i'm psyched for EBR, bike looks great. Erik deserves to thrive, the guy has a passion for motorcycles. my XB12S was pure badass. loved every minute riding it. wish i could keep all my bikes
This is the new business model ... Nice to have that kick in the teeth from a fellow countryman before heading overseas ...
Not really so "new" - Caterpillar hasn't actually manufactured anything (that I'm aware of) for at least a decade, they're just a design firm.
Thats just like the XB12 I sampled. Was a wheelie machine. What actually surprised me the most was that is was kinda comfortable because it looks like a bike thats going to tie you in a knot. My least favorite part was the motor which was good but the huge bottom end and then no top and lots of vibs just did not seem to fit with the design and mission of the bike. Was very good just odd. I had a Honda Superhawk at the time and it was very different feeling. I rode a KTM 990 duke the same day and it was my favorite of the three. All super fun, all quite different despite all being big v-twin sport bikes.
Buell bikes have always interested me. I love lots of his design ideas, but have never been much of a fan of the powerplants. Did you guys watch Erik's farewell video when HD shut him down? He was practically crying. That man has passion.
If I had better resources I'd buy something of EBR just to support and encourage Erik to make more bikes/designs. I wasn't a fan of HD before they let go of Buell, but certainly not any fan after they closed the doors on EBR. How short sighted of HD. I sense there is some kind of profound wisdom upper management in large companies seem to possess that encourages growth growth growth and consolidation. It seems like what KTM has in mind now for Husky. Perhaps the world at large makes things happen that way, but I miss seeing innovators like EBR thrive, only to be churned up and spat out by an accounting spreadsheet that doesn't calculate passion as part of the profits. I'm sure my ignorance in this is large, but I can claim to be in bliss, too. I hope EBR provides more choices and opportunity for all of us as consumers soon. My thoughts drift to Husky now-a-days as I think about this. Pre 2013 there was: Husky CR125/WR125 WR250/WR300 TE250/310 TE449/511 SMR's, 630's Husaberg FE390 FE450 FR510 Motards KTM multitude of stuff Different powerplants, motors, styles, purposes, colors, sounds, smells, handling, history, culture, pride, passions... Now? All KTM bikes. Life doesn't seem quite as rich anymore. Here is to being hopeful for the future. More than likely things will improve. And maybe, just maybe, a bunch of non-accounting type engineers decide to grow a wild hair and split off from MegaKTMWorldCorp and start the next version of Husaberg, or EBR, and so on.
I think EB is better off. He was held back by Harley. Turns out a scooter manufacturer is a better partner than Americas largest motorcycle manufacturer, go figure lol.
And that right there is a crying shame. I had hoped beyond reason that somehow Buell might influence Harley to produce a modern, compact, high performance v-twin engine wrapped up in a truly competitive US designed, built, and manufactured sport bike. They had the capability, but upper mgmt at Harley did not have the desire. A huge missed opportunity in my opinion.
I went to VIR one year to watch. AMA super bike and there was a guy on a Buell. You knew it was coming, sounded like nothing else. I'd love to watch the new Buells in action live. Even though I'm really into offroad I have to admit, I miss sportbikes. It's funny though because I did dumber stuff on a Supermoto and never had a cop look twice lol.
Before HD dumped Buell, Buell had a 450 MX bike in the works. Fuel in the frame and some other unique design features. Perhaps we will see this resurrected by Buell/Hero. Don't expect to see this anytime soon, but you never know...
Harley has a more modern VTwin, which was designed by Porsche and is in the V-Rod. But the Harley customers for the most part don't want it. "Water cooled? No way!" They want the classic Harley engine. BMW had the same problem when they introduced the Flying Brick engine in the mid 80s. They wanted to replaced the aging, limited Boxer. But the Beemer faithful didn't care. They wanted to keep buying bikes that sounded like sewing machines. Harley would like to attract a younger market. But a younger, cruiser riding market. They know cruisers. They don't know sport bikes. They're smart to know their limits and stick to them. Their long partnership with Buell allowed them to toy with that thought a bit and they got the answer they needed. I don't blame Harley for ditching Buell. It was a money pit. You can only fuel the dreams for so long. Buell is interesting. Always willing to try new, innovative design choices. But unwilling to let go of poor design choices, even when it's been well demonstrated that it was a bad direction. Case in point: the perimeter rotor on the front wheel. Sure, it provides more stopping power ... than a regular SINGLE rotor. Compared to a modern dual rotor system... it doesn't compete. For this and many other reasons, the Buell hasn't been competitive. They're always in the back 1/4 of the pack. I still can't help but secretly hope that they can pull something together, though.
HD didn't know what to do with Buell because, exactly as above, they didn't know how to move the younger sportbike market into heavy cruisers as they go older. HD's target market is aging, and they missed the boat on market shifting not only with Buell, but with their ownership of MV Agusta...They had no idea what to do with a bike not dipped in the chrome tank.
custom fuel maps and tuning really help that motor. i got into data logging / editing my maps and made real nice improvements across the board. simple edits to the lower tables in the map for idle cure the vibes most stock bikes have. on top of that, HD dealers always set the damn idle like a Harley too, 800 or 900 vs 1,100, no good. Buell also improved the front isolator, made it more stout. many owners didnt realize the older style isolators would fail, or partially fail (rubber), causing the mount to droop and transmit big vibes. easy fix. i loved that 1203 motor for street riding. Drummer pipe + open airbox + race ECM + tuned maps = HOTROD. so much love for that bike. setting off car alarms and burnouts made for some goodTimes! oh, and riding through tunnels...
Did the same thing with my XB9 - added the ULY right side scoop to cool of that rear cylinder. Loved that bike .......
Yes but now HD is pushing an electric pump driven cooling system in their "premium" models, such as the FLHTCS-I, or whatever theyre calling them these days. Im in the Military and Ive never been so confused by acronyms haha. When I was a Harley tech, I also wondered why Buell wasnt using the V-Rod motor. Ive ridden quite a few V Rods and while the motor is fast and much smoother, it didnt blow me away. Im wondering if, considering the limited powerplants he had at his disposal, if the Sportster engine was just the easiest to modify, more simple, etc., and also air-cooled which means less weight, less parts to fail, etc.
