Buell 1125R

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

http://www.buell.com/en_uk/bikes/sportbike/1125R/

So, who wants one?

[BILLY]

OH YES:cool: Just whish I had the cash:(

[kwak zzr]

not me it looks vile but i'll take one of the old ones:)

[northwind]

It's a really nice fairing. I bet it looks great on the bike it was designed for. Shame they've balanced it on the front of a bike it doesn't fit though. The naked version- for there will be a naked version- is what interests me. Buell are saying how practical the screen is- if they're going for practical, why keep the trademark buell terrible seat?

I love what Buell did with the Harley-derived motor, a truly unique riding experience- if the gearbox and clutch had worked, I suppose there's a chance I'd own a City X now- so I'm not sure if this is really the stroke of genius everyone thinks it is, but it should be interesting at least.

[stuartyboy]

Yuk

[LouLou]

Looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down :D ewwww

[Lozzo]

It's a Buell, so it doesn't matter how ugly it is - no-one will see it when it's parked up in the dealer's workshops again and again.

[Jester666]

I think its cool! love to have a go on one to see how sharp they are!

[Swiss]

The engine is a Rotrax motor so it should prove to be reliable providing they have connected it to a gearbox/clutch that can cope with it. It's the gearbox that's supposed to be a weak point with the current range, although I have a friend who owned one and rode it "properly" and he never had any trouble with it except it kept falling over with him on it but you can't really blame the bike for that!

[600+]

can't see a price for it?

how much is it?

[empty]

Interesting design, there are a couple of features that seem worth mentioning.

1) 61mm throttle bodies - that seems quite big.

2) Engine not designed by HD but built in partnership with Rotax, 140ish bhp at 9000 rpm. Has finger follower (look like tiny rocker arms) valve actuators, from the diagram looks to be a longish way of doing it (height wise) rather than bucket/shim, any know of specific advantages of doing it like this?

3) Styling OK, nothing hugely special though.

4) Rest of bike appears to be using technology that was seen in my ZX6R (circa 2000).

MT

[Lozzo]

can't see a price for it?

how much is it?

If you need to ask, it's overpriced.

[DanAbnormal]

Butt ugly!

Shame, I was hoping for an angular sleek design, not an obese US tourist on vacation! Gah!

Probably handles well though.

[sinbad]

Ugly? It's a bit oddly proportioned at the front, but from a few angles.....
Certainly wouldn't put me off.

[Jelster]

Looks like an ER6 on steroids.....

[Biker Biggles]

I'd steer clear of it as it appears to have mumps.

[kwak zzr]

Looks like an ER6 on steroids.....

:laughat: :confused:

[Skip]

Love the idea of it - but its butt ugly! the Lightning and Firebolts are ugly but in a cool way - this is just plain ugly!

[600+]

If you need to ask, it's overpriced.

lol tell me how much and let me worry about affording it ;)

[chazzyb]

Have you seen the power charts? The torque curve is as near as dammit flat from 4.5K to 10.5K!

[Steve H]

Love the idea of it - but its butt ugly! the Lightning and Firebolts are ugly but in a cool way - this is just plain ugly!

Firebolt ugly? How dare you Sir?! ;)

[Skip]

Firebolt ugly? How dare you Sir?! ;)
Ugly yes - cool yes - want one YES!

The XB12Ss is on my list of bikes I want to own (if not as least try!)

[Steve H]

Ugly yes - cool yes - want one YES!

The XB12Ss is on my list of bikes I want to own (if not as least try!)

I totally agree. Just a little put off by the reliability issues. I have heard one or two horror stories. :(

[Skip]

Just a little put off by the reliability issues. I have heard one or two horror stories. :(
Pray tell?

[gettin2dizzy]

I totally agree. Just a little put off by the reliability issues. I have heard one or two horror stories. :(

told by a few people who had early Buells, repeated by many. It's like the 'awful agricultural gearbox' .....which was replaced nearly 2 years ago with an nice one.

[Steve H]

Pray tell?

Neighbour of best mate got rid of his Jap sports bike and bought a new Firebolt. It actually spent more time in the garage than on the road, including a new gear box. He now has a Japanese bike. :roll:

[kwak zzr]

my mates buell has been fine, its the 06 with the new gear box. lots of the horror stories were from early buells.

[northwind]

It's like the 'awful agricultural gearbox' .....which was replaced nearly 2 years ago with an nice one.

It's still not that good, though. But yes, it's not broken any more. Buell have done an awful lot of growing up in public, which is a shame.

[kwak zzr]

my only problem would be with that belt drive, you still hear of stones getting caught in the rear drive pully and snapping the belt and HD want £800 for a new one fitted.

[Skip]

my only problem would be with that belt drive, you still hear of stones getting caught in the rear drive pully and snapping the belt and HD want £800 for a new one fitted.
WTF???! :smt119:smt119:smt119 - they only last about 15,000 miles too dont they??!

[Pedrosa]

Buell's do stand out in the glamour department that is for sure, but many bikes have been very popular despite not being a 2 wheeled page 3 girl!

