#buell

Here in ‘Murica, where MO’s editorial staff is based, tomorrow is Memorial Day, where we pay our respects to those who gave their life in the armed forces protecting this country. So for this week’s Church feature we’re going all-American and paying our respects to Buell Motorcycles, the motorcycle company parent company Harley-Davidson killed once the recession was at its height. Specifically, we’re featuring the 2007 Buell model lineup press launch. Fortunately for us, company founder Erik Buell has resurrected himself with EBR, though many still hold the Harley-powered Buells in high regard. Penning the words for this story is none other than Gabe Ets-Hokin, a quirky human perfect for writing about quirky motorcycles. To see more pics, check out the photo gallery.

Three days ago we broke the story that Erik Buell Racing had been bought here. Over the weekend, our Asbury Park correspondent sat down with its new owner for this exclusive interview.
_____________________________________________________________________

With the news of Erik Buell Racing closing its doors, this week’s Church feature pays homage to one of Erik Buell’s most popular models: the Buell Ulysses. In this particular case, it’s the 2008 Buell Ulysses XB12XT. Separating the XT from the standard X version of the Uly is its sport-oriented tires and slightly tweaked suspension to suit riders who prefer twisty pavement to dirt roads. Penning this story is MO’s Pete Brissette, who might have left the MO crew a fews years back, but is always welcome along these parts. Read along as he goes for a ride aboard the new, sportier Ulysses. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did, and Erik Buell, if you’re reading this, we hope to see you back on your feet soon. Lastly, be sure to check out our photo gallery for more pictures of the Ulysses XB12XT.

This week’s Church feature centers around two people dear to MO: Pete Brissette and Erik Buell. Long time readers will remember Pete for his various escapades under the MO umbrella and his clever approach to jotting them down with (virtual) pen and paper. Buell, of course, needs no introduction, the American motorcycling pioneer staying steadfast in his quest to deliver an American sportbike. In 2007, however, he introduced what some, including myself, thought would be a fun take on his venerable XB line of Buell motorcycles. With the Buell Lightning Super TT XB12STT, Buell drew inspiration from supermoto and flat track bikes to create what was supposed to be a wicked urban assault vehicle and canyon carver. The bike didn’t quite catch on as well as Buell hoped and only survived for a couple years. Still, Pete was a big fan, and here he reflects on how cool a bike he thought the STT to be.

On Tuesday, October 28, the world lost Henry Duga. The victim of an apparent heart attack, the loss came as an unexpected shock to all who knew him. Duga was 66 years old.

Oh, Buell. The red-headed stepchild of The Motor Company, it seemed like Erik Buell tried his best to make a sporting motorcycle with the scraps he was given. Lemonade out of lemons, if you will. However, despite being hampered in the, of all places, motor department, Buell churned out some rather interesting motorcycles. Not least of which is the 2003 XB9S Lightning, the subject of this week’s Church of MO feature. Penned by recent MO re-hire, John Burns, it’s nice to see Mr. Burns’ bike eval skills haven’t changed much over the years. Read on to see his thoughts on an early example of what we would now call a streetfighter (In fact, Buell gets some of the credit for creating that term)

For this week’s CoM feature, we dig deep in the vaults for one of MO’s oldest stories. As Motorcycle Online (the former name of this very site, and where the MO reference comes from) was still relatively young, so too was the Buell Motor Company. When MO got to ride the Buell S2 Thunderbolt for the first time, we came back raving about its performance, but noted a few things we could improve on. Unfortunately, that original ride report has been lost to Father Time, but we do have editor Tom Fortune’s account of life with the T-Bolt and his attempt to add some pep to the S2’s step. In this, secondary review of the  1995 Buell S2 Thunderbolt, read on to see what Fortune thinks of the bike after 20,000 miles and a few upgrades.