BUELL S1 LIGHTNING (1997 - 1998) Review

Version: whitelightening

Year: 1998

Annual servicing cost: £200

great bike lots of character done lots of miles only broke down when belts snapped on me. Fantastic twisty roader if a little crude. Brakes well, not really, but use the engine torque down and fun . I love it and summer evening use for 10 years. I have retired it now as don't want to ruin a great partnership. Skills the rider up as you have to do better than most on the roads to keep up with the modern flyers!

Buying experience: from a dealer for a fair price and still worth the same if not more as collectable s1 W

Version: S1W

Year: 1998

Annual servicing cost: £100

Great bike, seat is a little tough, but the rest of this bike is amazing. Nothing like raw power and great handling in a beautiful package.

Buying experience: Bought used with12,000 miles on it, and proceeded to put 45,000 miles on it in the next 8 years.

By now this must be a pile of rusty gaspipe sh**. And rides the same way!

The old Buell's are collector bikes and can fetch quite a good price. Reason for that is the limited production numbers of those. However they are certainly no bikes to ride everyday as the reliability is zero. These bikes are good to drive to ride-outs, shows etc. as they need a service after every ride to not break down. If you need a day by day bike you need a newer XB model. They are also more fun to ride as they handle a million times better.

I always loved Buell's. So a couple of years ago I found a nice S1, it looked the business sharp streetfighter style and I had to have it. Well from there the misery began. I paid 4500 for it mint, all services done by official dealers, 8500 miles all looked good till it started failing. Wheel bearings breaking every 2000 miles, engine cutting out, oil leaks, petrol leak which nearly destroyed it. To be honest sadly it didn't otherwise I would have saved a lot of money. Gears failing and finally the engine died when a piston broke through the cylinder. I am now riding an XB12S and I am happy without problems!

I am a Buell mechanic. I know these bikes in and out and can only say don't buy one. I know the looks are tempting and the prices are as well. But don't unless you want to build a chop. I seen a lot of them over the years and they are very bad indeed. Exploding engines, fatal gearbox failures, even rusted through frames. A lot of drivers who praise them have them only as show bikes. I know from one guy who comes to Buell meetings with it on a trailer but parks 2 miles away then rides it there. These guys have all 2 or more other bikes and they never would talk the truth about these bikes. They where build in a time when Buell was still independent and there where no such things like guaranty work or recalls after HD got involved with the XB models onwards finally they got reliable and had guaranty and proper garages for them. Also many parts are not in production anymore and other parts ether have to be altered or you have to buy expansive from aftermarket manufacturers. So unless you build a chop or you want to open a museum but not actually ride it, not worth even looking at it

I bought mine in 1997 new and hell I loved it, only to realise how bad it was. The ride is worst than on a tractor. The engine is the only good thing on the bike until it blow up after only 4500mls!!!

I bought my S1 in '98, and it looked the biz in its Molten Orange / Nuclear Blue colours. It was a real bare-bones type of bike, with a small tank and no weather protection, but great fun all the same. In the two years I had it I went everywhere on it, including a few 400 miles in a day journeys. There were problems, including an engine re-build at 6,000 miles (broken oil pump drive), but all in all a good bike. Since the S1 I've had a few more bikes, including an XB 12 Firebolt and my current bike an XB 12X Ulysses, so I guess you could say I liked them!