I have an 01 Buell M2 cyclone. Its a theft recovery I bought for dirt cheap. It doesn't really have any damage other than a bypassed ignition and a spray bomb paint job. Now I am trying to figure out what to do with it. I've seen some pretty cool looking scrambler type builds but I want to do something different and I definitely need to lower it because the saddle height leaves my on my tip toes. Has anyone gone full chopper with one of these or is the bike too sport bike-ish?
Anyone chopped a Buell
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My buddy from my old shop had an X1 that he did some work to. Not a chopper, but he definitely made it his own. Sort of a cafe streetfighter thing. Pretty sure he did some suspension work on it, I was impressed with how it turned out.
Can't seem to find any good photos of it online but you can see it here at 1:30...sorry about the rest of the video haha. We had fun back then
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If the Buell is in good mechanical shape I'd ride it after lowering the seat height (see Buell forums for shock and seat options) and if I customized it I'd go streetfighter because a Sportster chassis is functionally inferior to the sporting (but ugly) Buell, As a novice rider you should ride a variety of bikes and you can always do something different later.
Chopping is to make a motorcycle look old. It's pure retro and unfortunately older machines have...functional limitations.
Chopping it would involve basically finding a Sportster roller and swapping engines or building the equivalent. You'd have a fast Sportster which is why Buells are sought after organ donors, but Sportster rear suspension geometry is shit unless you want your kidneys to fly out your asshole on long rides. (I have Sporties but I don't lie about any of my bikes. I have FXRs for distance work.)
As a novice I suggest NOT locking your preferences into traditional chops until you've ridden a variety of machinery! Chops exist to look good, usually at sacrifice of function. Your Buell looks like it does to do what it does.
If you really want a chop I'd hunt a titled donor Sportster (title passes with frame), rip out the Buell engine then sell what you don't need. See xlforum etc for swap threads as they're pretty basic for your year. If I had a wrecked Buell I'd do that since if I want a real sportbike Japan and Italy make vastly better machines.Last edited by farmall; 10-13-2019, 9:09 AM.Comment
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Has anyone gone full chopper with one of these
If buildin' old school choppers was easy, anyone could do it... ain't nobody said it's gonna be easy...Comment
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A 2-second search found lots of 33 treads:
https://www.google.com/search?q=buel...t=firefox-b-ab
I was thinking along the line of hacking off the tail section and running a steel rear fender. Lower it and maybe air bag the rear so I can set it on the ground and then raking the front end. Maybe some dirt bike or enduro front end. Maybe some mini apes.Comment
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Your bike, your choice but all that sounds like a future Craigslist comedy thread ghetto abortion horror post.
sportster chopper not really a Buell chopper.
Nothing will make that frame a "chopper" except swapping the neck onto a chopper frame. What you're describing is a street fighter style. That can be done gracefully with some thought. https://www.customfighters.com/n have some very interesting machines. M2s make interesting tracker style bikes and you can lower the rear suspension without trashing it with a (no damping!) air bag.
A dirt bike front end would just look retarded while having shit brakes for the street. Wanna crash again?? How deep can you afford to penetrate a minivan when some soccercunt cuts you off?
By all means do what you like but I suggest seeing what your other options are and thinking about what the result will ride and handle like, not just what it will look like, before modding.Research is free. Otherwise it will look like every other bike the owner mutilated because they really wanted something completely different!
I shall now descend from my soap box. Have fun!Comment
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