Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Mintbread wrote:It appears that the consumer gets the short end of the stick...

+1

No offense to Harley (well, LOTS of offense actually) but if they'd stop spending all their time trying to make their bikes look/sound bigger and badder and actually put out a decent product to the consumer then some would actually be more prone to buy! I think that Buell is more of a side project than anything. A "see if we can market to the non-hawg riders" that just isn't working...

kabob983 wrote:No offense to Harley (well, LOTS of offense actually) but if they'd stop spending all their time trying to make their bikes look/sound bigger and badder and actually put out a decent product to the consumer then some would actually be more prone to buy!

You mean more than the 329,000 who bought them in '04? And the 330,000 in '05? More than the 348,000 projected for this year? I dunno, but it sounds like they're making a decent enough product already. And as for the "bigger and badder" bullshit, have you looked at any of their Japanese competitor's products lately? Every single one of them make cruisers with more engine capacity, larger frames and wider rear tires than Harley. As does Victory, Harley's domestic competitor.

Gummiente wrote:And as for the "bigger and badder" bullshit, have you looked at any of their Japanese competitor's products lately? Every single one of them make cruisers with more engine capacity, larger frames and wider rear tires than Harley. As does Victory, Harley's domestic competitor.

SLAM!

I still think buell gets the shaft when it comes to making a decent bike. Might explain why only about 15,000 blasts have ever been produced. Kawasaki probably makes more ninja 500s in a year than that

I'm at 6,500 trouble free miles on my blast.

The blast does eat oil. I put an ounce of oil in it maybe once or twice a month.

Leaky fork seal? Did you think to change it? Bad carb? Were you putting the right gas in it? Were you following the maintenance schedule? Did you make sure the maintenance schedule had been followed before you bought it?

Its possible you got a Rider's Edge bike as well...which spent most of their breakin period sitting in the hot sun idling and new riders tearing up its transmission.

Its possible you got an abused bike, but a new carb and fork seals is not a 'junk yard' problem.

Pretty much every problem was worked out after 2001. Did you make sure the TSBs had been done on the bike? Ie, replace the rocker box gasket (one of the major ones) and the sprocket, if applicable.

That said, the blast wont be as reliable as a Honda. If you take care of it though they are good bikes. Sounds like your bike just had bad owners.

PS: Why did you buy a bike that wouldnt run, obviously had issues and needed work, and then complain when it turned out to be more work than you wanted? Next time buy a bike in good condition that actually runs well. This isn't a bike brand/model issue, its a buyer-beware issue.

CNF2002 wrote:I'm at 6,500 trouble free miles on my blast.

The blast does eat oil. I put an ounce of oil in it maybe once or twice a month.

Leaky fork seal? Did you think to change it? Bad carb? Were you putting the right gas in it? Were you following the maintenance schedule? Did you make sure the maintenance schedule had been followed before you bought it?

Its possible you got a Rider's Edge bike as well...which spent most of their breakin period sitting in the hot sun idling and new riders tearing up its transmission.

Its possible you got an abused bike, but a new carb and fork seals is not a 'junk yard' problem.

Pretty much every problem was worked out after 2001. Did you make sure the TSBs had been done on the bike? Ie, replace the rocker box gasket (one of the major ones) and the sprocket, if applicable.

That said, the blast wont be as reliable as a Honda. If you take care of it though they are good bikes. Sounds like your bike just had bad owners.

PS: Why did you buy a bike that wouldnt run, obviously had issues and needed work, and then complain when it turned out to be more work than you wanted? Next time buy a bike in good condition that actually runs well. This isn't a bike brand/model issue, its a buyer-beware issue.

I agree with you, I hade a 02 Blast for the last year and besides the speedometer sensor/break light/battery going out it was a decent bike, the batery was my fault though cause I left it on for an hour on acedent, anyways one word of advice is to gas it every 100 miles as any more then that and it would start to run outa gas, also I thought it was a bit underpowered as I could barley get up to 75Mph going up hill with a headwind and I am 6' 5'' so I was kinda cramped on it, so I decided to sell it and was going to buy a Suzuki SV650 but decided to go to the Buell dealer and see what they would give me for it on a tradein, turns out that they wanted 9500$ for a 04 Lightning XB12S and they gave me 3500$ tradein on the buell so I accepted it, also I've only put 300 miles on it but I've been breaking it in a little hard but properly and have changed oil at about the 100 mile mark, so far I got 300 miles on it and it seems to be good at everything, plus its bigger then the blast but still familar in the operation so I feel fairly comfortable already.

I have owned two Buells an 02 and now an 05 Blast. I love my Buell. I am 5'3 a lady and was worried about the weight of bikes. I have been riding 3 years now. I am 46. My husband is a Harley man all the way. So a Buell is part of that family and I am made to feel included. Most everyone I ride with rides bigger bikes. I keep up with them. I live in Maine and have driven to Laconia twice and probably 6 or so other long rides. Interstate and alot of back roads. I haven't had one problem with my bike. I think it is a great starter bike. I do have an 07 883L sportster ordered. I am finally confident to upgrade. I think what makes all the difference as a new rider is confidence. Never try to do more to keep up with the guys. I always ride in the back of the pack and know my limits. I have gained valuable experience and confidence taking it one ride at a time. And guess what. ? I am never far behind the guys with all the power. Love to ride and be in control of my own bike. My experience is totally positive for the Buell Blast. I don't have one bad thing to say about. it.

Harley doesnt admit it but the Buell blast was really designed for one reason. Riders Edge courses. Harley has gotten very aggresive in this and has helped many people get a licence to ride. and not just harleys. What they didnt want was for your first riding experiance and first experiance at the harley dealer to be on a 250 Honda rebel, the bike of choise at any learning "school". I think i read the figure is somewhere around 75% are sold to Dealers to use in Riders Edge classes. One HD dealer i worked for had a riders egde class. They would use the bikes two seasons and then sell them off. They told you what the were. The Begining riders are not kind to them, and their air cooled motors idled all day in the summer sun cooking themselves.
YOur bike maybe one of the lucky 75%. Leaking fork seals, come on, easy fix. Whats Leaking front the head though? NO liquid there. How does a carb become junk? Dirt? Old gas? Clean it.
The XBs are bullet proof. Never seen a single one have a real problem that wasnt created by the owner. That bike on the dealers floor had probably just sat for too long and the battery didnt get charged. NO full charge. no start.

The older blasts were really the first of the current gereration bikes to have multiple problems. I would say that late '03 models to current have been of great quality. I have a '04 that has been running great. Plan to do a 2,500 mile trip and then the usuall summer riding. No problems yet and still running great. Buell had a rough start because of low reliability but in recent years they have gotten so much better. It is true, you will either love it or hate it. But I find and hear more people loving the newer ones that hateing them. Its just the older models floating around that are giving a reason to doub Buell.

jmillheiser wrote:ok the bike is a 2001 buell blast that had a mere 3000 miles on it.......DONT EVER BUY A USED BUELL BLAST! this is a bike that is designed to be ridden one season and thrown away.....

I disagree. You just got a bad bike. (You didn't get one from a Riders Edge school, did you?)

I bought a 3-year old Blast as my learner and had a great time. It out turns a lot and I got it up to 87 mph - it had a little more.

The only thing I didn;t like was that it is so light you can feel the bumps on these crappy Missouri roads.

My wife is still riding that bike.