't? It was my brother's first bike and he never had any problems except for outgrowing it pretty quickly.

Ok, that makes me a bit less worried - I saw "first bike" and figured you didn't have much of any riding experience. First street bike for someone who's got experience on motorcross bikes and it doesn't sound nearly as bad.

You must have a shortage of good winding roads to outgrow a Lightning very quickly. I've been riding a less powerful GS500 for two years now.

And yeah, debt sucks, as in money out of your wallet. I don't even finance cars myself.

Xceler8x wrote: A friend had an SRX600. That bike would do everything the Buell's would do right up to 90 mph. If you can find one of those you might want to pursue that. Lighter weight that's for sure.

Why do you tease me with impossible to find bikes!?

Osterkraut wrote:

Xceler8x wrote: A friend had an SRX600. That bike would do everything the Buell's would do right up to 90 mph. If you can find one of those you might want to pursue that. Lighter weight that's for sure.

Why do you tease me with impossible to find bikes!?

A friend had one years ago. I was blown away by how fast and capable it was sub 100 mph. Being a single it felt like you were throwing your leg over a broom handle. It was really, really thin and was almost non-existent weight wise.

Sucks doesn't it? Such a great bike and they're scarce as hen's teeth now.

I wonder if you could make a hack job version by using a KLR650 as the donor....

So we went to the dealer today to look at the 910R for him and look at financing the Buell for me. If I can get reasonable payments on it, I might just buy it from him. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep y'all posted.