Well I decided to be the guinea pig! I bought a used voltage regulator to try to test as a good upgrade to the Buell. Heard of too many Harley's and Buells eating stators so I figured why not take a stab at upgrading to a cheap alternative. The voltage regular I went with is a SH775AA regulator, which is a series voltage regulator NOT a shunt or mosfet. The difference is that the series voltage regulator runs the stator only when it needs power, and shuts it off when it doesn't (thus not building up lots of heat.) In contrast, the shunt type (mosfet is still a shunt) run the stator wide open and dump any unused power back to ground. This can overload the stator, which relies on oil running/flinging over it to cool. This heat can break down the windings and eventually short out and fail = no fun.
As luck would have it, the SH775AA regulator is a common Can-Am, BRP, and Sea Doo part ( P# 710001103 or 710-001-103) and is also used by Polaris on Rzr's and UTV's ( P# 4012941 ). It's a 35A unit, and Polaris mates it to stators around the 500watt mark, so it's flexible. I used an online parts supplier to act as a guide to use while surfing eBay for a good used test candidate. Beware of the cheap new ones on eBay! They are fakes! A new Polaris or BRP one is around $130 as a gauge, the china knockoffs are not the series type. I picked up a used one off a 2005 Can-Am outlander 400 for $25 shipped, that happened to come with the jumper harness on it (I'll need the plugs to make a jumper harness from the buell to the VR so I don't cut any wires.) These harnesses or connectors can be bought separately new for like $10 on eBay. The plan is to make a plug and play harness from the buell to the new VR so I can plug in and go, all while easing up on the stator and extending its life. I'll keep everyone posted! Now time to track down the correct connectors for the Buell harness...