Erik was an engineer at HD in the late 70's and early 80's.

Among his many contributions to HD was the FLT/FXR rubber mount system. This design is still in use today on the touring bikes. If you ever look closely at the frame & rubber mount design of these bikes, you'll see that they're remarkable designs. From the steering stem, down under the motor, all the way back and up to the shock mount is one continuous tube. There's a triangle (the strongest shape) right there on each side with the corners connecting the shock mount, the motor mount, and the frame backbone. The motor floats in the frame and the swingarm is attached to the tranny (which is attached to the motor). You'll find that FXR owners (I'm one of them) tend to be pretty passionate about their bikes. It's considered the best chassis HD ever made. They dropped it for the middleweight big twins in favor of the cheaper to produce Dyna chassis, but it's still used on thebig bikes because it's so strong.

Anyway, Erik started a performance parts business (Pittsburgh Performance Parts if I remember my history correctly, he hails from PA) out of his home and along about 82 or so he left HD to go off and start his own race bike company, which he called "Buell Motor Company". He did this out of his garage. He bought the tooling and rights to a motor from a company called "Barton" out of England, and built a prototype AMA F1 race bike around it. The Barton was a square 4 750cc two stroke. There were a lot of teething pains and he ended up reworking the motor design quite a bit, but he eventually built a pretty fast race bike.

Only two RW750's were ever built before AMA dropped the class and rendered them obsolete, dealing a huge blow to Erik's fledgling company:

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rw750number1.jpg
This is the first one, now in the hands of Buell Motorcycle Company. It was owned and campaigned by the Machinist's Union team.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rw750number2.jpg
This is the other one, which is owned by Erik himself. It was rebuilt from scratch from a pile of parts scattered around Erik's barn by a group of folks at Buell, who then gave it to him as a surprise.

After the AMA made these bikes obsolete, Erik went off and designed a new bike for Battle of the Twins. He struck a deal with Harley to buy their remaining inventory of the old XR1000 motors, and designed a new chassis around it. He took the highly developed XRTT bodywork and expanded on it as well, making it even more aerodynamic than it was. He called the bike the RR1000 Battletwin. The first prototype was painted Blue and white with red pinstriping:

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000proto1.jpg
This picture was given to me by the current owner of the bike, but it's my understanding that this is the original owner of the bike taking delivery. Also, I've been told that this bike has no VIN.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000proto2.jpg
This is the bike being prepped for delivery, at Erik's house. That's Erik in the green sweater.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/genechurch.jpg
The second RR1000 made was owned by H.O.G. and campaigned in BOT by Don Tilley, with Gene Church (shown) riding. This is the infamous "Lucifer's Hammer II", which followed the legendary Lucifer's Hammer XR1000 based racebike. Gene had a bad crash on the bike though and some other people ended up riding the bike as well, notably Scott Zampach. I love this picture because it shows the race bike without the bodywork. Lots of mods done on that motor by Mr. Tilley.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/firstbuellfactory.jpg
The first Buell factory. Note the gas tank sitting in front of the car.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000prod1.jpg
This is the first production RR1000, which I understand carries VIN 1. The original owner, Devin Battley (owner of Battley Cycles Gaithersburg MD) still owns the bike.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000prod14.jpg
I was told that this is VIN 14, being delivered out of Erik's garage. You can see that Buell Motor Company was still a low-buck operation at this time. That's Erik in the picture.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000prod50.jpg
This is RR1000 #50, the last one made, with some clown posing with it. Erik had to make 50 of them to homolgate the bike for BOT. Apparently, all had to be the same model year, too, and it took him more than a year to make 50, because even though this bike was finished in April of '88, it's titled as an 87 like VIN 1.

There's a lot of really cool stuff on these bikes ... for example, Dymag magnesium wheels, brake calipers that Erik cast himself, Marazocchi M1R forks with active anti-dive, and so on. There were a lot of running changes to the bikes over the course of the model years, too. Whenever I look at another I see lots of little detail differences with mine.

This bike sat on the showroom of a dealership in State College, PA, for a number of years before finding it's way to Colorado and my garage back in '00. It had 224 miles on the clock then.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000prod50lsr.jpg
Not knowing what the hell else to do with it, we took it salt flats racing ;) It's first time to the salt, it set 6 records in 3 days, a record for setting records. We only raced it one other time, where it set 3 more records. Best speed it achieved was 184mph. Remember, that's 1000cc. Shown with the bike is the guy I had riding it for me at the time. I still use that set of bodywork (not the original set) on my current race bike. The RR1000 has been returned to all stock and sits under a cover in my barn. It's in perfect condition.

