Buell 1125R Motorcycle Review
Story by George Tranos Photo by Kevin Wing
box with ram-air uses a paper cartridge air filter. The air inlet is in the high-pressure area under the lower triple clamp. The muffler is under the engine and no catalyst is used except in California. The chassis uses massive aluminum spars that double as the fuel reservoir and contains just over five gallons of fuel. The frame is designed to flow air through the chassis and is domestically produced. Front forks are inverted, 47mm diameter Showa units with adjustable preload, rebound and compression damping. The front brake is Buells ZTL2 (zero tortional load) front brake system, with the rotors mounted on the wheel rims and an 8-piston caliper with four individual brake pads. Braided steel lines are used front and rear. The front brake and clutch levers are adjustable. Rear suspension is a direct action Showa shock with adjustable preload, compression and rebound damping. Finishing Touch The tires used are Pirelli Diablo Corsa III, the same as used on World Supersport bikes, and feature dual compound technology with a harder compound used in the middle of the tire and a softer one on the edges. The tires worked well on both the track and the street and delivered utmost confidence in their traction characteristics. The initial impression on seeing the 1125R is that it looks big with its large front fairing. Move around to the side and its largesse disappears. Its 54.6-inch wheelbase, 30.5-inch seat height and 375pound dry weight make it feel small when you sit on it. The low clip-on handlebars are set at a good angle and your feet are almost directly beneath you and slightly more inboard than usual. Power response is strong, especially under heavy throttle. Light throttle, under 3000 RPM launches resulted in some stumbling in our validation build motorcycles. The benefits of this engine are readily apparent with a very linear power delivery. Torque is available at all RPM ranges. This is not a peaky powerband it is very similar to the Firebolt 1203cc air-cooled engine there is just more power everywhere and it continues to rev long after the Firebolt needs to be shifted. The chassis is very stable with lots of lean angle available. Turn-in is good but requires some effort. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the chassis feels planted and confidence inspiring at all times and is never twitchy. Suspension compliance was good once the suspension is dialed in to your specific weight and riding characteristics. Minor changes to preload and damping yield large results. The riding position is sportbike comfortable. This is not a touring bike or even a sport tourer but it is comfortable for what it is. That said, idling in traffic or low speed city driving is not its forte. Wrists, arms and backs may ache under these conditions as on any sportbike. At speed, a quiet bubble of air surrounds the rider and freeway droning at higher speeds is tolerable. Curves and mountain twists are where the 1125R thrives and these are the roads you should point it towards. One other issue is that the low fuel warning light only yields about 20 miles once the light comes on. According to Buell all these issues were known and should be fixed by the time the motorcycle goes into production. The 1125R accelerates fiercely up the Rahal straight. Brake markers appear suddenly as the road falls away to the left and then again right. The famous corkscrew behind, you accelerate rapidly down the hill towards the left-hand Rainey curve. You laugh in your helmet as the 1125R holds the line. Can this really be a Buell? Yes, its the 1125R! The Buell 1125R should be available in late 2007 in midnight black with diamond blue wheels, frame and swingarm. MSRP is $11,995. George Tranos is a motorcycle journalist and runs a school in New York with his wife and fellow journalist Diane Ortiz. You can contact him at George@BigAppleMotorcycleSchool.com

From any angle the new Buell 1125R has a sleek look
The motorcycle shrugs off the quick change of speed and direction with unflappable stability. It turns in easily and holds the line through the double apex, decreasing radius corner on the track at Laguna Seca. The tach crests at 10,000 RPM before a quick upshift to fourth gear. Is this the latest repli-racer from Japan or Europe? Nope, its the 1125R, a brand new sportbike from Buell. The company, in their 25th year, has created an innovative new machine that is fast, easy to ride, and equally at home on the track or street. Looking Back A few years ago Buell was struggling with languishing sales from a dedicated, hard-core clientele. Their tubular frame machines were good handlers but were known for their idiosyncrasies and sometimes troubling quality control. The company recognized the problem and introduced a new series of motorcycles called the XB which included the Firebolt, followed by the Lightning and later the Ulysses. These bikes were much better and contained unique engineering features including what Buell called the Trilogy of Technology mass centralization, chassis rigidity and low unsprung weight. With all the chassis changes, Buell had a great handling motorcycle on its hands. Innovations abounded such as a lightweight frame that also acted as the fuel reservoir, a dry sump engine with the swingarm acting as the oil tank, an under engine muffler and a perimeter front brake system. While the chassis moved forward, the engine was deeply rooted in the past. An air-cooled V-twin descended from the Harley Davidson Sportster, it seemed somehow out of step with the modern chassis. A cry went up from the masses to modernize the motor. Some asked if maybe the Harley V-Rod motor would fit. The Helicon Buell has gone one better. Enter the new Buell 1125R with its liquid cooled, V-Twin called the Helicon. In Greek mythology, Helicon is the mountain where Pegasus, the horse with wings, kicked the mountain to keep it from growing larger. The engine was jointly developed by Buell and Austrian engine-maker BRP Rotax. Power output is a claimed 146 hp at 10,500 RPM and 82 pound-feet of torque. A liquid-cooled, 1125cc, 72-degree V-Twin, it uses a dry sump oiling system (no longer in the swingarm), three balancers to quell vibration and fuel injection with dual 61mm throttle bodies. Shifting Gears Aiding the shifting is a new clutch design that uses engine vacuum for both reduced lever action and as an integral backtorque limiting, slipper clutch. Buell claims that closed throttle creates high manifold vacuum resulting in low pressure on the outside of the clutch diaphragm. The 1125R uses a 6-speed transmission with straight cut gears and a sliding dog design for claimed lighter shifting action. After two days of riding, it is apparent that this is without a doubt the easiest shifting Buell to date. New Look The 1125R has a new front fairing that was developed using computer flow dynamics software. Buell claims this allows modeling of air flow management as if it were done in a wind tunnel. The resulting shape provides cooling air into and through the engine and chassis. It deflects air over the rider and Buell claims it creates a quiet zone to reduce the turbulence experienced by the rider. Radiators are mounted to the engine on the right and left side for ease of service, with a coolant overflow bottle inside the right cowling. A 12-liter air

