All,
Just to add another comment - I forgot to mention that both I and
Paula (based upon a comment she made last night) are impressed with the
width of the power band on the Buell Blast - Unlike my Nighthawk which I
recall I had to keep within a relatively narrow RPM range to get power out
of, the Blast seems happy all the way up through the range.
In regards to the Boulevard S40 (and its previous name the Suzuki
Savage) we couldn't find one that had the right combination of price,
mileage and condition. I did have Paula sit on a couple at various dealers,
but they were taller than the Blast, however not by much.
Not having taken one on a ride, I can't comment on how they compare,
but I know that a couple of people I talked too said that they weren't
terribly great on the highway - the Blast doesn't seem to have a problem
with highway speeds, at least for short periods.
-Joey
On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 12:38 AM, Paul <p...@hondanighthawks.net> wrote:
> Good review Joey!
>
> *
>
> Paul LeBoutillier *
> *www.hondanighthawks.net*
> Honda Nighthawk Lovers Email
> group<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/nighthawk_lovers>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 12:56 PM, Joey Kelley <sandp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
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>>
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