With the supply of XR1000 motors drying up, and the introduction of the 1200cc Evolution Sportster motor, Erik next adapted his chassis and created the RR1200.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1200shop.jpg
Here's a rare glimpse inside of Erik's garage, er, I mean, the Buell Motor Company World Headquarters and Manufacturing Facility, where an RR1200 was being assembled on the state-of-the-art production line.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/donmccaw.jpg
Don McCaw bought RR1200 number 4 and took it land speed racing. This bike still holds a couple of records at Bonneville. Don't ask me how he steered it, I have no idea.

More to come ...

Just reserving a spot for later additions ...

And one more.

Interesting read so far. I cant wait to read more. I see there are 7 people reading this as I am typing.

:clap

Great stuff. I have a brother in law with an '88 FXR and just passed on that Buell tidbit. So his bike has a bit of Buell and my other BIL's '75 FXE has a bit of Sporty. Love it!

Okay I know this is going to be an odd observation from the million things I may have noticed, but it strikes me that the front "fender" on the RR's seems to be canted upwards in the front. Just seemed a bit strange to me for air flow. But then, what the hell do I know? :D:D:D

Keep it coming Aaron, love the pics.

what do ya mean by canted upwards????


there's more guard on there than you'll see on anything else...











btw Aaron you can use Eriks post and this one if ya need more... and I don't think GSB will mind if we move his

Great article...post more. Been a fan of Buell's ever since BOTT...always liked seeing 'mericans beat the Limmys and Spaghetti Eaters...

...still learning

Great reading, Aaron!

I'm looking forward to seeing more...

Thanks for the history lesson! I'd noticed that you had several Buells, but it's cool to find out that you are also versed in the history of Buells.

I like the grass roots, garage built, racing heritage that is Buell. Looking at his early garage, you can't help but think about the similarites between the way he started and that of the MoCo and others in the early 1900's.

Thanks again. It's good to have you around.

what do ya mean by canted upwards????


there's more guard on there than you'll see on anything else...

Maybe a bad choice of words, and obviously it is a ton of aerodynamics, I just noticed that it slants backwards. The front of the fender looks to be higher in the air than the rear.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/donmccaw.jpg





btw Aaron you can use Eriks post and this one if ya need more... and I don't think GSB will mind if we move his

Yep.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000prod50.jpg
This is RR1000 #50, the last one made, with some clown posing with it.

More of a goon, than a clown, dontcha think Aaron? ;)

Wow, that is so interesting. What a great read, can't wait for you to add more!

--Sean

Too cool!!! thanks Aaron

btw Aaron you can use Eriks post and this one if ya need more... and I don't think GSB will mind if we move his


Hell no I wont mind, if it is in the interest of history you can move any of my posts you need to.

Hey, I really enjoyed that post - thanks for sharing that Buell info...

I know a lot of people don't like them, but I love those 'mutant' bikes I see posted now and again...

Anyway, keep the Buell stuff comin I enjoy it.

Glad y'all find the story as interesting as I do ;)

There must be some kind of time limit on editing posts, because there's no "edit" option for me on those spots I left up there. Oh well.

Damn, I can't believe how much younger I look in that picture. That was only 6 years ago, I was 41 then.

So anyway, where were we ... oh yeah, the RR's.

Here are some more pics of RR1000 #50:

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rrrightside.jpg
The right side of the bike, without bodywork. XR1000 motor. This is the stock, all original motor. We used a different motor when we raced it.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rrleftside.jpg
Here's the left side. The Supertrapp was factory stock. Very nice aluminum oil tank, too.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rrshock.jpg
The rear shock is a special made Works Performance gas charged piece. Note the FXR/FLH style isolator holder.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/dymag.jpg
Dymag wheels run almost $2K apiece. They're 16.5", which was all the rage at the time. Hard to find tires for them now. These are the original tires.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/buellfrontbrake.jpg
Why in the world he went to the trouble of making his own brakes, when there are lots of good brakes readily available on the market, I don't know. But he did. Rotors are aluminum that have been sprayed with some special kind of plasma coating.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/grimeca.jpg
He went with a standard Grimeca caliper on the rear, ditto the rear master cylinder.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rrdash.jpg
A look at the dash and the active anti-dive system. It detects you're on the brake and stiffens the front. All Harley XR1000 controls and instruments. Special clip-ons.

Not bad for a home made bike, eh? They sold for roughly $13K.

So in summary, 2 RW750's were made, followed by 52 RR1000's (a proto, a race bike, and 50 production bikes). The RR1000's are all model year 1987's but it took him about two years to make them.

