The stock motor in the Buell will have more than enough power to be dangerous as you learn to drive. It might make sense to buy a smaller displacement bike and get in some riding practice while waiting for insurance premiums to drop with a good driving record... hint, hint...
Get a buell XB, take a race school at a good tight track, then decide if you really want to rip it apart. I recommend Frank Kinsey's race school. Have fun, don't die young.
If you REALLY REALLY wany pushrods, buy a John Deere. Want a V twin?....there's this thing called the SV, and others like the Superhawk, RC-51, even a TL1000. Stop the insanity before it's too late. Insurance? Pay cash, buy something nobody really wants to steal; liability is less than a hundred bucks. In the meantime, work on your skills....that will keep you and a bike in one piece (more or less). It's not what you ride but how you you ride it.....
They tried to steal my SV. They just blew a fuse when they tried to hotwire it. I agree get an SV for nothing and do track days. That is all I do with mine.
Liability is less than $100? Where? Maybe out in the boonies somewhere, but here in NYC I've never paid less than $600/year for the bare minimum liability insurance...
Guess he likes to pay for repairs when he wrecks (and if he even rides, I imagine this happens often). If pushrods are soooo bad, why has Japan Inc. adopted this venerable tech as its own? Get the Buell, that way you have a real company backing up the bike with a real warranty. For not all that much money you can get more HP out of the Sportster derived motor than the cloned big twin, this has been known in the HD world for quite a while! I just wish folks would answer freaking questions and keep their motorcycle prejudices out of it....makes me almost miss KPaul....
You want a more "mean" bike in this category skip the Buell and go get a Triumph Speed Triple.
More torque then the buell XB12 models anywhere, from a lower RPM to a much higher RPM. +30hp, better handling, better brakes, MSRP is $500 less. Oh and way less vibration.
I'd get either the Buell XB9 or the Speed Triple. The Confederate is a cool bike but Harley clone manufacturers have a very high mortality rate. I wouldn't expect them to be around long term as anything more than niche market player. With Triumph and especialy Buell you have a dealer on every corner, that's worth more than money when it comes to parts and maintanance items down the road.
I think the Buell will have more than enough power for you out the door, I'd focus on developing skills and riding technique before I started throwing money at it for enhanced performance you're not going to use anyway. Save your money for tires and oil changes.
This is the deal. Port and polish the heads, switch to a Crane cam and ignition, Run a Davinci or Mikuni carb and swap the pipes for a Supertrapp. That will build the power to roughly 115hp depending on how the carb is set up. Oh, did I mention that you should buy used and look for a M2 Cyclone model. You can get them all day and night for $4000-$5000 and trick them out pretty good. If you step up the suspension a little and put on some PM brakes You'll be just fine. As far a Ins is concerned you'll be able to find coverage for as little as $500 annually but bank on the $750 range.
Did you realize that Confederate has over a decade of "clone" business? Just because the company uses Evo Style push-rod motors doesn't mean they are clones. These guys have been doing it different for awhile.
What a strange question. Save a bunch of money and buy an older sportster engined Buell. Then, watch all those American Chopper, Monster Garage, Biker Build-off shows, buy an angle grinder, MIG welder and drill press at your local hardware store and have at it!! Be sure and let us know how it turns out when you're done.
P.S. You can do real well with spray can paint jobs, but you need to practice a lot. Make sure the metal is very clean before you start. Don't be afraid to sand off a coat or two and respray. And don't spray in the wind. Use engine enamal on brackets etc and bake them in the oven for a couple hours at 400F. Even bolts can be sprayed that way (not on the threads). You'll be surprised how well it all turns out.
They've been around awhile and I think they build pretty decent bikes, but they're still a very small player in a very big pond. On a national level or even a state level you're not going to get the kind of support from them that you'd get from a company like Buell/HD or Triumph
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