Motorcycle Forums

At last

This has been a long time coming - having owned a buell xb12s and used it everyday for wark for about 18 months i have found it lacking in every way, In the 18 months of ownership i spent  £1800 on replacing sub-standard parts which routinely broke, including primary casing, rear axle, broken swingarm weld, ecm failure, belt snapping any much more. These bikes are long behind the times, quirky features and good handling are what sell buell but the reputation has been rapidly going down the pan with good reason. A close friend of mine (who is harley staff) has told me and many others never to go near any of their bikes inc buell built within the last 10 years - they are crap!

Its a sad situation

Haven't been able to comment cause I couldn't get signed in, but, ho hum now I have.

Sad situation for Buell, and as for the commetns below, I laughed at some of them.  We have two Buells in the garage both of which are great bikes.  Both have done european tours nah bother at all, and I dont mind screaming from the rooftops that I am gutted!! 

So what did we do when we found out the news we waited a day then contacted Harley Davidson, went down and got another one while we still could. 

I believe HD have cut their nose of  to spite there face, and even though I live in the UK trying to get Buell anything in America and Canada from a HD dealer is like trying to find tits on a fish!!!!  You go in and they have an 1125r and naff all else, how do they expect to sell these amazing bikes???

They have released a lower fairing for the 1125r to help minimise the effect of the mufflers but does anyone know why they are there at all.  Well if you are a fan of Buell then yeah cause you will have asked the question, nothing happens on these bikes by accident!  I would have thought everyone would have realised that by now.

If I wanted to be a sheep I too would go back to a Jap bike, but I dont! As for reliability never had an issue in 8000 miles this year, however last year I spent loads of time waiting for bits for my honda, hmmm go figure??????????

It's a crying shame for those amongst us who dont want to ride a clone, and have a backbone to actually own what we love not giving a damn if it conforms to normality.

Hope you'll be back Buell, in the meantime I'll be enjoying my two and the new one until we see you rise from the ashes, and I'm praying we will

Sad news

But not unexpected. Having owned an XB12-R for a couple of years the thing started oxidizing after only 50 dry miles! I had 3 trips to the HD dealer within warranty to replace faulty switches, regulators and cooling fans only to have the replacements sound as bad! This might all sound negative but apart from the dubious build quality the bike itself was very nice to ride. Still didn't come upto the standards of my trusty ol' 900ss Duke though.

Sad to hear that an innovative company like Buell has gone though, I'd rather ride something different than run of the mill. (even if it did have it's faults).

Press to blame?

Buell's never seemed to appear in the motorbike press enough - think of the last time that a non Japanese/Triumph appeared in a group test. All motorbike manufacturers thrive off regular press news and reviews, and they seldom appeared in UK magazines. So it's hardly surprising. To help prevent any further closures, it's important the press open up to other manufacturers (and models) to help aid sales.