Then the RR1200 came out. I don't have a lot of photos of RR1200's handy, although I actually owned one for a few days. If you look at the pic in my first post above, that's one under construction in the factory. Note the large aluminum plates for the isolators. Also, that bike is kind of strange, because it still has the silver forks like the 1000's, and also has Dymags. Every RR1200 I've personally seen has black M1R forks and came with 4 spoke PM wheels. If you look at Don McCaw's bike you'll see that it has black forks and PM's, and it's the 4th RR1200 made. So I don't know what the deal is with that bike under construction. It may be the very first RR1200, a prototype of sorts.

A total of 60 RR1200's were made over three model years: 1988, 89, and 90. Meanwhile, in 1989, Erik was busy working on a more street oriented version of the RR1200, called the RS1200 ...

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rsright.jpg
This is a 1990 RS1200 "Westwind", on display at the "Art of the Motorcycle" exhibit at the Venetian in Las Vegas. It's much the same bike under the skin as an RR1200, but it has less bodywork as well as a flip-up rear seat/backrest.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rsleft.jpg
Here's the left side. One thing about all these old Buell Motor Company bikes: you can't get the primary cover off without raising the frame (or lowering the motor). Straight tubes are stiffer and Erik was really into chassis stiffness. The later frames like this one have some slight bends in them, but if you look at the RR frame in the previous post, you'll see it's really got a lot of straight pieces. As the years went on the frames got more and more bends, to accomodate serviceability and so forth. As with the RR1000. the Supertrapp was original equipment. It has various hammer marks in it, too. Factory original hammer marks, to make it clear the primary adjuster as well as the shock. I've actually met the guy who built my bike, Tom Anglim. He still works for Buell to this day.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/description.jpg
A good friend of mine, Court Canfield, is good buddies with one of the curators of the thing, Ultan somebody (I met him once but I can't remember his last name). He called up Court and asked if he knew anyone who could loan an RS1200 for the exhibit. Court, being Court, sez "sure! I'll even ride the bike to Las Vegas!". So we had the only bike in the whole freakin' exhibit that got RIDDEN to the thing, which was kind of cool.

202 RS1200's were made from 1989 through 1993, making it the highest volume Buell Motor Company bike.

In 1991, a single seat version of the RS1200 was introduced, called the RSS1200. The seat does not flip up, the rear hump is integrated into the bodywork. I don't own one, but Dan does, maybe he'll post some pictures. Dan has an RS1200 as well. 114 RSS1200's were made from 1991 through 1993. RS and RSS 1200's sold for almost $15K a copy when new.

In 1993, Buell Motor Company was headed for the wall. Erik and HD then shut it down and started a new company, "Buell Motorcycle Company". I don't know the exact percentages, but I heard it was 52% owned by Erik and 48% owned by HD. They then set off to develop a new bike, which was introduced in the 1995 model year: the S2 Thunderbolt. My all time favorite Buell model. More on it later.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/aarongrizpeter.jpg
Okay, I know this just looks like three grubby motorcycle riders hanging out in a bar, but there's a story behind it. The guy in the middle is my good friend Griz, he's a police officer in Amsterdam and he's also one of the department's main motorcycle cop instructors. On the right is my mate Peter from Australia, he lives in Amsterdam too and he ran the Dakar this year on his KTM. Anyway, see those t-shirts they're wearing? That's Buell Motor Company stuff, it's even got an RR on it. The slogan, "World Class American Motorcycles", was used in a lot of Buell Motor Company's materials and ads. As it turns out, though, there were some folks at HD who weren't real fond of the slogan. The implication, at least to them, was that if Buell was the "World Class American", that meant that Harley was not world class. So one of the first things that happened when Buell Motorcycle Company was formed is that every one of these t-shirts still sitting in inventory or on store shelves was pulled and destroyed. Well, not quite every one of them, as you can see in this picture which was taken in 2001 ;)

Damn Aaron this is good stuff. You ever meet Erik (I just like typing the name as he spells i my way :))himself? He know what you're doing with his bikes?

ANd of course, use this space if you want. :tour

Oh yeah, Erik and I have crossed paths a few times. I don't really know him very well, but I can tell, he's your typical type A. Very driven individual, smart, lots of determination. One of the unique things about Buell motorcycles though is that the founder of the company is very accessible. He goes to Buell events, hangs out with owners, talks motorcycles. He's a total gearhead.

Here's a little bit of a funny & embarassing story. Several years ago, we were the first to put a Buell over 200mph at Bonneville. So we're in impound, filling out paperwork, it's kind of a zoo, six people pulling at me at once, sign this, where's your logbook, take off that body panel, etc, and Richard (my rider) tries to hand me the phone. I told him no, later, whoever it is, he can wait, I'm busy. Well, as it turns out, I was turning down Erik's congratulatory call. Oops!

