The Buell Experience
Added on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
The Buell Experience
Testing a bike you fancy buying can be awkward. Local dealers might not have the models you want, motorbike insurance restrictions could apply and riding unfamiliar roads on your own can be daunting. Buell have figured out an alternative, which costs money, but you get to ride three or four models in one day. There’s skills advice, track time, plus a bit of off-road riding and Insidebikes’ Alastair Walker went down to give it a go.
Test riding bikes can be a bit tricky sometimes. Dealers often want to know plenty of info in advance, the ride might be fairly short and it can seem a bit cheeky asking to ride three or four bikes in one day. It’s also good to sample a brand that you might not consider owning, without any sales pressure being involved, away from a shop. That’s where a half day Buell Experience is another option.
For £129 you get two track sessions, escorted by ex-racers, plus a sampler off-road trundle along gravel tracks, skills test and a road riding session, again with an instructor on hand to offer any tips and advice. I went to Cadwell Park to ride anything I wanted from the Buell 2008 range and came away impressed with the organisation, the 1125R in particular and embarrassed at how bad I was attempting to ride around cones in a car park.
Yep, there’s no humiliation for a bike journo like being made to undergo a simulated bike test, watched by a crowd of 12 other bikers, then fail miserably. Seven point turns, feet down dabs all over the place and I was utterly unable to negotiate a tight turning circle. Oh well, I can always blame my advancing dementia, but it was good to be given a wake-up call over my basic riding skills.
Chris Curve is the edge of heaven.
Since I saw the prototype 1125R I wanted to ride it on a decent track and Cadwell is one of my favourites. This mini Nurburgring has the famous Mountain, Woodland section and the blind entry, double right-hander, Chris Curve. It is a corner which sorts men from boys and I recall being overtaken there by Steve Plater during a race school a decade ago - Steve was riding one-handed at the time, I was trying my best Jim Whitham impression and thinking I was hot stuff…
But don’t get the idea that the Buell Experience track sessions are road races in miniature. This is no full-on trackday, packed with lunatics all hoping to elbow you onto the grass as they overtake you. Instead Buell keep it laid back, friendly and stress the importance of going home safely, with a big grin on your face.
“The day is about extending your comfort zone a little bit,” explained Matt Llewelyn, ex BSB and Supersport racer, ” so we spend the first session just getting everyone familiar with Cadwell’s tricky corners, enforce a no overtaking policy and show you the advised lines by using cones, and braking markers. If everyone looks OK, then session two features a warm up lap, before overtaking and riding at your own pace is allowed. We do have a word with, or in extreme circumstances, black flag people who mess about, but it doesn’t happen often on a Buell Day.”
The accent is very much on tuition, as well as the fun of trying the Buell bikes. I spoke to three riders who all owned Japanese or Italian machines and were keen to dip a toe into the water with the American brand. Phil from Leicestershire told me, ” I’ve been riding 25 years, used to race here in fact, but fancied seeing if the 1125R shapes up against my Aprilia Mille. Fast riding on a strange bike isn’t something you’d want to do on the road, so this is a good idea.”
Tarmac or gravel sir?
The day includes four main elements, and after a circuit briefing, then opening track session, we were ushered to the parkland edge of Cadwell’s paddock, where four Ulysses models waited us. Breaking into small grousp of three riders we headed downhill, made a right turn in the muddy access track, then rode uphill and aorund the mix of gravel tracks and grass areas at the back of Park corner and Chris Curve. It isn’t a mini Dakar of course, but it did prove enough to test riders who had zero off-road experience.
The XB12XT Ulysses can be thrummed along a smooth-ish off-road surface without any big drama and it did showcase the all-round ability of the bike. I am still convinced that no off-road bike needs more than one cylinder, plus I worry what the repair bill would be when I inevitably dropped the bike one day, but the taster session definitely gives you confidence. That’s the great thing about the day overall, you feel able to tackle new stuff as you get into it.
Next up was a road ride, escorted in a group. We headed off down the Lincolnshire lanes, with me aboard a Lightning model. This was ideal for backroads fun. The Lightning has a sit-up-straight riding position, torquey motor, excellent front brake too. The pace was slow at first, getting a bit quicker, then just as it got very twisty and fun, we arrived back at Cadwell. I wouldn’t say it’s enough to make a buying decision on any bike really, plus you spend time watching the antics of the riders in front, some of whom were getting close to cocking things up on overtaking moves - arguably the most dangerous aspect of group riding.
The only thing I’d say is that the group needed telling firmly that if an overtake looked dodgy, then do not attempt it, the group’s lead rider will wait for you. Plus more time road riding and less time doing the skills test round the cones would be a good idea in terms of selling Buell bikes.
Take the shame, boy.
So to the cones then. We watched as the Buell expert rider make it look deceptively easy, trickling the Lightning around a tight right turn, onto a small ramp, then doing a 360 degree circle, tight left turn, into a stop-box, under a limbo type bar, and finish.
But in the interests of journalistic truth, I have to report that all of us, novice and veteran riders alike, failed to accomplish anything close to a clear run. A few stalled the bike, I did a seven point turn in the circle of cone Hell, plus one guy fell off the ramp, which was only a foot high, and decked the instructor into the bargain. But no injuries, except wounded pride.
A test like this is good, because it makes you accept your limitations as a rider, something that grown men find harder to do than a week’s worth of dishes. I found it impossible to balance clutch, throttle and my body, whilst keeping the bike on full lock and I reckoned I was quite good at slow riding until tackling this assessment. Back to school obviously and I may attempt some homework on a C90 fitted with stabilisers…
Then it was on track for another session. The sun was out, the circuit had dried, except for the Woodland bit and I bagged the 1125R for a good 120mph blast along the straight. That’s something you can’t do on a public road these days without risking a jail term, so I’d say that the day was worth the entry cost for those superb moments of fun and excitement when the 1125R was hammering out of corners and impressing the heck out of me. It is a gutsy, addictive motor and that Buell chassis handles the power really well.
I’ve said for years that the bike industry is in the dark ages compared to the car manufacturers, in offering road tests and sampler days. But things are changing. At last, companies like Buell, BMW, KTM, Kawasaki and others seem to be getting better at offering would-be buyers the chance to try bikes in a controlled environment.
Yes it costs money, but buying a bike you fall out of love with, in maybe just six weeks of ownership, could drop a grand or more from your bank account. Even if you walk way thinking the bikes aren’t what you expected, you’ll still have a great big grin on your face at the end of it. Like everything in biking should be, the Buell Experience is mainly fun and I can take a day of that anytime.
Factfile
Cost; £149 per person, per half day. Includes lunch voucher.
Locations; Mallory Park, Cadwell Park.
Requirements; Age 25 minimum, must have held a full licence for 12 months. Counterpart and photocard licence must be produced on the day.
Extras; Photographer on track, costs £20 per shot for souvenir pic. Opportunity of `hot’ pillion laps with race riders, depending on weather and demand.
More info; visit www.buell.co.uk or call 01652 688 410.
To read expert and impartial reviews of the latest Buell models, check out our Bike Reviews.
No Comments