I used to ride occasionally with a guy that has a 12XT, the one with bags and a top box, and have ridden it. It was light and powerful in the V twin way with lots of low and mid range power and was great fun. The experience includes the V twin throb and rumble but the vibrations were not unpleasant for the short time I rode it. The heat coming off the rear cylinder and it's exhaust pipe is very noticeable and many of these bikes have a sticker that reads "Loud Fans Save Lives" due to lots of commentary on how loud the fan is.
I've got an 07 and I love it. The fan is a bit noisy and the heat off the rear cylinder can get a bit uncomfortable on really hot (90+F), summer days. It rattles a bit at idle, but it smooths out above 2K rpm. It's pretty easy to maintain - no valves to adjust and no chain to service. It is a great handling bike and I find mine to be quite comfortable, even with the stock seat. My wife also says the pillion is quite comfortable too. The flip-up backrest is a really nice feature. The panniers and top case are huge. A full-face helmet will fit in any of them. My wife and I have done long weekends on it and always have plenty of room for everything we need. IMHO, they are great all around bikes for commuting or touring, and the X-model will handle rough dirt roads quite well. Buell continued to improve the bike with the more recent models. The 2010 models run substantially cooler due to some design changes.
My only concern now is finding parts. Places like American Sportbike can usually get stuff for you pretty quick. But, I had to replace a broken latch on one of the panniers and it took about 6 months to get the part On the Erik Buell Racing website under "Future Models, they list an AX version. I'm hoping it's a better version of the Uly.
no problems getting parts, most of the engine internals are readily available, and pretty much everything else can be found at: americansportbike.com
I have 3 air cooled Buells, and have had very few problems. One, a 1995 S2 has over 159,000 miles.
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