Posted August 28, 2007   Email   Print

Buell, both the man and the machine, poised to start a new chapter as the company enters its 25th year

By Lance Oliver
Photos by Riles & Nelson

Neither airline delays nor lack of sleep nor the dark of night in the Nevada desert was going to keep Erik Buell from attending the introduction of probably the most important motorcycle yet produced by the company that carries his name.

Set back by flight delays, Buell found himself stuck in the Las Vegas airport near midnight on a Sunday, with his new 1125R to be unveiled to the motorcycle press the next morning at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. And the airline was telling him they could get him on a flight to Monterey on Tuesday probably, Wednesday for sure.

That's when Buell hit the rental car counter, then the highway, and arrived the next day bleary but as enthusiastic as ever at the press launch for the 1125R.

"I've been wanting to do this for a long time," he said, smiling broadly just looking at the new 1125Rs parked in the pits at Laguna Seca. "This" is a motorcycle Buell described as "more integrated than anything we've ever done." It's also, significantly, the first mass-production Buell to carry an engine with no Harley-Davidson DNA.

For the Buell company, a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, that's a huge departure. After years of altering, refining and virtually reinventing the air-cooled XL Sportster engines for use in Buell sportbikes, the company now has a sportbike with a liquid-cooled powerplant designed from the start for high performance and built exclusively for Buell by the Austrian company Rotax.

It's not an unexpected development. Just one that's been a long time coming.

"I have a mockup of a sportbike I did in 1988 that looks remarkably like what you see here," Buell says. "We had to earn our way here first."

That meant building the company and making it viable before expecting parent company Harley-Davidson to OK an all-new sportbike powerplant. Now, Buell Motorcycles is opening a new chapter.

Buell believes he has found the right partners, in Rotax and Pirelli, to help bring new customers to the Buell marque.

When Harley told Erik Buell and company to look for outside help in designing the new engine, rather than relying on Harley's engineering department, several companies were considered, Buell said. But Rotax quickly emerged as a first choice. With fewer than 200 employees, Buell Motorcycles prides itself on being nimble, flexible and hard-working. But Erik Buell said he was amazed at some of what Rotax did.

One time, he was on a conference call with Rotax engineers, talking about a piston design problem. Searching for inspiration, Buell described a design he'd seen created by famed NASCAR tuner Smokey Yunick. It was about quitting time in Austria when the call ended, so Buell was astounded when he received a report the next day explaining that the Austrian engineers had built a prototype based on Buell's description, and while it hadn't solved the problem, they outlined what they'd learned from the exercise.

"They built it, tested it, and wrote a report on it overnight," Buell said. "I'm glad those guys are on my side."

Similarly, there's a reason all current Buells come from the factory wearing Pirelli tires.

"All the companies make good tires these days," he said. "But they (Pirelli) are more open, more willing to discuss problems. We're a small company and we need someone who is willing to work with us."

Buell, the man, is counting on the new 1125R to bring new customers to Buell, the brand. If so, the company will really have something to celebrate next year at its 25th anniversary party.

 © 2007, American Motorcyclist Association