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Buell 1125R Sportbike Begins Production

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Buell 1125R begins production

The brand new Buell 1125R began rolling off the assembly line this week. As Erik stated in our interview last August, when each dealer will get a bike depends on many factors, some may arrive right away, some may not see one till December. Whatever the case, a lot of Buell fans will be really eager to get their hands on one. Early indications of interest suggest this bike should do very well.

Buell press release:

PRODUCTION OF 1125R LAUNCHES NEW ERA OF BUELL SPORTBIKES
First Liquid-Cooled V-Twin Buell Rolls off the Assembly Line in East Troy, Wisconsin

EAST TROY, Wis. (November 1, 2007) – The Buell Motorcycle Company celebrated a major milestone this week as it started up a new age of sportbikes with the production of the first Buell 1125R motorcycle at its factory in East Troy, Wis.

Turning a new corner into the superbike category, the all-new Buell 1125R delivers a true balance of street and track performance. Designed with a passion for the elements that have defined Buell motorcycles for 25 years, the 1125R offers power, handling and agility that will take riders to a new level of sportbike riding. The 1125R joins the XB and Blast as a third Buell motorcycle platform. The first 1125R motorcycles are expected to arrive at U.S. Buell dealers in November. The serial number one Buell 1125R will become part of Buell’s history, saved for the Harley-Davidson Museum, which opens in 2008.

“Seeing the first 1125R come off the line marks the start of a significant new era for everyone at Buell,” said Erik Buell, chairman and chief technical officer at Buell Motorcycle Company. “The 1125R is designed and built from the rider down to take Buell to a new performance level. As we look forward, we will continue to embrace and enhance our fundamental vision of motorcycle design that offers the ultimate riding experience.”

The Buell 1125R experience begins with power, and adds an artful combination of engine performance, precise-and-agile handling, advanced aerodynamics, and superior rider environment and control. Packaged with distinctive styling that leaves many mechanical components exposed, the 1125R leads with an all-new front fairing and radiator cowling which provides superior aerodynamics, rider comfort and efficient air flow. The 1125R delivers race-inspired agility and handling, while holding to the three principles of the Buell Trilogy of Technology – chassis rigidity, low unsprung weight and mass centralization.

The Buell 1125R Helicon engine is a new 1125cc DOHC V-Twin, the first liquid-cooled engine to power a street-legal Buell motorcycle. The Helicon engine is rated at 146 crankshaft horsepower, and is designed to deliver optimized usable power. Its V-Twin design retains the styling and character that has always defined the Buell riding experience.

Buell will celebrate its 25th Anniversary in 2008 with special motorcycle badging, as well as a variety of events July 2-6, 2008 in Wisconsin.

Comments

  1. i’m a big buell fan. it’s just to bad that they didn’t put out another model with a smaller engine. not all of us need 1125cc’s of power. a little 650 to compete with the sv650 would have been the cat’s meow.

  2. I wish they’d make a version with a longer swingarm/wheelbase. I’d love a two up capable naked along the lines of a BMW K1200R.

  3. Exactly. Take half of the 146hp 1125 for a 70hp 560cc single (slightly unrealistic). If the 1125 weighs 375lb, cutting the amount of torque in half would mean you could probably drop at least 50 or 60 lbs. Call it a Blast if you wish though with twice the power as the current one it wouldn’t necessarily be an entry level platform.

    Now that is what would get my attention.

    -todd

  4. If they made a version of the Blast that was more like their “streetfighter” bikes, I would really be a lot more interested in it. But then, we’re really getting off-topic.

  9. With the startup costs of of a new engine to amortize there is no way it’s going to be cheap. I’ll bet it’s close to 15k.

