Voted most helpful review
Reviewed on January 29, 2005
I am one of those long term, older, motorcycle riders, who continues to ride his motorcycle for work transportation during nice weather, and for the simple pleasure of owning, riding and working on his own machine. After 13 sorted machines with 6 H-D bikes among the listing that includes one '73...
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I am one of those long term, older, motorcycle riders, who continues to ride his motorcycle for work transportation during nice weather, and for the simple pleasure of owning, riding and working on his own machine. After 13 sorted machines with 6 H-D bikes among the listing that includes one '73 350 cc single SS H-D, three Sportster's, one '82 FXR, and one '96 Road King in those 35 years, I became tired of heavy 600+ to 700+ pound motorcycles and looked to make another change. So in July of 2003 I just happened to test drive a 2003 Buell XB9SL demo. What a difference between the extreme "light weight" 400+ lbs. and high torque performance from its air cooled 984 cc highly modified Sportster V-Twin engine in this Buell. For me it put all the fun back into owning a motorcycle that I had been missing with some of the heavier machines I had owned. It then took me till August of 2004 to actually sell my 2001 Victory cruiser and purchase a Black 2004 Buell XB12S which had 913 demo miles on it from our local H-D/Buell dealer. I also really appreciated all the effort that Buell did in their engineering design of the Lightning model, between the fixed rear axle with belt idler, to fuel in the aluminum frame, oil in the swing arm, zero resistance air intake and their outstanding fuel injection system, to its rider responsive handling just to name some features. So my suggestion would be to motorcycle riders who feel as I did, to just go and drive one, to see what I and others are talking about. It's a truly different sport "street bike" or motorcycle in general for all the right design reasons. The key word here is "Fun".
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