My 900S2 is a 1983 Ducati, I've had since new. I have spoken to customers, that have ridden Buells. They discribe the power delivery as brutal, as compared to the Sport. The suspension and handling is also more refined on the Sport, well its Italian! I have heard people comment on a small discomfort on the wrists/hands due to the prone riding position. This I can assure you fades away the more you ride. If I haven't ridden the S2 for a while, the first 10-15 min I'm aware of it, but then it just goes away. As far as maintenance issues go we have had none so far, which is a good sign. Build quality is excellent. Honestly you really need to try and get a test ride. Its well worth it. Overall a very smooth comfortable machine. I take it it's the 2007 you are looking at. Is that helpful? Hard to do this without sounding like a sales guy.
I borrowed Italia's demo Sport for a while,.....nice bike,..would'nt buy one myself. The seating position puts all the weight on your wrists,which makes low speed riding pretty uncomfortable.The lack of fairing took some getting used to,...and a great licence saver,....80mph feels more like 120! Oh yeah,watch out for the bar mounted mirrors,...its too easy to forget how much wider they make the bike. This one had Termi megas fitted,...sounded awesome.1000DS motor is lovely.Some bikes seem to be finished poorly,...the one I borrowed had silicone gasket goo oozing out of the engine casing and looked like it had been fitted by a backstreet bodger and not the factory.
Thanks for your feedback guys. Sorry about the S2 Griff, I should've known it was a Ducati and not a Buell
A test ride will be my next step, I just wanted to get some opinions first. I prefer a clipons-and-rearsets riding position and the license saving element is appealing. This was one of the reasons I traded in my Urban Tiger FireBlade for the Buell, but it doesn't seem to be working