I'mm picking up an '05 Blast for the wife this week. It's owned by a local H-D mechanic (he's moving on to a Ducati) and has just had the 1k service completed. It looks solid and should be a perfect learner for my 'new rider' wife, but are there any reliability or service issues I should know about? Feedback on the Net is all over the map, good and bad. I ask because my local H-D dealer has stopped selling and servicing Buells and so I'll have to truck it about 130 miles if there are any issues.

John,

I believe those engines are just the front cylinder off the 900 they build (actaully closer to a 1000), which as you know is very similar to what we run.

I can't say I've ever heard anything bad about them, but then I again I haven't really looked into the too terribly much.

Congrats on the buy and on getting your wife to start riding. That wil be tons of fun.

From what I've read and heard the Pre 2001 models have had some real quality problems, but since then they've been pretty well sorted out. I don't think there's much to worry about with a STOCK '05. I'd be a little suspicious about a HD mech who bought an '05 and is ditching it already. Some folks buy those to hop 'em up. Could be if he's not an experienced wrench he tried to mod it, boogered it up and now he's trying to dump it. I'm probably just being paranoid, but I'd just make sure it's stock or very close to it.

Thanks for the advice, pquirk. In fact, this is an inside the dealership deal: one of the sales guys wants to sell his Ducati 900 in order to buy a new one; my guy with the Blast wants to buy his Ducati. He and the service manager (a friend) told me they have all the parts (cams, exhaust, hi-flow A/C, etc.) to hot it up before I take it, if I wanted them to, but I declined. I want to let the wife ride around for a while before diving into mods.

From what I've read they are designed specifically for new riders. They are built to be highly tolerant of spills. skids and bumps, along with all the other abuses than novice riders dish out to machines. I'm trying to talk my son into one.

Update: Picked the Blast up on Thursday and rode it home the long way through some canyon twisties. Very impressed: it handles very well and, once you get the revs up, it scoots. The front brake requires a light hand, as does the clutch when starting out, but overall a very nice bike. This will be perfect for my wife to learn on.

I reckon that really is an excellent first bike...one of my buddies, his wife has one. Everyone who rides it thinks it's pretty cool.
Only drawback...Bridget really has to flog it to keep up whith us when things get ... Frisky. I mean under "normal" traffic situations, fine. But you know how it is ... back county road, 3 or 4 healthy bikes, no traffic, I'm not saying we'd actually "speed" or anything, that would be illegal, right?
:banawala :banawala :banawala :banawala :banawala
But now that she's been on it over a year, her confidence and skills have grown to where she tries hard to run with the big dogs, but every now and then, we have to let her catch up. :tour
She is, of course, thinking Sportster.

I've had my '02 Blast up to 85 and I weigh 225. It buzzes a bit, but did fine. I don't think it had a whole lot more.

My wife now rides the Blast and has no intention of "moving up". Although perhaps for week long trips, we'll probably park the Blast and the Sportster and rent an E-glide.....

http://www.dustyjacket.com/mc/bike_525b.jpg

http://www.dustyjacket.com/mc/mary.jpg

The only experience I have with these bikes are the ones I rode in rider's edge awhile ago learning to ride. And the abuse those transmissions saw was amazing and they held up real nice. In fact, our instructor said he bought an 04 883 sportster just because he saw how well those tranny's took it and the sportster and blast shared the same transmission.

Ditto on the Riders Edge Blasts. Incredible the abuse those little guys took. Starting off in the wrong gear, shifting without a clutch, lugging beyond belief, 98 deg both days we were on them. Still never complained, Front breaks will surprise you the first time though.:D

We started out on the 2 Blasts a couple years ago, now its time to pass mine on to a coworker that is starting to ride. I don't think you willl have much trouble with them, maybe the neutral light switch, and kickstand switch...safety features that occasionally fail. As far as the bikes go mechanically, just switch over to synthetic, Mobil 1 15w-50 is what I used in the engine and V-Twin 20W-50 in the primary, but let's not start an oil thread here :) Check out www.badweatherbikers.com for Buell tips.