BUELL 1125R

BY: GEORGE TRANOS

BUELL 1125R MOTORCYCLE REVIEW
The tach crests at 10,000 RPM before a
quick upshift to fourth gear as the motorcycle screams down the front straight at Laguna Seca Raceway. Speed touches 100 miles-per-hour before a slight kink left and then two fast downshifts and on the brakes for the Andretti hairpin turn two. The bike shrugs off the quick change of speed and direction with unflappable stability, turns in easily and holds the line through the double apex, decreasing radius corner. Welcome the new Buell 1125R a brand new sportbike from the passionate engineers of East Troy, Wisconsin. Theyve created an innovative new machine that is fast, easy to ride and equally at home on the track or street. The Buell 1125R has a V-Twin engine called the Helicon jointly developed by Buell and Austrian engine-maker BRP Rotax. Power output is a claimed 146 horsepower at 10,500 RPM and 82 pound-feet of torque. It is a liquid-cooled, 1125cc, 72-degree V-Twin and uses a dry sump oiling system (no longer in the swingarm), three balancers to quell vibration and fuel injection with dual 61mm throttle bodies. An oversquare design, the 103mm bore works through a 67.5 mm stroke with a 12.3 to 1 compression ratio. Valve actuation is by chain driven intake cams and gear driven exhaust cams with a 14-degree valve angle. Each cylinder has two 41.3mm intake valves and two 35mm exhaust valves with a central 10mm spark plug to allow the larger valve area. Buell claims that the straight intake ports and ram-air design add an additional five horsepower at speed. The 1125R uses a 6-speed transmission with straight cut gears and a sliding dog design for claimed lighter shifting action. The shifter has an adjustable lever and after two days of use, it is without a doubt the easiest shifting Buell to date. Aiding the shifting is a new clutch design that uses engine vacuum for both reduced lever action and has an integral back-torque limiting, slipper clutch. Buell claims that closed throttle creates high manifold vacuum resulting in low pressure on the outside of the clutch diaphragm that reduces the clutch clamping load. The result is the lighter clutch effort and slipper clutch effect. In their effort to further reduce unsprung weight, Buell has moved the load dampeners that are normally located in the rear wheel to the front sprocket assembly. The cushioning mechanism is now wholly contained in the sprocket, eliminating this additional weight from the unsprung rear wheel. Buell has also mounted its rear brake directly to the swingarm

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and eliminated its caliper carrier to reduce an additional one and one-half pounds of weight. This fanatical attention to reducing unsprung weight results in less weight not cushioned by the suspension, and thus less susceptible to road shock and unwanted cornering characteristics The radiators on the 1125R are mounted to the engine on the right and left side for ease of service, with a coolant overflow bottle inside the right cowling. A 12-liter air box with ram-air uses a paper cartridge air filter. The chassis uses massive aluminum spars that double as the fuel reservoir and contain just over five gallons of fuel. Front forks are inverted, 47mm diameter Showa units with adjustable preload, rebound and compression damping. Front brake is Buells ZTL2 (zero tortional load) front brake system, with the rotors mounted on the wheel rims and an 8-piston caliper with 4 individual brake pads.
Braided steel lines are used front and rear. Rear suspension is a direct action Showa shock with adjustable preload, compression and rebound damping. Completing the package are Pirelli Diablo Corsa III tires, the same as used on World Supersport bikes. The initial impression on seeing the 1125R is that it looks big with its large front fairing. Move around to the side and its largesse disappears. Its 54.6-inch wheelbase, 30.5-inch seat height and 375-pound dry weight make it feel small when you sit on it. The riding position is sportbike comfortable. This is not a touring bike or even a sport tourer but it is comfortable for what it is. It is easy to ride fast and can be adapted to quickly. The Buell 1125R should be available in late 2007 in midnight black with diamond blue wheels, frame and swingarm. MSRP is $11,995.

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