‘It will eat Diavels alive’
Buell are back with a Roland Sands designed Super Cruiser. And it’s fast…
Buell’s new Super Cruiser is a 180bhp supernaked with a laid back riding position and chilled geometry. Bike asks Buell boss Bill Melvin what on earth he was thinking…
»Bike : Hang on, haven’t Buell always specialised in sporty bikes? Bill: Buell is really an American performance motorcycle brand. There were a lot of ideas within Buell in the 1990s and 2000s that were shut down [by then owners Harley-davidson]. We don’t have those restrictions now, so we can build the bikes riders want. We have the highest performance V-twin made in America [the 180bhp unit in Buell’s 1190SX supernaked] and there are a lot of bikes that can be made around it – we’re working on the Baja [a 180bhp dune racer] that will evolve into an adventure bike. And we’ve got the Super Touring in development [an adventure-styled touring bike].
How did the Super Cruiser come about?
We started 18 months ago. We had a cruiser in mind so I asked Roland [Sands, the revered US customiser] what he thought about making something hot. Our platform is very high performance, so I wanted him to use as much of that as possible and he came back with two, almost identical, designs. And they were this bike.
How close to production is it?
Roland used 70 percent of the current platform so a lot of the validation [where a manufacturer checks components are safe to use] has been done. The next step is moving it from concept to prototype, then to a production prototype, then to production. [Buell are aiming for a 2025 launch].
» Did you bench-test the Ducati Diavel?
No. I looked at it, but it’s a pig. The riding position is uncomfortable, it’s heavy [236kg compared with Buell’s claimed 204kg], and it doesn’t feel like a cruiser. This bike will eat the Diavel alive.
Have you ridden the Super Cruiser?
Not yet. Roland [an EX-AMA 250 champion] rode it for the photos in California but we’re based in Michigan and it’s freezing so I haven’t taken the bike out into the salt. It’s frustrating.
Will it come to Europe?
We want Buell to be a global brand, so we need to get bikes to Europe…
‘Buell is a performance motorcycle brand’