  10. The 1125R is a great way to promote the brand’s increasingly good image.

    If I were to revise the Buell line, it’d look like this:

    SuperSport/Race:

    • 1200RT: Fully faired bored/stroked version of 1125R

    Sport/Street Heavyweight:

    • 1125R: Just as it is
    • 1125S: Take the current 1125R and turn it naked!
    • 1125ST: Turn the 1125R into a sport tourer

    Sport/Street Middleweight
    • XB12S: Keep the XB with Harley engine – it’s a fun bike!
    • 650R: Cut Helicon in half, punch it out to 650cc, add half fairings
    • 650S: Cut Helicon in half, punch it out to 650cc, make it naked!

    Dual Purpose

    • XB12X Ulysses: It’s a damn good bike
    • 650X: Helicon in half and give it some off road credential.

    Ditch the Blast! What horrendous motorcycle. Plagued by reliability and poor image, it does nothing but hurt the Buell brand.

    I guess much of my plan resides around a 650cc single middleweight – a Blast replacement. It doesn’t need to uber-powerful, 60 hp would be nice, just make it lightweight!

  11. I think Buell is overdue for some fresh ideas….
    Maybe this will be just the tonic to get the juices flowing once more!
    Hope so……….

  15. Fantastic! I’ve been waiting for this since 1975. Finally – an American bike that can go up against the best in the world without excuses.

    32 years is a long time to wait, but that just makes this moment that much sweeter.

  16. Dear Erik Buell,
    this is my open letter to you. Please sort out the manner in which your bikes are sold. I’m speaking for Australia.
    The Harley Dealerships do not treat your gear with the respect it deserves and the salesguys know nothing about your product.
    I want to buy your bikes, in fact I’m picking an XB12ss up the moment the 08 spec lands. However I’ll be doing it knowing I had to resort to reading your website and believing your word on faith.
    The dealers here push ex demo bikes, know nothing about pricing, recommend harleys, push me away from your bikes.
    I am willing to go and train them for free, please, start selling your bikes at places where people will go to buy them.
    No offense to Harley, they’re good at what they do. But Harley does not do Buell well. From the outside looking in, it seems Buell is the naughty kid sent to kneel in the corner for having too much fun. Your bikes do not deserve to be punished like that and shoved into a corner.
    Like Apple, you need to rethink your retail strategy if you actually want to sell some machines.
    Perhaps I’m ignorant and the rest of the world is fine and they are sold the way they should be everywhere but here. In which case, forgive my ranting.
    If not, then do something, I’ll support you.
    I like that there’s a motorcycle company out there with heart and passion.

  17. I think Harley dealerships have always been a sore spot with Buell owners, but (here in the US at least), I’m seeing some cause for optimism.

    The dealers who weren’t interested in Buell have been thinned out and there are some very good dealers who are beginning to come into their own.

    I’m a firm believer that Harley’s growth over the next 10 years is likely to come more from Buell than Harley, so the dealers who recognize that will thrive while the others will dwindle.

    And as former Duacti owner I can tell you the Ducati dealer situation is much worse than Buell. I have one good and two mediocre Buell/Harley dealers in my area, but I only have one mediocre Ducati dealer – and speaking for that dealer, Ducati is in the corner, he’s got the big moving Suzuki and Yamaha models up front.

    And when I’m on the road, I feel much more comfortable that I’ll be able to find a reasonably competent Harley dealer if I need one – forget it with Ducati.

    . . . but again, I can only comment on the US, not other countries.

  18. Does Buell have *any* of its own dedicated dealerships? I know the one in my state is a Harley/Buell dealership, which seems totally strange to me.

  19. This would be the first Buell I’d seriously consider buying. I’ve ridden their XB12 & XB9’s before- both seemed like a cool motorcycle, except for the engine.

    As for a 650 single, I think it sounds like a great idea, but would likely be a real yawner when it comes to showroom traffic. Unless Buell could produce it cheap enough to be considered an entry level bike; I don’t see enough Americans getting excited enough to plunk down a bunch of greenbacks for a 60hp sporty bike when 100hp sporty bike are the same price.

