Filed under: Motorcycle
You can’t keep a good man down. That certainly applies to Erik Buell, who, by all accounts, was delivered a giant shiny bowl of lemons from his previous employer, Harley-Davidson, and is somehow elbow-deep in a gushing flow of sweet-tasting lemonade. To wit, have a look at the new Erik Buell Racing 1190RS, a roadgoing version of Erik’s 1190RR superbike racer.
As is typical with recent bikes bearing the Buell name, fuel is held in the frame, which is manufactured by the same company that welded up the units from the previous Buell motorcycle company, and the engine is a V-Twin design displacing 1190cc. That powerplant is a heavily massaged version of the Rotax-built unit used in the old 1125 models. Horsepower figures are not yet available, but the race bike makes about 185 horses at the rear wheel. Expect a slight drop from that figure.
Lots of premium components are hung from the 380-pound (wet) 1190RS. Expect to see Öhlins suspension front and rear, an Aim Sports digital dashboard, magnesium wheels and a full carbon fiber fairing. Surely, components for a hand-built bike like this cost a pretty penny, and though Erik isn’t talking pricing just yet, don’t expect the 1190RS to come cheap. Think Ducati 1198R (about $40,000 or so) territory. A slightly less expensive version using fiberglass and plastic in place of carbon fiber may also be in the offing.
Suffice it to say, we’re excited that Erik is once again living his dream of producing high-end American sportbikes. Have a look at the images in our high-res image gallery below, and stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
Gallery: Erik Buell Racing 1190RS
[Source: Road Racing World, Cycle World | Images: Steve Anderson/Erik Buell Racing]
Erik Buell Racing 1190RS: America strikes back originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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