Buell 1125R
In July 2007, Buell announced the 1125R, a sportbike which departed from Buell's history of using Harley-Davidson Sportster based middle weight powertrains and tapping into the XBRR racing bike learnings. The Rotax powertrains uses four valves per cylinder, dual over-head cam, liquid-cooled 72 degree V-Twin displacing 1,125 cc and producing 146hp. It produces 83ft-lbs of peak torque but varies less than 6ft-lbs of torque from 3,000 to 10,500 rpm. There is a vacuum assist slipper clutch to give predictable drive performance in hard cornering and deceleration and a 6-speed transmission.
The engine was developed by Rotax and built in Austria.[1] The design had significant Buell input, and was funded through Buell's cashflow, likely for 15–20% of the V-Rod engine development cost.[1]
The 1125R did not have a full fairing, as that would have put it in the same class as Japanese sportbikes.[1] Erik Buell agonized over this, saying "it's not about listening to the voice of the customer."[1] Cycle World said the 1125R was "a bit of an oddity."[1] The bike was initially released with a crude spark map, leading to criticism of the bike at low speeds.[1] The Rotax engine also ended up costing significantly more by production time due to fluctuation in exchange rates.[1]
2010
References
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