Aaron,

I understand Erik also has done great work on mountain bikes (bicycles) and a few other items, any info or pics on his non-motorcycle works?

Great stuff Aaron!

Very well written too.

Please add more, when time permits.

Thanks Aaron,I don't know how I missed this the first time around :doh
Did Buell have something to do with the belt drive system too?
Seems I remember something to that effect.
I'm a former FXR guy myself and much regret parting with the one that I spent ten years and over 100,000 miles with.
I'll have another one someday I suspect ,when the right deal comes along.
Thanks again for the great read...........Y2K :)

I need to correct something and issue an apology here.

Above, where I wrote "we were the first to put a Buell over 200mph at Bonneville", that's a little misleading. "We" was in reference to my rider Richard and I. NRHS was not involved in that project and in no way, shape, or form did I mean to imply otherwise. My sincere apologies to anyone who may have been offended by that.

Several years ago, we were the first to put a Buell over 200mph at Bonneville..
.
.XR1000 motor. This is the stock, all original motor. We used a different motor when we raced it.


I sure do have a lot of great memories concerning the RR1000 and the "first Buell over 200 mph" Bonneville LSR efforts for which Aaron was responsible, acting as the Team Elves crew chief and bike builder. Aaron did a truly amazing job building those bikes and as crew chief of what I feel safe saying was an unprecedented level of success and enthusiasm never before witnessed at Bonneville. Aaron made all of us (an international collection of BadWeB folks comprising what became Team Elves) feel like we were part of the team and he openly shared credit and celebration with all of us, especially those who had contributed key skills and expertise to the efforts. Without Aaron and his meticulous preparation, hard-nosed focus, sharpness of mind (the guy sports well above a genius level IQ, have no doubt) and undying enthusiasm for Buell motorcycles and especially performance engine work, there would have been no such success. Period.

Aaron, I think that your use of the term "we" might be misleading to those not familiar with those wonderful efforts. Not understanding the history, one might assume from your simple statements that NRHS under your purview was wholly responsible for those efforts, engines, headwork, etc.

Might you like to clarify that for the folks?

Might be nice to credit your sources for those great photos too, no?

Chapter 3 of the "banned T-Shirt" saga: I too was fortunate enough to be gifted one of those historic T-shirts. Rarely being satisfied with status quo, I cunningly presented it for signing during one of Erik's autograph sessions at Daytona last year. It piqued the interest of some of the other company folks there. Erik signed it. :)

I think Erik did his own brakes for the RR in the interest of improved technology, lower unsprung weight for instance which would improve handling. Erik has a LOT of experience in brake system engineering. I doubt anything equivalent to what he was able to produce for the RR was available commercially at that time, at least not short of MotoGP pricing.


Keep up the great work in spreading the word on Buell motorcycles. Really great stuff! :)

Cross posted. Still a lot more to the "we" though, ain't there Aaron? I don't think anyone is offended. No worries. Some of us might just want to clarify the issue and see credit given to all the fine and wonderful folks who so sorely deserve it. A link to the Team Elves site might be nice. It pretty much tells the whole story in fine fashion, no?

For instance "my rider." Come on dude!

Here you go Blake:

www.teamelves.com

Arron,

Thank you for the detailed history lesson.

Thanks, guys, glad to do it.

Jim, yeah, Erik designed a bicycle for Schwinn/Paramount, and it had a pretty clever rear suspension. I don't have any photos of it handy though. I'll see if I can dig one up.

For the record, this is a thread about Buell History, and I don't really want to get it sidetracked into Bonneville racing. The aforementioned Bonneville accomplishment was just to give some context to the story about the phone call. Hopefully I'm allowed to make mention of such things without going into the whole story and making sponsor plugs, etc. But I most definitely owe it to everyone to not mislead, that was my bad.

I'll continue this story with some info about the S2 soon. Truly a remarkable motorcycle.

Yes, S2s are truly remarkable. make sure you tell us how purple turned into blue. ;)

Y2K, I don't know if Erik was involved in the belt drive deal or not. I kind of doubt it, because he never put any belts on any Buell Motor Company bikes. XL's got belts starting in '91, Erik made bikes for 3 model years after that with no belts.

Great Reading!

Very informative, Aaron.

Very cool to see you here Rich!

Now post some pics of your RS!!! Yours is famous :)

For those of you who don't know Rich, he's had an RS for about forever and been everywhere on it. One of the originals.

