Latest Buell

[spook]

I very much like Erik Buells latest offering... very tasty.

[sickle44]

What are talkin' 'bout, I haven't read anything in CC about any sort of new Buell project. Please don't be playin' with me now Spook. If ever HD has ever made a tremedously HUGE mistake, letting Buell away from it's dealerships was it, bunch of friggen morons.

Looks an awful lot like the second iteration, or what was supposed to be the second iteration of the 1125R.

[sickle44]

Man,

Just read the article on EBR, can't say how great that is, very happy for Mr. Buell for sure. I've been test riding his bikes since the first iteration Thunderbolt in 98 and they were coming close to getting bought, especially after getting a real engine. A B2 could have been my first Buell

[Big Jon]

What are talkin' 'bout, I haven't read anything in CC about any sort of new Buell project. Please don't be playin' with me now Spook. If ever HD has ever made a tremedously HUGE mistake, letting Buell away from it's dealerships was it, bunch of friggen morons.

Looks an awful lot like the second iteration, or what was supposed to be the second iteration of the 1125R.

Where you been Mike? The EBR project is old news. You can even buy one with full CF bodywork. The rotax is completely rebuilt in house, bored, balanced and blueprinted. Serious time on engine alone. I'll find some articles for you.

[Big Jon]

Here's a test ride from last May.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2011/05/25/er ... irst-ride/


Intro and some details from a year ago feb.

http://www.cycleworld.com/2011/02/17/er ... irst-look/


The coolest (and not discussed in these articles) is the near elimination of the rear wheel hub, as the FEA Buell did, found that it was almost all dead weight and just used to ease manufacturing. Not something he seems to do, as a rule. To see better pics of the wheel, is to behold a work of art that makes me think of Mr.Britten.

[sickle44]

Don't get Cycle World anymore Jon, and haven't seen it in Cycle Canada either. They had screwed around with my subscription for a while though, maybe I missed the issue. To answer your ? of where I've been, you should know the answer to that Jon, fighting WCB and working on a Bimmer, as well as being Mr. Mom, two kids, wife, you know, LIFE!

Thanks for the links to the articles btw Jon

[YZFRob]

One of these days off I'll be getting this summer I may head over to East Troy (where Eriks shop is) and bum around. If I had teh $$$$$$ that EBR would be in my garage.

[Hooligan]

i really wish i could like buell, but their bikes always have some goofy dimensions and shapes when it comes to the bodywork. that thing looks like 95% of the weight is in front of the handlebars. stoppies standing still?

[Big Jon]

It kinda looks that way, but all that height/air box weighs nothing, and if you look at how far back the tranny is, you'll also notice the rear cylinder under the seat. As much as Honda likes their "mass centralization" mantra, Erik had them beat by decades. The beauty I see is the purpose of the engineering, the aesthetics are a result. And hey, under 400 lbs and 170 HP? Like those numbers too.

[spook]

i really wish i could like buell, but their bikes always have some goofy dimensions and shapes when it comes to the bodywork

I agree with you there hoolie.

Up until this offering I wouldn't have poked one with a stick. I have ridden one of the Harley engined monstrosities and hated it... I couldn't wait to get off the vibrating heavy piece of crap! And the last of the rotax powered buell's was so damn ugly it would have been embarrassing to own.

But this! At last a Buell bike that appeals to my big V-twin fetish. I'm sure it would be a menacing to ride as it looks... one can only hope anyway

[djalbin]

The 1190RS is a cool bike but too expensive for me at $39,999.00 ($40K) + another $4,000.00 ($4K) for the carbon package

http://www.erikbuellracing.com/motorcycles/1190rs/

[spook]

40K ??? Wow... over priced would be the best way to describe it.

[Big Jon]

And the Desmosedici (outgunned by the next Gen street bike) was a deal? Only 400 handmade examples, means 40k seems similar to the R7 mentioned elsewhere here, but this one Is race ready. Actually higher spec than the race rules allow, so you have to replace some carbon bits with alum first.

[sickle44]

Take the Beull machines out for a ride before ever judging them.

I've ridden several iterations of the machines beginning with a ThunderBolt from 1994. Bike's have always been extremely cool and extremely purposeful, Engine's (or useless waste of steel/IRON) as someone suggested.... ???? Well let's just say I'm not said he's NOT with HD anymore, despite the fact that I think letting Beull go was one of the WORST mistakes HD has ever made, friggen morones. They take a bit of getting used to as the front ends feel really quite strange, way different gyros coming from the big perimeter disc and geometry is strange as well but Racers have made them work for sure.

Ride one before you say anything about them, course the way a machine looks is the way a machine looks and no dude ever rides anything he thinks is Fugly, right? Then again, there's alchohol........

[FZRDude]

....... no dude ever rides anything he thinks is Fugly, right? Then again, there's alchohol........

Hey, I've ridden a H*nda sober before.....

[spook]

Hey, I've ridden a H*nda sober before.....

[djalbin]

....... Then again, there's alchohol........

Reminds me of “Big Daddy” Don Garlits who raced Top Fuel dragsters. He always said that nitromethane is for racing, gasoline is for cleaning parts and alcohol is for drinking.

[Hooligan]

i have ridden a few buells myself (two harley engined bikes and the little bike called the blast). i thought they were what they were, harleys pretending to be sportbikes. i like twins, just not harley versions that rattle your fillings out.

i agree that buell's engineering is pretty forward-thinking and trick, but don't tell me you can't hire a decent industrial designer/stylist to make that thing look like less of a pig. i actually kinda liked the looks of the firebolt xb9r and the original thunderbolt (this one http://dayerses.com/data_images/posts/b ... olt-04.jpg), but their past few bikes have just been ugly.

and before someone thinks i am just buell bashing, i also think the current cbr1000rr looks like a hot, steaming pile. it looks like it ran straight into a brick wall at 150mph.

[spook]

Very nicely put Hoolie

[Big Jon]

The great thing about beauty is it's all in the eye of the beer holder, personal taste and differences make the world go round. I think the equivalent V1000 in pink and blue was butt-F#$CKING-ugly, but the engineering it held was a wonder to behold. And as far as it being a Harley sportbike, maybe the old ones, but there's nothing HD or in this one. I like it when someone dares to be different, Parker, Buell, and Britten all make it possible for us to ride what we do, instead of a leaky parallel twin, or a lumpy 45°V.