I have a pal called Tony who is not a young guy by any means. He has a Buell and rides it hard.On our fave roads he can stick with all of the fast boys,(just losing out a tadge on the straights) and is very impressive to watch.

I dooubt that reliability issues are any greater than with say most european marks and most of those are not at disastrous levels.

I bet the majority who criticise this new bike from pictures, would have a very different opinion after riding one.:cool:

Using a ROTAX V motor is a massive plus in my mind. Def worth a closer look at one of these baby's.

[gettin2dizzy]

my only problem would be with that belt drive, you still hear of stones getting caught in the rear drive pully and snapping the belt and HD want £800 for a new one fitted.

The ulysess has a belt designed for off-road, and they claim that it will last longer than the engine. No adjustment, no replacement. Apparently they couldn't even damage it in testing!

[kwak zzr]

The ulysess has a belt designed for off-road, and they claim that it will last longer than the engine. No adjustment, no replacement. Apparently they couldn't even damage it in testing!

have a read-

http://www.bike-pix.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18425&highlight=belts

[gettin2dizzy]

ooh- good find :)

[Xan173]

http://www.buell.com/en_uk/bikes/sportbike/1125R/

So, who wants one?

Urrrgh, a bike for short blind folk. Talk about niche market,

[northwind]

I just got an invite to a first-day test ride, because I've taken a couple of other Buells out on completely spurious test rides :winner: In November sometime, apparently my local dealer will be in touch. :smt054

[PaulSV650S]

Buell and HD have a very reliability issue in the states. Buell puts all the tech into everything but the engine. I have not seen the rotex version over here. Buells state side used mod sportster engines. the city XB9SX 73.9 horses and 56.7 torque. the XB12, 84.2 Horses and 67.5 torque. They are way over priced and not common to see on the road. I was very close to buying a city X9 but the SV is a much better bike. :smt108

[PaulSV650S]

sorry the first sentence should read, very BAD reliability issues in the states.....sorry

[northwind]

The Rotax motor's new here and for the US btw.

[PaulSV650S]

love the sarcasim... sometimes are released in Europe befor the states or the other way around.... but anyways

[northwind]

No sarcasm involved... Just thought you might be interested.

[PaulSV650S]

where and what is rotex ????

[northwind]

Rotax is an Austrian engine builder, I think they designed the Aprilia Mille motor, and the new BMW parallel twin...

[PaulSV650S]

that is huge plus to the tech that buell has in the rest of the bike...

[PaulSV650S]

I road the city X and thought it going to vibrate into a pile of metal. love the tech hate the engine on it... I hope this rotex will push if forward to wear it could be?

[northwind]

Should do... Though the styling's a bit bizarre. For what it's worth, I loved the City X, it wasn't a practical machine but then it made no effort to be. It was the motor that defined it really, so different to ride from anything else. I'm intrigued how this works out but I'm wondering if they aren't maybe giving away their unique selling point, since it'll compete directly with KTM and Ducati.

[PaulSV650S]

did you know that the city x has similar numbers to the SV horse and torque?

[northwind]

More torque in fact, because it makes its power so low down... But then, it has a veyr short operating rev range, which did annoy me because I rode one with the old box and clutch, and the incredibly slow gearchange, so hard acceleration really made it feel lumpen and nasty with the very slow gearchanges. And then, you get to 80 and it feels like it's going to fall apart, or perhaps you are, it's a race to see :D

When I say practical, I'm thinking in terms of using it every day to commute on, then riding to another country on it, spending 4 hours in top gear only stopping for petrol, etc, but then also going out and having fun on it. The Buell does some of that, but the SV does all of it (though not all as well as the Buell, I reckon it's much less fun to ride... The Buell had me laughing out loud at times, it's just genius, like riding a firework)

So, I suppose the LC engine should get around all of what I thought were its faults, apart from the weird seat and the brakes. But then it also loses all the good stuff that came with the engine. The handling will still be special, I'm sure.

I can hardly believe the new one only has the single disc, that was barely adequate for the CityX... I had it overheating on the test ride, and it was less powerful at best than my own GSXR brakes on the SV, so on a trackday or prolonged fast ride once I was actually riding the bike harder I'd expect problems. Then, double the power and you're braking from higher speed. It's a great concept but it doesn't actually work.

[gettin2dizzy]

The brakes are taken from the racing prototype they did and are meant to be amazing! As for rotax- they are very reliable engines! - after all they're an aircraft piston engine manufacturer!

[kwak zzr]

the old buell single rim mounted disk was over rated, my thou stopped faster.

[northwind]

the old buell single rim mounted disk was over rated, my thou stopped faster.

Yup... Apparently most buell racers replace them with conventional smaller twin discs. I know the mad thunderbike ulysses did. The daytona racer didn't, I remember that, but then that's maybe a different sort of usage. All I know is, if I can make it overheat, then it's not good enough, I'm not that fast...

[gettin2dizzy]

yeah but the 1125 uses a completely new system that was designed for race use. I'd find the details now but i'm at work - it was on the prototype racer they made. It's meant to be amazing!

[northwind]

It's a bigger caliper, 8 pot instead of 4 pot, but it's the exact same 375mm stainless steel disc...