SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - The Buell XB12Ss test ride

I took a test ride on the XB12Ss (Long) today, so I thought I’d write a report to let you know what I thought…

First of all, it was a nice day, the sun was shining, so that made it all the more enjoyable :D The bike was a bit scary at first, when the girl from Eddy Wrights started the bike up, it hopped & skipped around on its side stand; so violent were the vibes! Anyhow, she showed me around the bike, pointing out anything I needed to know, then I went and got togged up for the ride…

I hopped on & started the Buell up, the engine slowly thudded into life… What I immediately noticed was the position of the foot pegs, very much back and up than what I was used to on the KTM. When you are sat with your feet on the pegs you are almost sat directly over the front wheel. The peg positions are very similar to those on the SV650S K3 I used to have… Until I got used to the riding position it gave me the same ‘tell-tale’ cramps in the hip area I used to get when riding the SV, but when I’d relaxed into the ride a little more, these disappeared. I didn’t have the correct footwear on for riding the Buell, as the only boots I had to wear were my MX boots :roll: I kept getting my toe stuck under the gear lever because the boots aren’t very flexible – bit hair-raising (if I had any,) at times :lol:

The engine was vibey (as I thought it would be,) but up the rev-range a little it came into its own. The 1203cc unit pulled like a train in every gear. To a point, it didn’t really matter what gear you were in, a quick blip of the throttle & away she went. The mirrors were useless; all I could see through them was a wobbly image of my elbows… That being said, I didn’t really spend too much time messing about with them to see if I could get a decent view of behind me. If I bought one, they’d be off and on the shelf in my garage :!:

Handling was amazing; every bit as good, if not better than the KTM (which was awesome :!:) The brakes were good too, I didn’t really test the brakes to the max though. I had a bit of stop start traffic to deal with to get out of Leeds on the A64, but once clear of the Metropolis I was loving it. The brakes had loads of feel, but you did have to use the rear stopper too, this was to prevent stoppies at every junction :twisted:

Would I have one :?: Abso-bleedin’-lutely, I loved it :!:

The only real thing that put me off was the engine cooling fan (as silly as this may seem,) this sounded like a jet taking off… The fan was on all the time whilst I was in the stop-start traffic in Leeds, it only shut off when I was nailing the bike through the bends on my way to Squires; through Tadcaster etc. Whenever you park up too, the engine fan barks into life again to cool the lump down…

I have to admit, everyone I passed had a good look at the Buell, it also sounded awesome between 3,000 rpm and 6,500 rpm (the red line begins at 7,000 rpm :!:)

The clutch was light and had loads of feel, the gearbox was fine too, a little clunky, but only as much as the KTM was TBH… Yes you got some vibration through the bars, like I said the whole machine jumped around the first time it was started up from cold :!: I did suffer with a bit of ‘numbness’ on my right hand, I think this was a combination of vibes and hanging on too tight initially, but all was fine after I’d relaxed and was used to the bike.

Great bike all in all, if you haven’t ridden one, give one a go, seriously :!: I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat when I got back to the dealership. I covered 65 miles in all, with a quick brew-stop at Squires Café Bar (Sherburn in Elmet,) Thanks very much to Kelly at Eddy Wrights, I dare say I’ll be in touch (unless forces conspire against me…)

Any questions, just ask ;)

http://upload4.postimage.org/230901/Image_06_.jpg http://upload4.postimage.org/230905/Image_08_.jpg http://upload4.postimage.org/230909/Image_09_.jpg
Sorry about the image quality, pictures off my phone as I forgot my camera :roll:

Small Video of the bike running, again, from my mobile phone :oops: