Buell is delaying production and delivery of the XBRR to race teams after the component failures at Daytona.
From Buell Motorcycles:
Citing ongoing investigation into the causes of the mechanical failures that forced the early retirement of four first production-run Buell XBRRs from their competition debut at the Daytona 200 in March and the development of upgraded components, Buell Motorcycles announced it will delay full production of its Firebolt XB12R-based race bike until late-April or early May.
“We believe we’ve identified the root causes of the failures at Daytona, but we need to do more development and testing before we’re ready to go forward with the production run,†said Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer. “We want to make sure these bikes are turn-key reliable for privateer race teams.â€
The delay means the delivery of XBRRs to privateer race teams will not happen in time for the upcoming AMA Formula Xtreme rounds at Barber Motorsports Park and California Speedway in April. Buell said they may use the American Sportbike Racing Association/Championship Cup Series races at Road America held April 21-23 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for additional testing.
“Daytona was a real test for the XBRR and the dealer-sponsored teams that entered the race,†Buell said. “We learned a lot and we’re refitting those bikes and developing solutions to the problems we encountered. We won’t begin final production of the XBRR until we’re confident we’ve got these issues sorted out.â€
via Buell
Schneegz says
1300+cc, bending the rules almost to the breaking point, still getting spanked by bikes with less than half the displacement, and now component failures. Two words. Give. Up. Or, at least get a new engine.
todd says
With all the resources Buell has through H-D I’m surprised that they haven’t developed a more competitive engine. I’d wager that the big guys are The Motor Company are keeping Buell from changing things too much. They’ve probably mandated him to work with what they’ve got so that it makes Harley look better, not just Buell (if they are ultimately successful).
I bet Eric Buell wishes he was racing Yamahas again.
-todd
doug says
I asked Erik Buell about the square four engine configuration he used in the RW750. (He made an appearance at a local H-D shop). I asked him if he ever thought of making an updated version of the engine either as a personal side project or possible model for Buell since the low c of g and compactness made so much sense.
With many people around wanting to say hello, he couldn’t go into a lot of detail, but much of the answer was due to it being a 2-stroke; and if I remember correctly, the heads made room for such a configuration, whereas a 4-stroke engine would pose challenges.
It’s anyone’s guess as to the extent he is personally entrenched in the 45-degree twin. He was about racing in the early days, but for the last 2 decades Buell has been about building great streetbikes. A torquey twin is a great street engine. Likable guy.
It might be in the cards for H-D to create a different engine configuration.
(although no signs of one outside a V configuration like the square four)
Trev Deeley’s museum in Vancouver B.C. has an H-D prototype cruiser powered by a V-4 cylinder motor. Cool museum that is worth a visit if anyone is in the area.
http://www.trevdeeley.com/custom/collection.html
aaron says
It hasen’t entered “production”, yet it will be allowed to compete in formula extreme against high volume bikes that appear near identical to a street ride costing under $10k. this is not a problem, because the sheer volume of bikes that will flood out of the buell factory (at reasonable prices) will justify this small stretch of the rules.
when the high technology employed by this cash strapped company falls behind the japanese bikes, (who have an unfair advantage, ya know) they will finally be given the go-ahead to roll out the nova powered buell v4. when this happens, to even the odds, the AMA will allow buell to use a 1200cc V-4 against the 600cc sportbikes. any other team will also be allowed to use a similar engine type, providing it appeared in an ugly orange prototype during the late 70’s/early 80’s. to further encourage fair competition between manufacturers, the ama will also allow turbo, nitrous, and supercharging on any bike that suffers an unfair disadvantage by being made in milwaukee.
doug says
Aaron, just to be clear…i’m not defending Buell or the AMA & the current racing situation between them. I think it is crap and actually works against them due to podium expectations.
But, I will defend the improvements made by a company that started in a garage with a sole purpose of building streetbikes, not racebikes. Different topic, altogether.
The error of judgement, in my opinion, was to pursue a racebike with the same platform and then to accept the AMA’s foolish decision.
The point of mentioning other engine configurations was implying that HD should branch out with new engines if they continue to pursue racing. OR, get the marketing machine to move towards an air-cooled series. Convince BMW, Ducati, Triumph, and even Guzzi to field bikes for this series. There is huge entertainment potential for this series.
The scrapped H-D Superbike project is still baffling. Oh well, it makes room for any other American-made Superbike team. The gaping hole of a missing American made racebike is still one of the most amazing things in motorcycling.
randy says
The AMA should develop the Formula Extreme series based on swept volume displacement (Cubic Displacement X RPM). It should develop two Swept Volume Displacement limits; one for air-cooled engines and one for oil-cooled engines. For example, using the following formula:
Water-Cooled Engine Limi t= (CC’s/100) X (RPM/1000)
randy says
The AMA should develop the Formula Extreme series based on Swept Volume (Cubic Displacement X RPM). It should develop two Swept Volume limits; one for air-cooled engines and one for oil-cooled engines. For example, using the following formula:
Water-Cooled Engine Limit= (CC’s/100) X (RPM/1000)
aaron says
not knocking buell or harley, the bikes are of high quality and seem to suit their fans well. with enough money and 3 or 4 practical bikes already in the garage, a buell could join my flock one day.
I just don’t like the concessions the ama made to the most profitable bike maker out there. and it’s embarrasing that the company can’t make it work better given their resources and these concessions.
not sure what randy’s formula was going to be, but making all things fair for all bikes is one thing that cannot be done in a series based on modern sport bikes. if shaft drive is a disadvantage, should bmw be given a weight break, extra displacement, or the ability to run bodywork that breaks the rules in every known roadrace series? or should they be told to suck it up and choose to either improve the shaft or dump it?
a class to a given formula would be interesting, no arguements there. you might even see me building bikes for it one day. the air cooled thing maybe… but why try to mash an ill fitting, one off afterthought from a company with big money backing into a decent, fair series?
BTW, I’ve said before (i think, anyway) that if I could buy an XBRR for less than 150% the price of a CBR600, plate it and drive it for thousands of miles on public roads, most of my objections would disappear.
and the lack of the american superbike? I doubt there’s enough money in the US right now to fund a company that isn’t already at the top of the heap. just the trend in motorcycle money in north america right now, not sure if it’s some strange psychology thing, or just the fear of losing investment dollars post indian/superX. lots of good stuff down there, but most cool projects have faltered between prototype and production due to lack of investment dollars. It’s looking more and more like the usa will only have 2 volume motorcycle manufacturers, (i’m discounting the clones like big dog as a blip) and the amount of money polaris invested to become #2 was not insignificant!
damn. another post went waaayyy longer then I intended it to. I think my food’s gone cold waiting for me to finish this….