After a long three ( !!! ) year nap, my Buell Blast is alive again!
The back story is quite simple. In 2000, I wanted to ride. Buell, being the "American Sportbike" of the day, was my first choice. The Blast was chosen because I couldn't afford to drop one of the tube-frame Buells, and it was the newest thing out.
Loved the bike from the start. Did the usuall things, (cried for a year untill the Vance and Hines pipe came out), drilled my airbox, installed ALL the Buell Pro Series parts when they came out, etc etc. Learned alot about bike maintenance with this bike.
Did my first badweather trip from Shreveport to Dallas, in the cold fall rain. Rode it all over north Lousyana. I used it to take my first wife on her "final ride", over to Texas to spread her cremains. Taught my second wife how to ride on this Blast, which she rode for several months before I bought her her "own" bike.
One weekend in 2005, My wife and I rode up to Arkansas on the Buell and my (new at the time) 04 Superglide. On the final leg home, the Blast developed a shifting problem...couldn't get it to shift at all. Made the trip home intereting.
Tore the bike down for repairs, got sidetracked, deployed for Enduring Freedom, etc. Bike sat 2 years. I found a set of Pro Series cams on EBay. Stoked, I got the cams installed, then stalled out myself again. Bike sat for another year, half complete.
Yesterday, a friend came over, taking about his new project bike, a 80's something Honda 550cc TWO STROKE. He wanted to see my bike, to compare (I think he was trying to hint that he wanted my forks....) Asked what it would take to get it running again.
Gee, I don't know...install the carb, check the brakes, mabe a few other things....
So he left, and a short while later, I was outside sweating to the oldies (classic rock blaring from my car, as I banged on the Blast in a manner totally in violation of my apartment lease)
I poured some Marvel Mystery Oil in the intake valve, exhaust valve (ok, on the floor), in the spark hole, installed the carb, flushed the fuel tank, filled her up with oil, dry cranked it to get the oil flowing thru the system before I fired it up....
The punchline is..after I installed the spark plug and put gas int he tank...I cranked, and cranked, and cranked. Oh yea..TURN ON THE GAS.
BAROOOM! It fired right up! it sat for THREE YEARS and didn't bat an eye getting started again.
The rear brake caliper had frozen up, but the front still worked, so I took it for a spin.
The Blast ran like a rabid chihuahua. Lots of anger, if not quite screaming performance
There was a very scarey ticking from the lifters, the cold-crank didn't fill them up enough, but they quieted down after a few easy miles.
Can't say how much the Pro Series cams helped, but the bike *sounds* angry now, which is a good thing. Spins up to redline very quickly, highway use is quite easy, and this thing still handles like a dream.
Today I rebuilt the back brake caliper (wow, that was easy!), drained all the old brake fluid from front and rear and refilled with fresh (Hey, i got brakes!)
Rode around 35 miles on it today, up to the AF Base, up to Wally World, etc. Cranked it up for two miles or so up on I20.
I think I remember why I love ridng so much now (and typing this all out, thinking of the experiances of the last two days, I can't stop grinning...)
Oh, and this Buell is now louder than my Superglide! Can't wait to take it up to Coyotes and scare some old-timers with it LMAO!
It TRUELY is a Blast!
Linear Mode
