In an unfortunate event yesterday both the bike and I ended up on the ground in the parking lot. It happens. We’re both fine and don’t show any wear except for one thing; the left rider foot peg snapped off. Apparently Buell foot pegs are cast from an alloy of aluminum and rich creamery butter or at least something just as soft. A cursory glance around the web found several stories of people losing footpegs to minimal side loading: backing the bike up and snagging the peg on a wheel, on a bumper, or even just coming off in people’s hands. I had already placed an order with American Sport Bike for some front and rear axle sliders so I just had them add some new billet pegs.
Since the bike was out of commission today Frosty and I decided to go through the suspension setup. The owners manual covers all the adjustments. It was all pretty easy. The wrench for the rear shock preload is included and the the valves for rebound and compression are really easy to turn. We weren’t able to do the front fork preload because of a lack of tools. It looks like the bike comes from the factory set up for someone closer to 200lbs. We ran to Frontier HD to pick up the service manual I had ordered. The parts guy said he had snapped pegs off of his Buell before.
Didn’t you say that Buell was started by a Harley Davidson alum?
Not really but as far as the pegs are concerned they can be swapped front to rear try that on a metric plus the part costs 12 bucks versus 40. I suggest to stock up or stop falling!
Found your blog while looking for a download-able service manual.
Sorry to hear of your peg woes. I’ll be extra careful as long as I can.
Re: Suspension settings. Found this UK page with some alternative settings from one of their development riders (go to suspension) and other bits of good info.
http://www.steveturnbull.co.uk/buell/thexbpages/Index.htm
So far I’ve had mine almost a week. Only drawbacks have been that some idiot chopped off the back of the exhaust so it would “sound more like a Harley”, thus, it sounds like a few Harleys, (I’m hoping there’s enough back pressure to keep me from toasting a piston) and, it didn’t come with a toolkit.
The toolkit shortcoming has been a blessing tho’ as I had to go a pal’s who’s a master wrench. The “idiot” had some interesting settings going on. Front: ALL the way soft. Rear: Pre-load jacked to “hardtail”.
Bike MUCH better now.
Hope you have many happy miles. If you ever make it to the southeast, give me a holler and I’ll guide you safely through Deals Gap and the other not so “touristy” roads.
The Buell makes my R1100S beemer feel like a Heritage Softail. (Tho I wish I could put the Ohlins on the Buell)
Itch
Its not just the buell pegs. Its all cast pegs. My wife’s blast has sportster pegs on it. THe originals broke and they had the sportster pegs available. But the next time it fell. One of the pegs shattered and both the hand brake and foot brake broke.
This was a 0 mph tipover in the driveway due to me being too tall for the bike (6″+ on a 25 inch seat with what.. a 12 inch seat to peg length?) and getting my boot stuck on the stupid sportster peg.
I found little bits of the footpeg in the driveway. It shattered at the pin.
Better than bending the subframe I guess.. Right?
My Ol nighthawk “scrambler” had foot pegs that would get all bent up all the time. Hammer em out and keep going.
Stamped may be uglier.. but its sure more flexible.