Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,RIDING IMPRESSION 'II, Spea ks 'O.Ut ' e , , ' hav e become, maybe, too specialized ? Too unique? The (Yamaha) FZR1000 is a' wonderful moto rcycle in one way, but is it a well_~~ ~.-.;_~_--,., , , rounded motorcycle? Th e Buell ap peals to people because it hether or not the concept behind the Buell S2 Thun derbolt deli vers great, usable performance and reliability, And th ere's .is un derstood , the motorcycle's appeal can no longer be the understanding that it's not going to change year by year. We , , denied, Prod uction has increa sed from just a few units want ow ners to 'be abl e to upd ate three y~ars down the 'road; eithe r with a newmodel from us or the same bike, per year in 1986 to 680 in 1994, The fact that even the Harley, , ' , 'David son Motor Corporation h as had eno ugh faith in Eric Buell's Ha s th e s uccess of the VR1oo0 Harley race bike convinced dream -machine to b uY."4'l% is proof enough that Buell is onto doubters that a Harley-based sportbike is viable? someth ing, What lies down the road for this unique, motorcycle Yes, There' s been ' all. in tere st ing change, Givi ng demo rides at , Daytona we got a real ,mix of riders of every type of motorcycle, company? Better just ask the source: Eric BuelL, : When you talk to people about the Buell at the motorcycle There were actually spo rtbikers arid Harley traditionalists at the 'sh ows like the, Orlando, Florida, Harley show, what do you tell Buell stand; and they were actually talking to each other! ' them to make ' them understand how the Buell fits into the Wh y the original reluctance ab out the Buell concept? ' .- " , ,,'" Th er e' s always been th e ' con cern that. ,"Th at' s not th e way a 'sch eme of.things? , , ', ' ,That 'this isn' t a ":SundaY'bike" sportbike. It ha sn't been under- motor cycle should be! This is' what it sho uld be ,- a Harley." Arid ' stood by everyone yet what the Buell is. That it's a very nice all- in a sense that's,true becauseHdfdoes really stand fora special around motorcycle; we have touring accessories and othe r thin gs look and style of a cycle that made a tremendous following, and ' , ' coming u p. We'll be takin g orders for the accesso ries as well as , that no one has been able to qui te're produce . ' ' So; there was a little defensiveness. . Then, those who can real- ' for the bike inOrlando , There'll .be bags, fairing lowers, touring ha nd leba rs that are a .Iittle bit low er; sligh tly lower pegs, oth er lyride, ride it and say, ''' Damn, this is a fu n motorcycle!" Then ,,' ' : they see other peo ple, sportbike riders: appreciate this rnotorcythin gs, . :' ',' :,,' ..' . . " '.. , '.' ." 'WilI l h e cus tom parts extend toperformance pieces too? . .. cle and they' don't feel defensive any more. ., .. Very much so. We'd intended the Thunderb olt to be a "sport-ens- . Discu ss th e VR1000 race bike. Harley is getting lots of attention tom" in a .way, with lots of accessories to have a very wide-rang- with it. .. . . . ." . . irig a ppeal. T o make it ind ividua lized, like H-D,has always done I consu lted on,the project, and I believe from the basic crede ntials for the cruisers.ButI'm a spo rtbike gu y 'ca use that's wha t I like, : of the vehicle thai it has the potential to lie the 'dominan t motor:SO obvio usly the focu s will be geared in that direction , But a Buell' cycle in the class. Daytona ? I don' t know if it'll win there.:Tht: · ride r wil l be able to Canyon carve, spo rt tour or full tour with this . 200-miler isa real bitch, Since I raced there, I kno w. Many things . '.' can happen in such a long race. But it will 40 we ll there, and bike . It could 'e ven be changed If. a gu y bou gh t one used . . " . ' ,We' v e' heard aboutBuell-tagged accessories forthcoming. " there's a full season of racing to follow. .' Please discuss those. : '' , How about a'VR-powered Buell? . . . "There are a lot of accessories for that (12oocc,Sporlster) engine; Are we going to bu ild a version of a $50,000 bike? No. Havi ng ' some of wh ich will be available' from u sin the spring and others, ' said that, there is a natural blend there . Some mo torcycle wri ter ' fro m Harl ey-Davidson, Sothere will be a line of Buell perfor- . said ; "Wa it 'til ,there's a VR-powered Buell," and I said, "Get. a . ' . .maI}ce· an d the touring pieces.itoo. The idea includes' things like . ~ue:: . "packages"; mild tuning stuff and a sort of supersports package '. But th is (VR pow.maybe similar to what Scott Zainpach has for his (ess 883 Sport- erplant) must be ster) race bike. ' ..... ,.. . . s o m e t hi n g . that ·Some claim your motor is already a bit stressed in' its stock con- interes ts you? figuration, putting 'out 67 brake horsepower, andthat hopping Irs not the replace-' it up is unwise... . ' ' . ment for this Spo rt- . Actually; it's 'a very understressed 'engine at 67 crank horsepow- s te r .e ngin e . (But) er, We have a lot of test miles on it. That's one of-the things that, ' there will be a 'VR' ·as we,grow, 'we communicate to the cus tomers and dealers. This' , derivati ve-powered motor has 1O,000-mile service intervals. BMWs, which aresuper- , Buell at some po int. · .,.. .. . : . " That's been said by high reliabili ty, are oJ.1ly4,OOO: : And we're talking about a Harley 1200. the pres i d ~nt ,o f ~'t 10,000 miles you jus t check the spark plug s, .because, it's ejec~ .. H arley -D a.vl dson . ' tric ign ition, hydraul ic valve lifters and so on. It's a very refined But ~~at WIll be an . ,and sophist~cated enginefrom adu rability stand po int; 'probably ' a d ~, \,.o n a l , B~ e ~~ the best engme ou t t he re. " . mo ei: no t a su sti. ' " ' tu te fo r t he S2 ' Inclu ding th e high-horsepower versions? .... Thunderbolt. And 'it ,Well, obvious ly the higher you go.,. We have not tested those for, ' wi li not be a lim itlong- term durabil ity yet.loo horsepower is not a pro blem.really, ed- prod uct ion bike with them. But what -we want to com municate is whal yo u've when we do it. It ' found - that there's a lot of-performance as it is; a lot more than will be a p roduction the horsepower figures would say from a ~yno. ~he ro!l-o~ nurn- m ot o r cy cl e. We . . rs are really. excel~ent. S~andard, c~lculahons ar.e a bit mlslead-. might eve n be,the first ou tlet for (such? VR-based stree t bike). . mg. You can nde this engme that s m a .really mild state of tune detuned version . and go like' hell. Mods are unnecessa ry, basically. . . ' . . " . . . . . · .. . ' . " .' : " . Would s uc h all. engme be accommodated m your exi sting But It IS WIdely thought that the Harley engme IS dated com- fram e? " . ' No, not at snn would be in a new frame. When th ere is a Buell ' 'pared to others, iii technical terms: . ' '. It gets my d ~nd~r u p ,so~etimes; you k now,yeople saying that ' with that style of engine; we will do a chassis ourselves..1t's a bit ·. the H-D engme IS an antique. Take the Ducali 916: How can you . early to go in to detail now thou gh. . . say an engine that needsits cylinder heads pulled off every 3009 . . . ' . . ' . ..,.. miles is a sophisticated piece ? In my view, tha t's a stone·axe. ." Ar~ markeh~g st rategies cha~.gmg for the se.con~ year? . . . In 'year one" a lot of emphasis was put on listening, rather than . . . . going out and selling hard. The sales hav e been even better than But they wm sup erb ike races . . But that' s not what I built this motorcycle to do . When I Want to we expected an yh ow . And 'the peop le hav e been very happy ' build a s~~rbike-win ning motorcycle, we'll do that one of these ' with the mo torcycle. days; This IS a really. fun: all~ar~undmotorcycle ~hat a gu y can Now-you can 'expect more in marketin g campaigns; ad s and enloya~d tru st and be re.ha~ le.1 d much rath er bUI~d on: around :. such from the Buell Distribution Co.' - wh olly owned by, Harley this et:\gm: than a DuC I d rath er head off to California on one . and in charge of selling Buells . They'v e done a beautiful job wi th ,ali; of these thm gs. ' r .: .' " ..... . the brochu res.and dealers. Next are 'seminars with d ealers and The first Buell s from th e mid·'80s we re bough t mostly b y rich riders; differen t from HOG even ts but fun . And once deal ers guys or ico noclas ts who ju st had to be diff er en t. Ho w ab out have gotten over the hu mp of "this is