2015 EBR 1190SX
FIRST RIDE
P60
tion version of its World Super-
bike contender under the 1190RX
label, costing $18,995. But this
was always intended to be the
first of three models sharing the
same water-cooled DOHC 72-de-
gree V-twin engine, with the just
launched SX streetfighter next
up, and an AX adventure tourer
planned for 2015.
Buell is himself no stranger
to streetfighter-style sportbikes,
having helped define the cate-
gory with the introduction of the
Buell S1 Lightning in 1995.
"The streetfighter classifica-
tion is now being used by mar-
keting people for all sorts of
motorcycles, including some
thinly-disguised standard bikes
that have detuned or obsolete
powertrains," says Buell. "So
perhaps the appropriate new
name for a bike like the 1190SX
is, 'Superfighter.'"
But in creating the SX at a
cost of $16,995, Buell's boys
didn't intend to leave behind any
of the performance they'd deliv-
ered to the marketplace with the
RX model, as Dane Hoechst, a
13-year veteran of the Buell Mo-
torcycle Company who's been
heading the small five-man V-twin
streetbike R&D team since join-
ing EBR in January 2013 as Plat-
form Director for all its models,
explains.
"We decided from the start that
the SX wouldn't be a dumbed-
down version of our Superbike
racer, like most other streetfight-
ers are," he says. "It has exactly
the same engine specification,
the same fuel-injection mapping
and the same chassis package
as the RX, only with the fairing
removed and a one-piece taper-
section aluminum handlebar pro-
viding a more upright and relaxed
riding position."
So this is a real streetfighter,
folks, whose 185 horsepow-
er output delivered at 10,600
rpm comfortably trounces – at
least on paper – the KTM Su-
per Duke's 177 hp, let alone the
Tuono's 170 hp and the almost
wimpish 160 hp BMW S1000R
four (all crankshaft horsepower,
claimed), plus its meaty torque
of 137.8 Nm/101.6ft-lb produced
at 8200 rpm (again, claimed)
means it out-muscles them all,
too.
But on the downside, there's
still a cable throttle, so no choice
of riding modes obtained via ride-
