Fatbiker

Took a ride out today and covered 240.4 miles… This is the longest trip i’ve done on the Buell in one day and I’m pretty pleased with the results. I had a slightly sore arse  but it was manageable. The power of the 984cc lightning engine is pretty impressive. So much torque in usable dollops right where you want it…

My ride was down in the East Sussex country side to the south of Tunbridge Wells. The roads round there are reasonable fast hovering either side of the 60 mark with lots of bends and hills. This meant that I could leave the bike in top gear and just ride through the bends and up the steep hills without any problems. Very relaxing I can tell you… I’ve ridden these roads in my old bike, a Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport and it didnt like being left in top gear at all when going up the hills or round one of the slightly slower bends. I had to work the gearbox more to keep the pace up… The Buell can comfortably go down to 2000rpm in top and still pull easily when you need to push on again.

I stopped off at Shaws Harley Davidson just north of Hailsham and got them to check my oil level for me. I was half way down the dip stick so I bought a can of oil and topped it up. This is my first top up since buying the bike 2000 miles ago, not including the free service at 500 miles. Not really looked around Shaws before and was pleased to see the Buell’s parked up down the inside of the shop next to the chrome monsters otherwise known as Harley Davidsons. They had a tricked up XB9 there on show with loads of bolt on bits. It looked pretty smart but still not as cool as my CityX.

I had a few bits and pieces to carry with me today so I just stuck them in a waterproof Ortlieb bag and secured it to the rear part of the saddle. I should be taking delivery of a Rex Marsee 10 liter (or litre if you;’re in the UK) tank bag soon and look forward to having a bit of on bike storage. There will be a review and pics to follow once I’ve done a few miles with it…

To round this entry off, the bikes great, more than powerful enough and can return 54mpg after a 240 mile thrashing down the UK motorway network to the south. It’s easily pushing 140 to 140 miles per tank without panic setting in… Well chuffed with the bike.