I fired up my XB to go for a ride for the first time this year.....er I think it was the first time this year (brain fading?) I’m beginning to lose track without flicking back through my diaries. Last ride WAS to the MOT early last November.

The great thing about EFI is not needing to purge then re-prime carbs for any hope of it firing on today’s E5 fuel. The little XB started immediately on the first prod then settled into the idle.

Taking it gently for the first 10 miles I kept to 50 mph country roads and a self imposed 3000 rpm limit to warm up and evaporate any moisture then gradually edge up towards 3500 or more. RESIST, RESIST gassing it hard I told myself. I like to reach at least 26 miles plus or minus at which point a waft of hot air is emitted from the rear cylinder head onto my right leg to tell me that the motor is up to temp and cooking steadily!

Imagine my disappointment when I stated to gas it over 4K only to hear more exhaust noise than power as if the muffler had fallen off. It was a bit like one of those old 1338 HDs with badly matched open pipes; all growl and no grunt. Keeping in medium gears and winding it through the Rev range the gutless feel evaporated and the speed was there, but the explosive surge I used to get from 3800 to 5200 was absent. I thought that maybe my XB12 muffler had corroded during lockdown and a hole had blown out causing a loss of some critical back pressure. This all seemed a bit odd as the barometric air pressure was healthy today. Or maybe the air box temp sender had just taken longer to wake up today!

After some more miles things started to improve and midrange response became more healthy and the noisy ‘bark’ when loading the throttle at lower revs had become more muted. The bike was getting steadily faster. I then started to think that the nearly full tank of fuel I started with which had been standing for over 5 months had ‘gone off’ despite me adding a measure of fuel stabiliser. That must be the reason as the motor had not missed a beat all day and seemed to be fuelling cleanly. Only time to cover 88 miles in total today so I’ll just have to run the fuel through with a second run before I can refresh the tank with new 99 RON.

Apart from these gripes everything else on my 9 worked well, no oil leaks, no electrical gremlins. Even the typically flakey neutral light worked when it was supposed to. Hope yours works too!

Edd,

Similar story - my Uly farted around like crazy on my first ride of 2021 - last rode it to the MOT in December, previous to that was August IIRC!

Not refuelled yet but suspect a similar cause to yours - I read somewhere that modern fuels degrade quickly, plus E5 might hold a tiny bit of water too.

I've researched (not very far!) into the coming of E10 (October) - I think all Buells are OK with E10.

Definitely before lay-up next winter, I will make sure the last full tank is the lowest E I can find, then run it down to the minimum volume (as I usually do, so there is the least amount of crap fuel to burn-off in the following Spring!)

If I can only get E10 then I might even consider adding Seafoam or similar (used for outboard motors): this removes the ethanol from fuel and stabilises it for long storage.

Roll on Summer - I daren't admit my total mileage last year but I avoided riding in Lockdown - the NHS was busy enough without my mistakes.

A

Cheers Andysdad, nice to know I’m not completely crackers!

BP Ultimate Plus, although rated E5, currently contains no ethanol... but unfortunately not in all regions, check BP website for full details.

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'98 M2 Razorback, it's a keeper.

You little teaser Rik. Have you a link to that information please? Ta.

In your area, (Fawley refinery) you are still ethanol free with Esso Synergy Supreme 99+ fuel too but I guess not for much longer. The areas listed as ethanol free are reducing steadily on Esso UK's website. North England/North Wales was ethanol free until quite recently. (Stanlow refinery).

Link -

https://www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels/petrol

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Try doing this to yer fueller...........

Just had a can of 101octane leaded delivered

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Last year I joined a group for anti-social people
We haven't met yet.

Sorry, it was past my bedtime, I meant Esso not BP

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'98 M2 Razorback, it's a keeper.

I always use Shell V power.

So did I... until I discovered Esso e5 was actually e0.
The fuel Co.s are taking the p155 with biofuel eg ethanol; there is the political element of 'virtue signalling' although in essence (sorry!) it does diddly squat for emissions, but it's cheaper than 'proper' petrol so no wonder they want to increase the proportion of it.
IMHO, we should all boycott the fuel Co.s that persist with it.

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'98 M2 Razorback, it's a keeper.

Tried again today with some better fuel. As it happened I only put 7.3 litres in to fill to the brim so the poor XB had to make do with a 50/50 mix of old V power and new Esso 99. By half way through the ride it got better, but still not as good as it gets. Enough speed for my friend on his S4R to keep the weight off his wrists, but not much more.

We only did 112 miles today so if I keep topping up before every ride-out I might reduce the duff fuel to a quarter, then an eighth, then a sixteenth by the end of the year.

We have winds from the north and high pressure at the moment so should be good for our older air cooled Buells if you get the chance to get out.

With no work posting yesterday I grabbed the chance to go. My diary reminded me that it had been 12 weeks since I last fired up my XB! FFS how did that happen?

All I seem to do on my few rides this year is top up with about 8 litres of super, do 100 miles before putting the bike away. That’s probably the wrong way round as it’s better to leave the tank full. I find it difficult to do less miles once I get going so Harley’s LiveWire would be limited as range would be a constant worry.

It’s difficult to be sure about the residual fuel quality as there must still be around 1 or 2 litres of old VPower still in the mix with Esso Supreme I now use. That’s a bigger percentage than the likely proportion of ethanol. To my mind there seems to be a difference between the Shell and Esso fuels.
Maybe that’s just down to my particular engine. Once fully warmed and the fuelling has chimed in on accelerating through maximum torque the Esso feels like being propelled by a canon stuffed with cotton wool. The Shell by comparison has a harder edge as if each cylinder is firing more completely.

The above is still hard to confirm given gaps between rides, and that the most impressive power from my XB previously came during the autumn month rides when the air was cooler. Hopefully I’ll get a few more rides through September and October. Happy Buelling!

It was MOT time again today. Due last November it was exactly four months late! Crap weather, work, life got in the way, but the convenience of having the test before the tax expires and forthcoming bike events focussed my mind. Luckily my new Polish MOT Meister agreed to fit my bike in at short notice, but only 288 miles covered over the last year (16 months to be precise ).

With a pass ticket stuffed in my pocket I set out to do some more miles, but as I headed west the cloud came over and the chill wind started to eat through my jacket. Shit! the longest miles are cold miles so I turned the run into a more closed loop to visit a nearby friend and then home.

It usually takes 26 to 33 miles to heat up the XB air box before the the throttle torques to the engine most effectively. Today it took almost 35 miles before everything chimed in, but I only managed just over 60 in total before I put the Buell away. It felt more like 120!

Hope all your own Buell’s pass muster. Roll on the spring.

nice one Edd

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Feros Ferio

288 is not bad edd
It's way more than I did the last three years

Trying to do something about that this year

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The sound of a V-twin engine braking is music to my ears!!

Edd Agreed and not only Buell's
Having recently changed car ,old Audi 80 2.0 diesel ,new to me Ford Mondeo 2.0 diesel, that has a distance to empty display, I am seeing the distance going UP ,for about the first 50 miles or so before stabilising and starting to slowly descend with the miles driven and this can be an extra 150 miles to empty.
Yet the temp gauge and heater get up to normal temp in about 5 miles .

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Buell Ulysses XB12X 06/08