  20. Think again Matt. When that 650 single weighs almost 100 lbs less and is low enough so that the average person can touch some foot to the ground, and when it’s an “American” bike, and is not just another UJM… It would even get me to consider it (though at 6’3″ I don’t need to worry about the height thing).
    Plenty of people buy BMW’s F650’s even though they are a bit tall, real pricey, only come in SUV styling, and a little too teutonic, not to mention has “only” 42HP (rwhp).

    No one here is asking for another Blast. That bike has served its purpose. In fact as far as I can tell it’s still serving its purpose since I see new ones now and then. No, what we want is a single cylinder roadster; a cafe racer in the real sense. Not a bike that pretends to go head to head with an R6 or even pretends to give an SV a run for its money in outright power and speed. We want something where “the rider comes first” and its goal is not to impress motorcycle journalists or get caught in a horsepower war. A bike that doesn’t need to be taken to track days to explore its full potential.

    Think about the modern day BSA Gold Star and you’re on the right track.

    -todd

  23. I have a soft spot for single cylinder road bikes, having owned both a GB400 and an SRX-6. (You Americans might not have seen either of those, you will need to google them).

    I am currently procrastinating about a thing called an MuZ660 (again, Google is your friend)…

    Particularly for export markets, AND if the price was right, THEN MAYBE a 650 single would work. They are very popular in Europe. As someone said above though, the issue is price.

    The thing is, consumers would demand a bike with “only” 2/3rds the capacity, and half the number of cylinders to cost between half and 2/3rds what the “big” bike costs. Betcha it doesn’t cost between half and 2/3rds to produce though. Buell is a business, and it doesnt need a loss leader which is what this would be in danger of becoming.

    Unless they could re-use the 650 in their stalled dirtbike range, but again, the key is what resources the company has, what its targets are, and where best to spend those resources to achieve their ends. I suspect diverting their focus from the 1125R in the short term to go do something else is not in the best interests of the company.

  24. Just to take this even further off topic, and to illustrate the utter gorgeousness (if thats a word) of what can be done with a single cylinder bike, check out the CR & S “Vun”

    best of everything, light, lithe and little. What a weapon on a twisty backroad or tight track though, particularly with a light rider.

    [url=http://www.crs-motorcycles.com/indexENGfull.htm]The Vun, the only[/url]

  25. Tim, the Vun was covered on the kneeslider last June.

    We US’ns had each of the bikes you’ve mentioned except the GB was a 500 (I still have mine). It didn’t have the fairing option like the 400 did. The SRX is starting to command higher prices and MZ Skorpions can be found for sale now and then. Each of those bikes had dismal sales in the US and now they are sought after classics.

    Many manufacturers, let alone the ones with enough money to consider importing a single cylinder road bike, look at the failures of those three exact models (and the F650CS) to point out just why they won’t be doing that again. That doesn’t mean that a “boutique” brand like Buell won’t consider it. Honda might laugh at a 5000 unit production run but it just might be worth considering if you’re a small comany looking to build niche products.

    It’s too bad companies like Buell think a large capacity V-twin sport bike is a niche bike. Hello, what company doesn’t offer a large capacity V-twin sport bike (or the like)? It just screams “me too” when really they need to think about those tiny bits of the pie that go unserved. With a dollop of whip cream…

    -todd

  26. hmm, a single, perhaps something with a liquid cooled 650cc engine, 6 speed, under engine exhaust, 67Nm around 5k, 65 HP, 150 kgs dry. Now where have I seen that?
    Ah yeah that’s right, the KTM Duke 690, available worldwide
    now. Google it, it has its own site too.
    Been done guys, although it has a lot of Buellness to it.

  28. I bought the new 1125r december 4th. I was told I was only one of four people to have one in N. E. Florida. but I want to know how to find out what number bike I got of the line. Any Ideas?

  29. I’d like to see a roadworthy Buell Supermoto…something in competition with the KTM 690 SM…not a big pseudo sumo like the STT. I like what they’ve done with the 1125R. Remove the active intake solenoid, get the updated map, and they behave properly, too. I’ve stuck with my trusty old S1 through the years…but she needs to be retired from road duty eventually.