Hey where'd my piston go....???
 

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...1&d=1290487920
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Ohh, there it is... typical Buell. :rolleyes:
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...1&d=1290487920

...and the rest of it...
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...1&d=1290574365

Damage to the head when the crank let loose...
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...1&d=1290487920



Out of the 8 or so Buells I've purchased, only 2 have been runners... the rest were bombs. The Sportster motor is a terrible platform for a sportbike engine. I wish Buell the best of luck with his new venture that does not include Harley.

Holy shite! How'd you manage that? Those have rev-limiters don't they.. unless you botch a shift.

Just another Buell from the insurance auctions. Rev limitier or not... these things are bombs. Out of all of the different makes/models we've purchased the Buells take the cake for having the most blown engines.

What is your opinion- Timing, or fueling or do those engines have that poor of an oiling system?

Most likely over revving it. the redline on those things are only 7500. I know I have problems swapping to my XB9R and thinking it should rev more.

Bet that made one hell of a racket when it let go!

I know for sure the 03-07's had inadequate oiling. Buell developed a new oiling system for the XBRR race bike which eventually found it's way to the 08-on street bikes. Anyway, that kind of damage is likely from over-rev. A 1910 design, with 1200 aircooled cc's of modern technology just isn't going to be reliable. On the other hand, I put 12,000 hard miles on mine in the blazing Houston heat and it never gave me any problems.

I'm not sure what the differences are between the Sportster's 1200 engine and the Buells 1200, but we've had 3 or 4 Sportster's and all have been runners. IMHO I think the 1200 just can't handle a sport bike application. All but one of our blown XB's were due to a blown crank, the other was a top end seizure .

yeah, the real shame is that Harley never let Buell play with the Vrod engine (though it was pretty long) while they were designing the Helicon engine. Instead he was basically forced to use the A/C tractor engine. :p The Sportster based engine in a sportbike application was forcing a square peg into a round hole. Ugly failure though!

Nice photos of the barrel and cyl head. It reminds me of my '69 VW after sucking a valve on the freeway in 1973. Except on mine the wrist pin was broken, the rod was twisted, and the remains of the piston was seized in the barrel. Inside of the head looked about the same though.

I still have the parts.

If I remember correctly, the V-Rod engine is extremely heavy and doesn't lend itself to sportbike applications very well.

Yeah, and I'd read it was pretty long too, which made chassis design for a sportbike difficult. Still, it made an assload of power compared to the archaic sportster motor. Certainly neither was ideal. The Helicon sounded like they finally got it right. Of course, it was well too late by that point to make the division viable for Harley (at least in Harley's eyes). Of course, I'll never probably understand what makes the Motor Company tick... They sure sunk a lot of money into MV Agusta and then basically gave it away, and killed Buell rather than turn a buck in the process. In both cases, for product that doesn't compete at all (other than being motorcycles) with their own. But I digress, which is easy after a few beers. ;)