such a strange- looking bike ' and this is a new sty le of cus tomer"- oncethey realize Buell types now? Wha t's the profil e of th e Thunderb olt buyer? . We really didn't aim it. to a ."nich e" but we did want to have a love moto rcycles as much as the guys with the' tatt oos,' all,of a . broa d appeal - not just for collectors orfor someone who wanted, sudde n they say, "Oh yeah, we knowhow to give this gu y serall. odd ity. We wanted it to stand on its own aga inst any thing ou t vice; how to imp rov e the life of the .motorcycle and his owner. .' .. . . ther e. We do prefe r expe rienced riders; and man y are buyers who ship of it." are.coming back to 'cyclin? after (several) yea:s. That's quite"inter: ' I understand th at th e Europeans are "cho mpi ng at th e bit" io . e~ting ,to us' .We check ,t~ out - Harley~D,a vld son ~as the B.uell get Buells ove r th ere. · ' · .. . . . . . . ... ' , . RI~ ers , Ad VISOry ~roup. And we send mformahon, queshon- That's tru e. They' ll start getting them in the '96 ':"lodelyear. . T h e first Buells were very.1i mited prod u cti on, an d sol d for nalres ~nd ~tu Hto gIve us feedback on what peopl e wa.nt. Then sum up briefly what it is that the S2 is - and what you' d about $16,000 in th e '80s. Now th ey cost about $4000 less! '. We:lI make, probab ly, in calenda r year 1996, 2500-3000 motorcylike it to be seen as. . Well-rounded : In recent yea rs my St:'nse is that mot orcycles c1es...The (H-D) fadory tie-in makes all the,difference. W .?e 24 1995 Buell S2 Thunderbolt m an ce Mac hine for Buell. Amidships hangs the easy-adjust WP shock. It wo rks on a reverse extension ! compression pattern completely opposite of ordinary shocks. Also screaming serious intent are the 17-inch Marchesini wheels in cast and po lished alloy; beautifully machined "ancillaries," like footpeg mou n ts; optically flawless windshield . The inch-wide chrome d h andleb a rs (three styles to be ava ilable by the time you read this) are sort of odd. Snaking up from the handsom e billet triple tree, they curve outward and parallel to the road reminiscent of the "Stingray" bicycle bars from the 19705. The gas tank is wide at the top and slender towards your legs; a nice shape. And it hold s five ga llons, allowing for a range of 250 miles if you abuse the do uble-nickel speed limit only slig htly . And if yo ur hind -qu ar ters can take it. The seat looks intimidating. narrowing as it does to abo u t fou r inches by your crotch and then rising up the back of the tank. In practice the sa d dle works well onc e you find where to best d istribute your weigh t. Riding for durations of two to three hours on the Thundetbo lt are p0ssible without balking. Riding position was a good comp romise, I found. Touring and sportbikers may wa nt to take advantage of the foot peg and handlebar variati ons offered by Buell as a no-cost option. Alternately, th e aftermarket soo n will likely have these and other items. This is as it should be since Eric Buell intended a high degree of adaptability for differen t owners. The classic Harley engine, always a goo d looker, is mostly open to view on this Buell; not so on the full-faired RR1000. It's obscured only by lengths of frame tubing . The perimeter-style space frame is light but oh so rigid chrome-moly. It's nice to see all the key engine and fram e parts. Visually it's a feast, as you scan the awesome front brake, p ause along th e tight bend of the pale wheat-colored stainless headers, then move to the alloy boxsection swingarm and rear hub . Giving a touch of high-tech class arc the carbo nfiber carburetor cover and "eagle-beak" belt-drive guard. Even the fasteners invite scrutiny. In all, the Buell exudes quality. Clearly, this is a machine des igned by an en gineer, ar tist and rid er. That makes sense. Buell road raced Yarnahas in a PrL~ vious life. Because of th e und er slu ng exh aust canister and shock, there' s no centerstand. Well, sometimes that' s the price of worldclass gro u nd clear ance. The ,long sid estand is interesting. It swings down from behind the primary chaincase rather than the custom ar y position in front of it . Reaching it takes good quadriceps mus-

• Cover