Here's some more junk I have laying around that some might find interesting ... my apologies to those on dial-up.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000flyer.jpg
Here's a flyer for the RR1000

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000ownersmanual.jpg
This is the first page in my RR1000 owner's manual. They did all the manuals with Erik's dot matrix printer, and Erik used to sign every one of them. I guess when you're making 50 bikes in 2 years that's not such a big deal to do ;)

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rr1000buildschedule.jpg
EFB Design has sent me the actual build sheets for both of my Buell Motor Company bikes. They're about 20 pages long each and they detail out every step of the way, have every part listed and a check mark to make sure it got put on, as well as any special notes that went with it.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rs1200flyer.jpg
Here's a little promotional thing they put together for the RS1200 & RSS1200

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rs1200servicemanual.jpg
For the RR1200 & RS1200, they actually did a service manual on Erik's dot matrix printer. But they never got around to putting the pictures in it! You kind of have to use your imagination I guess :)

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/pegasus.jpg
The equivalent of HD's "Enthusiast" was Buell Motor Company's "Pegasus". I think they did 4 issues. I only have one of them.

And a few more ...

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rw75.jpg
This is a small shot of an RW750 without it's bodywork. Supposedly the bike had 165hp or so.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/bare.gif
Here's an RR1200 without it's bodywork. The RS1200 is essentially the same. Higher bars and a few other differences.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/poser.jpg
A promotional poster they did for the RR1200

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rs1200r.gif
A picture I swiped off the old Buell web site many years ago.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rs1200w.JPG
Side view of a white RS1200, from the old Buell web site

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/rss1200g.JPG
And a similar shot of an RSS1200.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/myrs1200small.jpg
Taken at Buell Homecoming 2000 ... my buddy Court borrowed my RS for awhile and apparently found the only twisty road in Wisconsin ;)

So anyway, after Buell Motor Company was shut down and Buell Motorcycle Company was formed, with HD as a major partner, it was decided that they needed a new bike.

As it has been explained to me, the Buell Motor Company bikes were very expensive to build. Too much one-off and premium componetry on them, for example the aluminum oil tanks, the Marzocchi and WP forks, the PM brakes, etc.

But there was also a big push to get the new product out as soon as possible. So the word that came down was cost-be-damned, just get the bike to market.

This new bike would be called the S2 Thunderbolt, and was to be introduced as a 1994 model. But it was late so they made it a 1995 model instead.

Just as a side note, the S1 was to come out a year later. So why was the S1 after the S2? Well, the S1 was a pretty major redesign to take cost out of the bike and it took longer. The S2 had it's roots in the RS1200 so it didn't take as long.

Here's a shot of an S2 with it's clothes off:

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/s2strip.JPG
You can see many things that show it's lineage with the RS1200. For example, the removable aluminum side plates that hold the isolator busings in place, the clip-on bars, the aluminum oil tank, the WP "Roma" forks that have rebound and compression damping adjustments for each leg, billet triple trees, and so forth. All of these things were costly and would be eliminated in future models.

But the S2 also had many small refinements over the RS, for example much better bodywork, Buell gauges, Buell muffler, Carbon fiber air cleaner cover & rear fender, frame updates for easier serviceability, and so forth. Marchesini wheels were standard and the PM wheels were kept as an extra-cost option.

One little thing, if you notice in that picture, the whole headlight/instrument cluster arrangement is held in place by a single unit that plugs into the main frame rails. This arrangement dates back to the earliest RR1000's. Well, they had a problem with these early on, people would land hard from wheelies and the whole assembly, fairing nose and all, would snap off. They did a recall and added a little bracket that sits just under the gauges and ties it all to the steering neck.

The S2 is far and away my favorite Buell model to this day. It's a lot like an RS, but there are some nice refinements that make it better. They are very very stable bikes to ride, because even though they have similar geometry to the later tube frame Buells, the seating position is slightly different and it really affects the handling of the bikes. When you get off an S2 and climb on an S1 or M2 or the like, it feels twitchy by comparison. The S2 just handles like a dream.

The only downside to the S2 is that it's the only Buell Motorcycle Company bike that came from the factory with a plain jane Sportster motor. All the S1's and later bikes came with Buell specific motors with higher compression, lighter flywheels, different heads, etc. But in actuality, the heavier flywheels of the S2's motor complements it's sport-touring role nicely. The bike is really really smooth. And with a little massaging, 100hp is not hard to achieve at all.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/images/danss2.JPG
Dan's S2, with custom paint. This is actually a '96 S2T with the bags and lowers removed. You can tell because all S2T's have gray frames, all S2's have white frames.


http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/s2t.jpg
This is how a stock S2T looks. S2T's came out in 1996 and 398 of them were made. You could get them in "Parkway Blue" or gray. But the blue isn't blue, it's purple. As I heard the story, they had the sales literature all printed up and the color came back and it was purple, but it was too late to change anything, so they just called it blue. S2T's are similar to S2's except they came from the factory with hard bags, fairing lowers, and fairing pouches.

Altogether, about 2000 S2's and 398 S2T's were made in the two year run. I have it on good authority that it was so pricey to build that Buell literally lost money on every one of them. The bike was replaced in the ineup with the S3 Thunderbolt for the 1997 model year. The S3 is a nice bike but it's main purpose in life was to get the cost down, and it's got a number of changes that do exactly that.

Lots of good info, Aaron, and thanks for the welcome.

I'll post some pics, when I have enough posts.

I bought my '91 Westwind brand new, and rode it yesterday. I have taken the primary cover off it a few times, no need to lower the engine, maybe it's necessary on the four-speeds.

I hauled Dan's S2T to Texas for him, it was "blue" then. I had a grey one myself, it was a fine bike, and the fellow I sold it to has kept it stock. I sold it in order to buy my Hayabusa.

I now have an XB12 Lightning, I think it's a keeper too, a lot of fun to own and ride.

Thanks Aaron! I love reading about the Buell history. Can you post pictures of all of the different tube-framed Buell models and go more in depth about the differences if you can? Some of us are of the XB era and would love to know all about the tube models, much like how you explained the S2 differences. Thanks!

--Sean

Thanks for checking in Rich and congrats on the XB12!

That's interesting that your primary cover will come off ... hmm ... I wonder if the frame is a little different there or if the motor is enough different. I'll have to take a look at Dan's 5-speed RSS. It ain't even particularly close on my 4-speed RS. The frame is right there, it blocks access 2 screws, and even if you could get those screws out, the cover has to come off straight for quite a ways to clear the shifter shaft.

Sean, yes, I'd be happy to go into the differences on the tubers. Stay tuned ...

I think if AAron and I got all our bikes together in one day we probably could just about cover every Buell tube frame model ever made. The only ones we are missing are the RR120 and S3 I believe.

RR1000- check (Aaron)
RR1200- missing(but Aaron did own one at one time)
RS1200- check (we each have one)
RSS1200-check (Dan)
S2 Thunderbolt- check(we each own one of these both in Parkway blue)
S1 Lightning- check (Aaron, I just sold mine)
M2 Cyclone- check (Aaron)
S3 Thunderbolt- missing(but I owned one as my first Buell)
X1 Lightning-check (Dan)

In case the rest of you haven't figured it out we have our own little Buell museum here in Colorado!! You might say Aaron and I are a bit obsessive!! ;)

Photo credits:

Photo #1, RW750 in the Buell lobby, courtesy of "Anonymous R"
Photo #2, RW750, courtesy of Mike Yasovsky
Photo #3 & 4, RR1000 Prototype being delivered, courtesy John Mikosh, current owner of the bike. He gave me photos and I scanned them.
Photo #5, Gene Church, I scanned from an old magazine
Photo #6, outside the original Buell factory, courtesy John Mikosh
Photo #7, RR1000 VIN 1, I scanned from an old magazine
Photo #8, Erik and the bike in the truck, courtesy John Mikosh
Photo #9, RR1000 #50 and me in front of my garage door, my wife Susan probably took that
Photo #10, RR1000 #50 at the salt flats with Richard Nallin, I took that
Photo #11, RR1200 under construction, courtesy John Mikosh
Photo #12, Don McCaw on his RR1200 at the salt flats, I got that from the old Buell web site
All the pictures of RR1000 #50 components etc, I took myself
The pictures of the RS1200 in the Guggenheim Las Vegas I took myself
The three grubby motorcycle riders pics, I think Steve Pratschler took that one if memory serves.
The Buell literature, build sheet, owner's & service manual pages, Pegasus issue, etc, I scanned from my own personal collection.
The RR1200 poster, RS1200 side shots, RR1200 & RW750 & S2 sans bodywork shots all came from the old Buell web site.
The RS1200 shot under the twisty road sign was taken by Court Canfield.
Dan took the picture of his S2 in front of the NRHS shop
I took the picture of my purple S2 on Loveland pass.

Aaron,
I think I have Pegasus issue #4

Dan, and yet neither of us has yet to own an XB ;) Someday ...

Maybe an XBRR!!! ;)

...and yet neither of us has yet to own an XB ;) Someday ...

Going to be my next bike... Just not sure which one, but I would love me some Uly or XB9R. Either of you want my Sporty? ;)

--Sean

Great info/read!, thanks for posting it.

Well Aaron, I am officialy a Bueller, just picked up an '06 CityX and it is amazing.

When you guys get back from breaking records and are all caught up, I'd love for you to continue on with the Tuber history, especially the M models.

