Buell – a potted history
I’ve met many of the big-hitters and designers in motorcycling in the last 25 years, but few – if any – have been as passionate about their products as Erik Buell.
After the troubled launch of the liquid-cooled Buell 1125R at Laguna Seca in 2007, where bikes had various running issues, 2008’s ‘street-fighter’ styled CR version was on the money. When the assembled motorcycle journalists sat down to dinner at the Berlin launch with Erik and told him that the bike was a massive improvement and that it should be a winner, he had real tears in his eyes.
This is, of course, understandable, as it’s his name on the tank of every Buell ever produced. Erik started the company back in 1983, building the first race machine – the RW750 – a year later; only two were made.
From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Buell Motorcycles used Harley-davidson engines in what the firm called ‘street-sport’ motorcycles – almost a world away from the original homes for the air-cooled powerplants. As a result, Harley-Davidson b-ought a minor share in the Buell Motorcycle company. This grew to 49 per cent in 1998, shortly after Buell had manufactured their 20,000th machine.
It could be said that while Buell Motorcycles complemented Harley-Davidson in many ways, almost being the sports arm of the American brand, perhaps the more rigid control exerted over Erik and his team meant that the product range didn’t flourish as much as it could have, despite entries into the adventure sector with the Ulysses and their own liquid-cooled/rotax developed 1125R and CR machines. Sadly, in October 2009 a year after the global financial crisis Harley-davidson announced an end to production of Buell Motorcycles.
This wasn’t the end as Erik formed Erik Buell Racing in 2010, in part to back some of the racers using his 1125-based machines and in 2016 formed EBR Motorcycles to concentrate on roadbased machines, such as 2017’s limited-run Black Lightning.
Earlier this year, Buell announced that it was currently developing a range of motorcycles for manufacture. I, for one, can’t wait to see what road bikes he builds next…