HEY!!! another Buell n00b to converse with!!
Firstly I want to say that I'm no expert when it comes to Buell other than some minor riding experience and just recently acquiring a 2009 1125r (LOVE IT). Which sports bikes have you had beforehand because I could probably give some perspective on that side of things:
For one; the heat between your legs will be pretty intense by comparison (as opposed to under your butt if your exhaust was top-tail end), nothing too bad unless you like riding around in boardshorts or your undies then you might have to swap out.
For two; the power delivery is going to want to wheelie you a fair bit if you're used to launching, and if you had launch control previously then I'd be feathering the clutch.
Third; you will be shifting gears until you get to to higher gears if the 1125 is anything to go by. My previous ride (GSXR1000 that still had the TRE) would hate anything below 6k revs so on daily commutes it was rare that I would shift above 1st simply because if the revs got too low it got sluggish.
I can say that Buell are pretty bulletproof if my knowledge of the XB12r was anything to go by. Reason I say that is a good friend of mine (who actually taught me how to ride) had one, and the amount we hung out I got to see it and ride it enough to see how he looked after it (he had a full proper shop on his property, dyno and everything as he was a "pro" amateur racer) and the amount he actually had to work on was next to nothing, the problem came in if something got damaged or had to be replaced (rarely, and usually due to either a knock or at the end of its service life like a belt) that the time between ordering to getting the part took a really long time (getting parts for the Buell in Oz was a problem, and that was back in 2014 - 2016) so he would just order a heap of the "consumable" ones.
One of the things that I did (before buying mine) was downloading the manual, parts list and electronic diagram to see what parts were where and so on, then looking at prices for:
- Final drive components
- Braking components (not just pads and rotors - but rebuild kits up to piston assemblies as well)
- Scheduled service requirement parts.
Basically going to the "worst case scenario" can be as bad as getting a new bike, so instead I go to the best case for estimating on a bike that I know, and that is by looking at the scheduled servicing manual and costing it out from there as well as parts availability.
If I were you I would be looking at the drive belt and pulleys for one, because those (at least to me) are one of the main sticking points because of how it's not something that's stocked regularly. I would also be checking out for any error codes as I got one on mine, and the next ride I'm going to try and isolate it (as it only seems to be when running, and intermittently) to figure out what might be wrong.
Bit of a rant, and probably doesn't help much but.....LOVE MY BUELL.