--Sean

Great Story. I saw the RR1000 in Daytona in 1987, told the guy riding it that if Buell ever came out with a dirt bike with a sportster motor in it, I d buy it. So he did, and now I have an '06 Ulysses. What's the history behind these engines?? They run way too smooth to be a 1200 XL motor. I had an '87 rubber mount FXR that shook like a paint shaker at idle. My new Buell sits there at idle like a BMW. How's that work??

A little late, but here are some pics of the Buell bicycle.

As I understand it, Erik designed the bike, Waterford produced it, and Schwinn marketed it under their "Paramount" brand. This was done in the early 90's. About 300 of them were made. They were considered state-of-the-art at the time, but people who are more knowledgeable than me tell me they're not anymore, apparently they're heavy by today's standards.

This one belongs to me. I don't know squat about bicycles. Hell, when I got the thing, it came in a big box, and Dan had to show me how to put it together!

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/bicycleleft.jpg

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/bicycleright.jpg

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/bicycleshock.jpg
This shock looks almost exactly like the original WP shocks found on Buell motorcycles. It's a miniature version.

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/bicyclewaterford.jpg

http://www.nrhsperformance.com/pictures/bicyclerearbrake.jpg

WOW!!! that is really really neat, I never knew... what was something like this worth new?, would you consider selling it?.

Not looking to sell mine, but they do turn up on E-bay from time to time. Here's one that he was asking way too much for:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Schwinn-Paramount-Buell-Mountain-Bike-Rare-1991_W0QQitemZ290072199300QQihZ019QQcategoryZ98083 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Awesome post and follow up reads!
Love that frame too on th RR and S-2.
Damn, may have to hunt down one of those.
Swankster

I believe that the first tubers' frames were contructed by Waterford.

My memory is spotty, though.

By request, here's some more tuber history ... I'll do it year by year ...

1995
S2 Thunderbolt:
- First year for belt drive on Buells
- Removable side plates
- The world's stoopidest kick stand
- WP Roma forks
- WP shock, which would later get recalled and replaced with a Showa
- Early 95's had billet triple trees
- Clip-on 1" bars
- Regular Harley type controls w/self cancelling turn signals
- Aluminum oil tank
- Regular Sportster 9:1 motor, w/ standard Sportster hemi chamber heads, D cams, heavy flywheels, etc
- Carbon fiber ham can style air cleaner cover over an SE type K&N element
- The tank cover is separate from the tank itself
- Frame mounted fairing
- White frame
- White Marchesini wheels, PM wheels optional
- Brembo rear caliper
- PM 6-piston front caliper, single disc
- 29/61 final drive gearing
- Domestic only, never exported

1996
S2 Thunderbolt carried over with no changes

S2T Thunderbolt touring model added to the lineup:
- Hard bags with narrow lids, wide lids available
- Fairing lowers
- Fairing pouches
- Higher bars
- Gray frame
- Gray Marchesini wheels
- 398 S2T's made
- Choice of 2 colors: gray or purple

S1 Lightning (new model for '96):
- New frame, silver color, no removable side plates
- No fairing, just a little fork mounted flyscreen
- New Buell Castalloy wheels, a copy of the Marcheseni's, gray color
- WP USD forks, not Roma's
- WP rear shock that would later be recalled and replaced with a Showa
- 7/8" diameter conventional handlebars
- Italian controls, manual cancelling turn signals
- Small narrow gas tank
- Short tail, "Twintail" available
- 91hp "Lightning" motor - SE bolt-in cams, light flywheels, Lightning heads, 10:1
- HVPS air cleaner (aka "breadbox")
- Brembo rear brake
- PM 6-piston front caliper, single disc
- A properly working kickstand
- 27/61 final gearing

1997
S2 & S2T Thunderbolt dropped from the lineup, replaced with S3 & S3T

S1 Lightning carried over with no changes, other than some new colors

S3 Thunderbolt (new model):
- Frame mounted fairing, slightly different from S2's
- Frame similar to S1's, i.e. no removable plates
- Large manta-ray style gas tank
- Castalloy wheels (all tubers from '97 on would have Castalloys)
- 91hp Lightning motor
- Higher bars than the S1, still 7/8 diameter (all tubers from 97 on would have 7/8 bars)
- WP USD forks similar to S1's
- WP shock like the S1's
- HVPS Breadbox air cleaner like the S1's
- Brembo & PM brakes like the S1's
- 27/61 final gearing (all tubers from 97 on would use 27/61)
- Full size seat
- S3T model added hard bags & fairing lowers and higher bars

