I've had a couple S40's, impressive torque and fun to ride, Graham On Aug 22, 2013, at 4:56 PM, Rmj wrote:
> I'm want to convince my wife that our 18 year old should get his mc license, > so he can ride the NH. The I can get a Suzuki S40. Any convincing arguments > you could recommend? > > Thank you, > > Ross > From: Joey Kelley > Sent: 8/22/2013 1:56 PM > To: nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com > Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Buell Blast Impressions > > All, > On another thread, I believe it was Allen who asked what I thought of > the Buell Blast I picked up for my wife. > Well I finally got the opportunity to ride it for a distance the > other night. I put about 20 miles on it, half highway and half 25-45 MPH > streets. For those that aren't aware, the Blast is a 500 (492 really) cc > single cylinder motorcycle built so that one could have an HD made starter > bike. It was constructed by essentially taking one half of an 883 Sportster > engine and making it into a thumper. Single cylinder bikes are known for > vibrating and this one is no exception - that having been said, you notice it > at idle but once you've gotten above about 5 MPH it smooths out, unless of > course you lug it. Its surprisingly quick - Gears 1-4 are your power gears > and 5th is an over drive. Like most bikes that are small displacement, top > gear roll on power is more like a hurry up and wait experience. The last > naked bike I rode was my 450 that I stopped riding three seasons ago, so > getting onto this was both refreshing and a reminder of why I got bigger > bikes. > The first impression is that this bike is too small for me - mostly > because of the seat. Buell sold this with two seats available, this has the > shorter one and although it might be great for the wife, I cramped almost > instantly. > Based upon the specs on Paul's site: > http://paulsnighthawkpages.blogspot.com/p/nh-450.html compared with the > Blast: http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/buell_blast_2002.php I can see why > the Blast has higher performance - one the Blast is 32 pounds lighter (I > would also take a guess that the center of gravity is significantly lower, > based on how it feels) and according to the manual I had on the 450, has one > more HP than the 450. (33 Horsepower rated, Buell 34) I don't have the torque > specs for the 450 off the top of my head, but I suspect that it is > significantly lower than the Buell's 30 foot pounds. > Once I got rolling and was banging up through the gears I really > surprised myself - out on the highway it had no problems maintaining highway > speeds, even a bit over. 70 MPH came up pretty darn fast for the size of the > bike. The handling, as one might expect from a company that built sport > bikes, is pretty darn good and the bike felt stable at all speeds that I ran > it at. Due to the weight of the bike and the size of the front disc brake, it > stops very quickly. > Its a 500 cc bike and as a result I can't expect performance > like my 1300 cc Yamaha. That having been said - its a competent bike for a > beginner and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a decent > starter bike. > One thing that has come out of this experience thus far is that > the parts for this bike are largely cheap - being a starter bike, it is prone > to being damaged and having cheap parts is a good thing. > -Joey > > -- > -Joey Kelley > JoeyKelley.com - My Life Online > JoeyFixesComputers.com - Its What I Do! > JoeyKelleyPhoto.com - Photographing Today, For Tomorrow > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
