Bolts from the Buell!
Erik Buell always liked doing things differently. There’s a bare-bones potted history somewhere on these pages to really show what I mean, but by the early 2000s he was building sports machines utilising the air-cooled, 45-degree push-rod V-twins the basis of which powered many a Harley-Davidson Sportster.
Of course there were differences, more capacity (984cc but sadly not the originally mooted turbocharger), fuel-injection, high-flow cylinder heads and valve-train that owes something to the-then current NASCAR technology and a ram-air system; all of this helped push power up to around 92 claimed bhp at 7200rpm, which was a bit shy of the 150 that the supposed turbo bike would have and the motor alone weighed in at 75 of the dry kilos from the 175 total.
The chassis was to be where the real innovation would lie. A former racer himself, Erik Buell claimed to want the XB9R Firebolt to – effectively – be a 250cc two-stroke racer powered by a grunty, V-twin Harley engine; Buell called it a ‘Sport Fighter’. The specifications on the 2002 Firebolt bore this out. Wheelbase was just 1320mm, at a time when most sportsbikes were in the 1390-1420mm bracket.
