What kind of bike is that? Where are those made?
Those are just two of the questions you hear when you ride a Buell American Motorcycle. Here's a little history lesson for those of you not familiar with Buell (rhymes with mule).
Founder Erik Buell went to work for Harley-Davidson as a design engineer in the late '70s. He was also an avid road racer at the professional level. He wasn't happy with current bikes available for racing the Formula I class, so in 1983 he decided to build his own bike.
He started out buying an engine from England and building his own frame. Soon, the engine company went out of business. Erik went to England and bought up the tooling and spare parts. He then proceeded to perfect the design of the motor, making it much more dependable and stronger. He was just about to go racing when the AMA canceled the class.
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Only one bike was sold, not much of a start for a motorcycle company. Erik then decided to build a street legal sport bike using an American engine so he turned to his contacts at Harley-Davidson and began building a sport bike using the Harley-Davidson Sportster engine. Between 1987-1988 Buell Motorcycle Co. sold 50 bikes. In 1988, Buell began using the Evolution Sportster motor and sold 65 bikes.
The next big boost in business came in 1994 when they unveiled the S2Thunderbolt, which Cycle World named "The best Hooligan bike of the year - the Buell S1! The S1 was a raw, lean street fighter of a motorcycle!"
In 1997, the top brass at Harley had taken notice and offered to buy into the Buell Motorcycle Co. Eric sold HD 49 percent and kept 51 percent. They built a brand new factory in East Troy, Wis. With a newfound source of R&D money, Erik was able to design and begin production on the all-new 99 models, the Cycle M3 and the X1 Lightning! In 1999, Harley-Davidson bought another 49 percent of the company - now owning 98 percent.
In 2000, Buell introduced the Buell Blast, a 500cc single cylinder bike with a low seat height and controllable power for new riders to learn the joys of motorcycling. Erik, never one to be satisfied, was already working on his next project. Introduced in 2002 as a 2003 model, the XB9R Firebolt is the ultimate American sport bike, touting new technology such as fuel in the frame, a perimeter mounted front brake rotor and the oil tank inside the swing arm. This was followed up with the XB9S Lightning, going back to a lean, mean street fighter design similar to the S1. The XB9S shares the same technology as the XB9R but in a more "all around" package. It's anyone's guess what Erik and company will come up with next, but the future of Buell looks brighter than ever: Buell sales topped the 10,000 mark in 2002.
For more information, go to http://www.buell.com
So what kind of bike is that? It's a Buell American Motorcycle!
