Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By Brian Catterson Davidson-issu e, one dep arture is th e' sta inless steel Su perT ra p p exha ust syste m , which wr aps around th e right side of th e engine and exits in fro nt of the rear tire - a precarious situatio n shou ld the engi ne ever blow o il. _ T he aerodynamic fairing and front fender were tested in th e wi nd tu nnel - a much -needed development in view of the motor's lack of horsepower. The fa irin g is constructed of Kevla r -rein forced fib er glass, a nd co mpletely hides the engine fro m view. But rather than let the engine's m a ker r emai n a no nym o us (a s tho ugh that would be possible once th e di stinctive exha us t not e was hea rd !), the fairin g has a la rge " Po wered by H a rl ey-D a vidson " silkscreened o n each sid e of th e fairi ng . . T he sta ndard Dzus fasteners which held th e bod y panels togeth er on o ur test unit were sim p ly no t up to th e n a world where products are all too often the result of boardroom meetings and uninspired comp uter gra p hics, th e Buell RRI200 exists as th e ph ysical embodime nt of one man 's d ream. T hat man is Eri k Buell , a former road racer who entered the motorcycle manufactu ri ng bu sin ess in th e ea rly 1980s after p urchasi ng th e plans and too ling for th e th en -call ed Bart on engine - a 750cc sq uarefour, disc va lve, two-stroke un it origi na lly developed in Great Britain. Buell began ma n u fact uri ng th e Ba rto n mo tor un der hi s own nam e (with mo re tha n a few much -needed improv ements ), which h e the n bolted in to a chassis of h is own design and sold for use in the AMA's Formula One racing class. T hat venture was ill -fated, however, a nd wh en th e AMA a bolished the F-I class not long th ereafter, Buell drew o n hi s co nnections a t the Harl eyDa vidson Mo tor Co . (having once wor ked th ere as a n engineer) and start ed la ying the groundwork for th e ne x t gen eration o f Bue l I motorcycles. I th e pair of 36mm Dell 'Ortos used o n th e 1000. T he Evo lution motor is pretty much sta ndard H arl ey-Davidson fare - air -coo led, OHV, 45-degree Vtwin , with two valves per cylinder a nd hollo w pus hrods ridin g o n Harl ey's fami liar gear-driven cams. T he few concessions to tech no logy are aimed toward reliabi li ty and ease of mai ntenance, a nd incl ude h yd raulic valve li fters, electronic ignition and an automotive-style, sp in-on o il filt er. T he eng ine is sus pe nded from a ifications to acco mmodate the new motor. The RR 1200 weighs 40 pou nds less tha n its p redecessor. Using hi s Un ip lana r mo unting system, Buell co mbi ned the best of two worlds - th e engine is rubbermounted to iso lat e vibra tio n , but also acts as a stressed member for additiona l rigidit y and a reduction in weig ht. This is accom p lished thro ugh th e use of fo ur rubbermounted Heim-jo ints, which permit th e mo tor to vibra te, as the designat ion sugges ts, in just one p lane verti cally. The engine an d swinga rm The Buell works best when ridden smoothly at a sporting pace . An American sport bike 8 Buell's firs t street-lega l crea tio n was th e RR I000, a void-fi lli ng , Ha rl ey -Davi dso n -po were d rep l ira cer which ut il ized a n XRIOOO Sportster engine in a Buel l-design ed cha ssis. T he bike was not a maj or sales success , bu t it d id esta blis h Buell Mo tor Co., Inc. as th e second American motorcycle ma n ufacturer. It ma de sense th en that whe n Milwau kee debu ted th e Evo lution Sports ter, su bseq ue nt ly in creasing th e di sp lacem ent from 883 throug h 11 00 to 1200cc, that Buell sho u ld fit one of these la rger powerplants into hi s p roven chassis. T he 1200cc Sportster mo tor diff ers from the older, iron-barreled XR I000 unit in a ha ndful of ways , the most notab le being the a luminum -alloy . cyli nd ers and head s, a nd the 40mm Keihin car bur etor which replaced Underneath the Buell RR1200's bodywork lies an abundance of quality components including Works P~rformance shock. SuperTrapp exhaust. chromemoly spacefra me chassis, a str uc tu re referred to as geodesic (w h ic h Webst er defines as " the shortes t line betw een two points " in the case of a mo tor cycle, the steering head and swingarm pivot). L ike H arley tra d itio na lly does, Buell o p ted for subtle refi nements rather th an eart h -shatteri ng revisions, so th e RR1 200's chass is is essent iall y ide ntica l to tha t ' of th e origi na l RR IO O, but with so me minor mod O are effectively joined as 'a unit, a nd as a result th e rear wheel is always in line with th e fro nt, a nd the drive cha in alig ned betw een the co unt ers ha ft a n d rear wheel sp roc ke ts . Because the di sta nce between th e co untersha ft and swi ngarm pivot a re so great, th e chain requ ires nearl y four inches of slack; tighten ing it too much restricts sus pe nsion tra vel. Wh ile mos t of th e engine 's com ponents are sta n da rd H arl e y- task, comi ng loose a nd scra tching the pai nt . These were replaced (as th ey will be on subseq ue nt production models) by well -nuts, which effectively rubber-mount each co m ponen t. The improvement in fi t floor ed us, even if th e well-n uts wer e sligh tly more diffi cu lt to fasten . Fortunately, th e o wner sho uld not h a ve mu ch occasio n to d el ve ben eath th e fair ing. We also saw su bsta ntial stress cracks appear in the ta il sec tio n of th e si ng le sea t machine, right below the a ttractive " Battle T win " grap hic. Behind th e fairing and bu lbous Gust affson windscr een a re "lo w , n arrow c li p -e ns with sta n dar d H a rley-Davidso n gr ips, levers and swi tchgear, includ ing the cus tomary o ne-o n-each -si de , press-to-fla sh , tu rn signa l buttons. L ike so me Eu ropean mach in es, th e Buell in corpora tes a lock on th e left side of the steering head. T he five-ga llon fue l tank is made of Kevlar, with a foa m , fuel -cell insert an d a lockin g fuel cap wh ich closely resembles a racer's q uick-fill recep tacl e. T he sea t is of four-piece design, with a flat middle sectio n, two slo pi ng side pieces and a padded vert ical sea tbac k. A locking stora ge co mpartment with foam damping mater ial resides in th e tailpiece. Halting th e machine are a pair of

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