Not completely related to this story, but to Buell motorcycles nonetheless...
I went to a demo day this weekend and took short test ride of a XB12Ss. I've been looking to get something a little more "high end" than my SV650 which I've been enjoying for the last 5 years or so, and had been considering a CityX.
First the good: Ergos are great, very comfortable, controls fall naturally in place. Great solid feel to the bike, smooth suspension, powerful and nice feel to the brakes.
Then I started the engine. At idle the thing shakes so badly that I couldn't read the marking clearly. But hey, who cares about idle, right? Well I take off (clutch felt ok, but not that great) and the shaking starts to go away, then by 3k it's smooth as hell. Great! Unfortunately, it was only smooth in about a 500 rpm band, then shook like hell again. And on decell? It shook so bad that I thought the rear tire was skipping. I like to use engine braking to control speed around town and don't take a bike out of gear until I'm nearly stopped, but you absolutely couldn't do that on the Buell.
For an engine that I was expecting to "stick in 3rd gear and ride all day," it had the power but was so uncomfortable I wouldn't enjoy it. And the gearbox is no joy either, with a nasty clunk every time I shifted. As far as power goes, I guess it was fine - certainly didn't feel slow but I'm used to reving an engine when I want power and this required a different style of riding. I've also decided that I don't need a huge amount of power as I hardly ever use WOT even on the SV and much prefer smooth riding and corners to hard acceleration these days and want a tractable engine that pulls off idle smoothly rather than "aggresively".
I might have found more of an appreciation for what the bike offered if I was by myself rather than on a Harley parade for a test ride, but that engine simply ruined the experience for me. Really a shame as I wanted to love the bike. I was basically relieved to get off the thing, and never appreciated my SV more when I got on it to ride home.
Oddly enough, I rode a new Dyna as well and actually like it more (once I found the foot pegs...), though I have no interest in cruisers. Much smoother...