Michigan State Police not riding Harleys???

I don't blame you,........when it breaks, E36 M3s expensive(if you're not doing it yourself. Doesn't matter what it is.

You want unreliable and expensive? The human body. Makes a Harley's ills look like nothin'. The bills? I get the almost uncontrollable giggles every time someone in the health care field complains about how bad they got screwed on fixing their car.

Cotton wrote: this reliability word keeps popping up. I'm still not seeing how the current BMWs are more reliable than the current Harleys...especially after owning one and spending time on the BMW bike forums. I would like to see some of the current board members who have Harleys chime in on reliability, but they probably got ran off by the useless stereotyping.

I don't ride BMW's so I can't comment on their reliability. I have ridden Buells since the second year of their production via HD. I can comment on their reliability with authority via hard fought experience.

Personally, I think HD is extremely disadvantaged by their dealership network. The mothership could do everything right in Milwaukee but send that product out to dealerships more intent on earning a buck than serving a customer and you'll have a failing company.

The advice all us old Buell heads gave to new guys was "Choose your purchasing dealership wisely." That was because some were great. Waugh HD in Orange, VA is one of the best dealerships I've ever had the pleasure to work with. But if you bought a bike at a "chrome hanging" dealership your biking experience would be very negative.

A test I liked to run at HD dealerships was to walk in and see how I was treated. Back then I was a normal looking white guy in my early to late 20's. I would usually have on regular guy clothes like jeans/t-shirt and normal length hair. The stealerships wouldn't even talk to me. I had to tackle someone for services. The dealerships would approach me and ask if I needed anything. The independent shops, my favorites usually by far (Big ups to Departure Bike Works in RVA), would talk me to death about bikes and work their butts off to get me the parts I needed.

An aside: Departure has come up the hard way like a lot of their current clients. They opened a shop in the 70's in a part of town that white folks normally wouldn't enter. Legend has it they carved out a crime free zone by means that are no longer approved of. Since then they've built a tremendous business. My understanding is they are still one of the premiere pan head engine builders on the east coast. They built The Virginia for the old Biker Build Off series years ago. Here's the story. If loud pipes truly do save lives, then this son of a bitch must've saved whole towns.

Back to BMW vs HD for police bikes...the numbers don't lie. I've seen some really fast HD big twins at the strip but unfortunately that's not what HD is selling and supporting at their dealerships. The BMW's are just faster and offer more trouble free miles. Just like the big Kawasakis back in the 80's. That KZ1000 was a mean runner and would go 50k between rebuilds even being air cooled. I'm not saying HD doesn't build a reliable bike. The Milwaukee PD evidently thinks the BMW is faster and fits their requirements better. I wonder if this would've been true if HD had offered the Buell 1125R with the proper police equipment strapped on?

Ah, what could've been...

I can agree......the buell 1125 would have made a good cantidate. But was also a victim of HD's nearsightedness. I like everything about Buells aside from the belt drive.....replace that with a chain, I'm happy.

In reply to Xceler8x:

I feel the same way about BMW dealers. I've dealt with incompetence with dealers in both TX and TN. I'm working with a 2nd dealer in TN now in the hopes of trading in my ailing k1200s for a k1300s with extended warranty (amen for those). I love the bike for what it is, but the dealers.....ugh. I hope I find a good one soon enough.

Buells are pretty cool even though Erik Buell originally chose what was, to me, an engine that held the package back if you get my drift. The rear suspension is an innovative masterpiece, the bodywork truly designed to work with the human form. The short hops I've had on them didn't really allow me to form an opinion about the handling etc. But WTF was he thinking with that front brake?!?! I mean, thnk about it: the amount of disc which goes through the pad, measured in inches per revolution, just about guarantees that they will overheat quickly. (From the number I have seen with black and blue rotors, it's not just my imagination.) I never got to try them 'on the edge' so to speak but looking at it did not inspire confidence.

yamaha wrote: I can agree......the buell 1125 would have made a good cantidate. But was also a victim of HD's nearsightedness. I like everything about Buells aside from the belt drive.....replace that with a chain, I'm happy.

There are/were many kits to do just that. The belts worked well for me. They stretched once and then required no maintenance for the rest of their life span.

Cotton wrote: In reply to Xceler8x: I feel the same way about BMW dealers. I've dealt with incompetence with dealers in both TX and TN. I'm working with a 2nd dealer in TN now in the hopes of trading in my ailing k1200s for a k1300s with extended warranty (amen for those). I love the bike for what it is, but the dealers.....ugh. I hope I find a good one soon enough.

Dealership experiences...I don't get it. Maybe one day they'll be a motorcycle version of Carmax.

Does BMW motorcycles fill their bikes with gadgets like the cars? I've got a German car and it's crazy how much convenience is packed in. But the gadgets have me wondering what the next 4 years will be like when they start to get old and worn.

Curmudgeon wrote: Buells are pretty cool even though Erik Buell originally chose what was, to me, an engine that held the package back if you get my drift. The rear suspension is an innovative masterpiece, the bodywork truly designed to work with the human form. The short hops I've had on them didn't really allow me to form an opinion about the handling etc. But WTF was he thinking with that front brake?!?! I mean, thnk about it: the amount of disc which goes through the pad, measured in inches per revolution, just about guarantees that they will overheat quickly. (From the number I have seen with black and blue rotors, it's not just my imagination.) I never got to try them 'on the edge' so to speak but looking at it did not inspire confidence.

Erik definitely had a vision. Passionate guy too. I've met him a few times and he's a good guy to talk to.

The motor was...an interesting idea. It is low maintenance but also heavy and down on power even being modd'ed at the factory like it was. You can see in the XB series where they really wanted to go with that old lump. We're talking redesigned intake tract, beehive shaped valve springs, revised rocker covers to stop the notorious leak, etc. Then, the 1125R with it's rotax motor. That's the route to take.

I'd disagree with you on the pull suspension. It's nice to put it under the bike but the pulling motion eventually would wear out a shock. Later bikes had a conventional push down shock in the rear.

The front brake...it's great on the street but all the racing bikes had dual disc setups. Guys who rode hard on the street would warp rotors repeatedly. Good thing Buell made the left fork with a mounting point so you could make your own dual disc setup. Funny thing is that some guys used Ducati's dual discs on Buells. Those fit with minimum mods.

Do you have a Buell Xceler8x?

I was under the impression that Buell had to use that motor due to pressure from HD. Check out the 1190RS. I looked at it at bike show in Charlotte earlier this year. I want. http://www.erikbuellracing.com/motorcycles/1190rs/

rotard wrote: I was under the impression that Buell had to use that motor due to pressure from HD. Check out the 1190RS. I looked at it at bike show in Charlotte earlier this year. I want. http://www.erikbuellracing.com/motorcycles/1190rs/

For us as American manufacturers it was a great thing for Buell to have finally been dropped by HD. Using the Rotax powerplant the EBR 1190RS has several podiums in AMA Superbike in it's first year of racing and a win seems like a real possibility this year which is amazing, given the Japanese factory supported AMA superbike teams like Yoshimura and Graves which have been at it for a long time.

And EBR is almost certainly going to field a team for World Superbike next year, which would be awesome. There's no hope of winning (yet!) but just competing at the same technical level as other foreign manufacturers is something that can only help us in the future. Would be great to see an American flag when they show the manufacturer points standings. Go EBR!

What is truly amazing is that EBR is doing this out of a small shop in East Troy that employs about two-dozen people. That's it. It speaks volumes as to the execution of his engineering ideas; can't be anything but impressed.