The advertisement:
“Erik Buell's first production bike. Only 1000 of this unique Buell RR 50 Battle Twin have been built. The bikes were all equipped with the Harley-Davidson XR-1000 engine block. You rarely see a unique bike like this Buell Battle Twin. A real collector's item. ”
We fully agree with Motor Saloon Amersfoort, the Harley specialist that has been around since 1968.
And why should such a machine cost just 2400 km on the clock not 99.950 euros? We already saw a very early MV with only a few kilometers less on the counter for a million ...
Eric Buell
The Buell motorcycle brand was founded by Erik Buell. It was his brainchild. The ambitious young Erik Buell, a pure engineer, quit his fine job at Harley-Davidson to make his own motorcycles for the AMA 750 Series. His first engine before that was the RW 750. That was a 750cc, two-stroke racer. A prototype of the RW750 first ran in the summer of 1983 during the AMA National at Pocono Speedway. Development of the RW750 continued in 1984 and a production model was launched in the fall.
Unfortunately the AMA decided in 1985 to scrap the 750 class. As a result, the RW750 lost its right to exist.
An enthusiastic engineer, Buell was not discouraged by this setback and returned to work full of enthusiasm. This time, his approach was to create the first US-designed and built world-class sports bike. Based on his knowledge of the racetrack and his experience as an engineer at Harley-Davidson, Erik Buell designed his first model for the sports motorcycle market, the RR1000.
These toppers were powered by Harley-Davidson XR1000 V twins and featured a stiff, lightweight chassis. The XR blocks were in fact tuned Sportster V twins, delivering a lot of torque and vibrations. The sheet metal in the wind tunnel. The rider was an actual part of the aerodynamics in the design.
The series production of these Buells got underway
And about two were made every month. Most of them came directly to collectors to be placed in the living room or safe. All in all, 50 RR1000s were made in 1987-88. The party was over when there were no XR1000 engines left. The brand then worked closely with Harley since 1993 and actually takes care of the sporty side of the concern. And that chapter has since been disposed of due to internal reorganisations. The Milwaukee men have not had a happy hand in choosing how to deal with their "other brands."
But the scarce copies from those short or not are usually all 'character bicycles'.
Plenty Ordinary Buells
In the meantime, there are of course quite a few 'normal' Buells on the market. They can be bought for prices that are miles and miles below the ton. And they are highly unique, they drive very dynamically and they have been and are appreciated. The problem is, they have too many Harley genetics and many of the Buell buyers didn't. A former Buell mechanic put it this way: "Things are bad and they are bought by people who can't ride them." Because no matter how aggressively dynamic such a Buell is: If you went with it or are going to drive as if it were a fast Jap? Then it breaks convincingly.
Add to this the fact that quite a few Buell riders went for not always well-adapted changes to the intake and exhaust route ...
The best choice is to find a fully documented standard copy. And if that is too boring?
Then buy that one-ton Buell at Motor Saloon. And put it in the living room.
So now you just tap a ton for that ...
But driving Buell can be considerably cheaper
I've been running (driving) for some years now. In the beginning even had 2 Harleys, they had the looks (Easyrider), but they were even more unreliable than the English mopeds at the time. Now I also have something with "image" so I was quickly done. Bank directors and other office worriers who dress in sleeveless denim jackets in the garage with the looks of the 1% ers and then jointly ruin river dikes with their plague noise at 60 km / h. But beautiful roads, flowing lines etc etc… Unfortunately, the English disease is difficult to get rid of, there were not yet any Japanese, so little choice. In the 70s it was a nice death struggle of the Americans (Harley) with their Sportster against the English, who had also died by then (I have ridden Sportsters a few times with my old Triple and that is quite impressive). But of course the English did not want to believe that back then, as you can now see with Brexit. But the Sportser was a nice block and I think a better design. Porsche eventually managed to make it reliable, but of course it remains obsolete - old and dead. That Erik still has a decent bicycle part screwed underneath is very commendable, it eventually became a real bike that you could actually drive. Unfortunately the people “Harley rider” are not interested in that. They think this is “fake news”.
Personally, I thought the early Buells were just fantastic
Andries I have the pleasure to disagree with you quite a bit. In the 80s-90s, Harley's were equipped with the Evo engine, which is considered one of the better engines. A friend of mine made it to Moto73 as a marathon bike because he had already driven 250000km with that bike. In the meantime it has become a bit more. So dredging is a slogan that needs some rectification. The fact that a Buell uses a Sportster engine and later even a Rotax engine does not detract from that. Dolf's comment that the men in Milwaukee have a bad hand with buying and selling other brands there, I can only fully agree. World champion with the Aermachi and then sell that brand so that it can continue as Cagiva. Buy MV for gold money and then get rid of it almost for free because a four-cylinder does not fit in the model range. The Buell that was meant to attract sporty riders who were not seen by Americans as Harley and so on. This did not cost the factory a handful of money, but money transport trucks full of money.
@Cees. An acquaintance of mine has driven 130D km with his Evo idd. Virtually hassle-free. But that machine was largely standard. And he drove it quietly. Ah Obelix said it already: "Strange guys those Americans"
You are absolutely right!
And I have been driving HD for years to great satisfaction, but also my Suz, also to great satisfaction!
Most HDs were running and failing because;
- people buy an HD but think they can or should go with a Japanese bicycle
- various exhausts and carb's are mounted (of course without adjusting the rest) so that they can come with a Japanese bicycle
- people do not actually use an HD for which it is designed, so use it incorrectly.
Yeah. Agree. A Buell is simply not a Kawa. But Buells looked like they could get rid of any Jap's snot ...
Never judge a book by its cover…
That former Buell mechanic was absolutely right. Harleys of the time were junk and so is a Buell. For someone described as a passionate tech, Erik should at least have had the sense to provide his “badge engineered” motorcycle with a decent engine block.
I think it was: Whose bread one eats, his word one speaks ...