M2 Cyclone (new model):
- lower cost, entry level model
- Much larger seat than the S1
- small tank like the S1
- Frame otherwise like the S1's, no removable side plates
- Speedo only, no tach
- Flyscreen
- conventional forks from Showa
- same brakes as S1
- black frame
- 83hp motor - same as S1's except used "D" cams
- breadbox HVPS air cleaner

1998
- All models carried over
- all models got Nissin brakes front and rear
- S3 & S3T got "Thunderstorm" heads & pistons, rated at 101hp
- S1W (new model), all white, Thunderstorm heads & 101hp, large manta-ray gas tank like the S3's
- Later in year S1W was offered in other colors
- S1 still had Lightning motor & narrow tank

1999
S1 and S1W dropped from the lineup
M2 Cyclone carried over with Thunderstorm heads, still using D cams, rated at 91hp. Also got large manta-ray tank
S3 and S3T got Fuel injection, forks and shock switched to Showa
M2 got Showa rear shock as well

X1 Lightning (new model):
- Fuel injection, 101hp Thunderstorm motor like the S3/S3T
- Larger seat than the S1, with aluminum surround
- Large funny looking air scoops on each side
- Separate tank cover and tank, with little air scoops on cover
- Removable section on right side of frame to ease belt changes
- Showa USD forks

2000-2002 added a bunch of detail changes to the bikes, but the lineup remained the same. An M2 "low" was offered I think in 2002. A better shifter came out in 2001. Hp ratings stayed the same.

I'm sure I left out a bunch of stuff, feel free to chime in.

:clap Well done !!!

Found my way here from American Thunderbike Club.
Thanks for all the great info and pics!

S2 #341

There is more info on the very early days at davegess.com look for the Buell history link.

Very nice write up Aaron.

Thank you.....Great Read

There is more info on the very early days at davegess.com look for the Buell history link.

Very nice write up Aaron.

Thanks for checking in Dave!

For everyone else here, Dave was one of the original people at Buell Motor Company back in the 80's. So the history I'm talking about is history he made. In fact, if you look at the materials I posted, like the poster, the issue of "Pegasus", the service manual with no pictures, and so forth, Dave created those. He's forgotten more of the Buell history than I'll ever know, quite literally.

He has some really fascinating stories to tell on those rare occassions we can get him to share'em ;)

we can get him to share'em

That's 'casue I have forgotten them in my old age.

Cool stuff, a buddy of mine used to work for Buell tells some great stories.

Hey Aaron your PM box is ful.

Aaron,
I love all the info on the buell evolution. I kinda hate telling you this, but we are guilty of chopping a few buells up for chopper parts. This leads me to my next statement: I just picked up a clean 1995 thunderbolt numbered in the 12 hundreds out of 1399 for low $, (a steal), with s few engine modifications. We are planning on using the rims, engine, front end etc... Man your history story is making me feel bad...

...three grubby motorcycle riders hanging out in a bar...


I've still got a pic somewhere of the one on the left pissing next to a church in Belgium :rolleyes:

(Lotta rules here... I can't use the full quote until I make 15 posts, because it has a link to a pic...?)

"The second RR1000 made was owned by H.O.G. and campaigned in BOT by Don Tilley, with Gene Church (shown) riding. This is the infamous "Lucifer's Hammer II", which followed the legendary Lucifer's Hammer XR1000 based racebike. Gene had a bad crash on the bike though and some other people ended up riding the bike as well, notably Scott Zampach. I love this picture because it shows the race bike without the bodywork. Lots of mods done on that motor by Mr. Tilley."

Is this Don Tilly that ownes two Dealerships here in North Carolina and runs AHDRA ??

If so I have had some heart to hearts with Don !! Over service !

I Must say that he stepped up to the plate and Handled them though !!!

this is a very cool thread. thank you for posting this.

Great information and pictures. :clap
Aaron's story telling is always entertaining as well. ;)

Hello,

My name is Bogdan and I am a colaborator for Motociclismo Magazine Romania. I have written an article covering the history of the Buell brand and I am in great need of high resolution photos(300dpi at least) with Buell historical motorcycles. Do you think anyone can help me out?

you bet. Check out my site davegess.com and send me an email

dave at davegess.com

I have lots, just finished writing a book on 25 years of Buell.

I have just finished a book with Court Canfield on the 25 year history of Buell. Tons of pictures and lots of good stories. I can't post a link but it is on the Whitehorse Press web site. the description is a bit off, we ended up with 128 pages and they have yet to update the website.

whitehorsepress dot com/product_info.php?pr oducts_id=5822

That Blast chopper by Redneck is totally hot!
EZ

I just finished that book as well - the quality is excellent and the stories are very good!
They did a very good job!
EZ

man i would love to find one of those rr1000's look like fun rides