Buell X1 Lightning

(Note: From the 15th of October 2009, Harley Davidson decided to stop the production of Buell motorcycles. First of all I feel sorry for Erik Buell, the guy who dedicated his life to creating his own special motorcycle. But I also feel sorry when I see the innovative engineering that Buell brought into the motorcycle world. And with the new Helical V-Twin engine, Buell finally had the engine that made the bikes go really fast.)

So, last week I became the owner of a motorbike again. I have always loved riding motorbikes, and I have really missed my old GSX-R 750 (Scroll down and see blog from 11th of April) But this time it wasn't all for fun, and I also had some financial aspects to consider. After I moved to the US, I have had no job, so a motorbike can be a cheap alternative to owning a car. It takes me where I want and if it turns out that I get a job and I need something to drive to work every day, I will have the income to buy a car anyway.

This time the choice fell on a '99 Buell X1 Lightning. And this is basicly a sport bike with a tuned up Harley Davidson Sportster engine in it. The founder of Buell, Erik Buell, broke out from HD in the early 80's, and started his own business. Harley Davidson motors, fitted in his own racing inspired frame and setup. Many people see this bike as a thing that falls between two chairs: Too sporty to be a cruiser, but not fast enough to be a real sport bike. Probably a good choice for HD enthusiasts who want a sport bike, and at the same time want be true to the brand.

So what is this bike like? I have one, so lets find out.

My Buell X1 Lightning, bought October 2009

When the Buell is started up, you can feel that there are some huge moving parts underneath you. The bike is shaking and vibrating, and those who are not familiar with HD or Buell, are probably not quite sure if this is right, or if it's misfiring. When it's time to start moving, you discover that there is enough torque to just let the bike go without using the throttle. Well, almost.. 1st gear has such a high ratio that you still need some cooperation between the throttle and clutch to avoid jumping like a rabbit. But be careful - too much throttle and the bike starts off way too fast. Before you get used to the Buell, starting from a red light at an intersection and taking a right or left turn directly can be challenging because you can end up going a little too fast. And if you brake, the bike starts shaking and jumping again.

But as soon as you are on the move, things feel a little bit better. If you keep the revs above 2500, the engine runs much smoother and has almost no vibrations at all. The torque rockets you off from almost any pace in any gear, and at full throttle you feel that you hit the rev limiter immediately. The gears ratios seems to be matched just fine, and as soon as one gear is empty, the next one clunks in perfectly and you are off again. And from there everything is just fun. In have yet not challenged the bike as much as I would like, but from what I can feel so far, I have every confidence that the bike will do what I want it to do, when I want. The Buell can probably go faster through a bend than I will ever dare to try. However, it doesn't feel as razor sharp and "nervous" as the GSX-R, but it's not a R bike, and to some extent I am happy that it isn't. The riding position is more up right and way better, and it feels like I can ride it for hours without becoming too tired.

When the time comes for stopping there are no bad surprises either. The front brake works fine with only moderate force on the handle, and stopping can be done very fast if you need to. It's not as good as the GSX-R brakes, but that bike had double front discs, and once again - it's no R-bike we're talking about here. The rear brake requiers quite a lot pedal pressure to work, but that's a set up I am comfortable with. In my eyes, the rear brake should only be used as a supplement to the front brake, and a rear brake that is too powerful can be dangerous for a unskilled rider. So after the ride is done, I am left with the impression that this is a really fun bike. The small drawbacks like the too high 1st gear and the shaking and vibrations from idle and up to 2500 rpm aside, this is a good setup and I really like it. Compared to the GSX-R, it lacks some horsepower and acceleration, even though it feels powerful enough.

But hey... Enough power, but not enough horsepower? How can that be? For those of you who are interested, I am going to tell you a little bit more about it. The Buell's engine has a way bigger displacement than the comparable sport bikes in the 1000 cc bracket, and with its 1200 cc, the Buell engine is almost the size of a small car engine. And the torque isn't that bad, with 108 Nm / 79.7 ft.lbs. That's the same amount of torque as the Yamaha R1 from the same year, but the Buell's 100 hp is way down compared to the R1's 150 hp. As the bike I have driven the most before the Buell, was the GSX-R 750, I would like to use that bike as a comparison to show you what is going on here. The 1999 model of the GSX-R 750 has only 82 Nm / 60.5 ft.lbs of torque coming from it's 750 cc engine, while the horsepower is up to 134, and makes this bike into a rocket. The 0-60 mph time is 1.1 seconds faster that then Buell (1 second makes a big difference in a race) and the top speed is blistering 164 mph, 30 more than the Buell. Well, torque is important, but when it comes to making things happen fast, it's only half the truth. A static force can be enormous, but no actual work is done if we don't have a movement. And the formula for calculating work (In our case: power from an engine) is Force (torque) x Time (for an engine: number of rotations, or RPM) = Work (The amount of work the engine can do, horsepower) Or to be exact:

Power = Torque x rpm
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So since the Buell's torque is as high as it is, there must be something else missing. Yes, lets look at the engine speed where the maximum power output is rated. And here is a significant difference. The Buell gives its maximum power at 6200 rpm, while the GSX-R doesn't back off before 12 000 rpm. Even though the GSX-R's torque is lower, the rpm is so high that it gives a very high power output. And it's not only the power that makes the bike fast. With a 11 000 rpm rev span available, the GSX-R can stay in the same low gear for a longer time than the Buell that has only 5300 rpm available. A lower gear always improves acceleration, as you might remember from when you are using your bicycle. You don't go very fast in a low gear, but your feet can work easily and you gain speed quickly. The acceleration is also improved when the rpm is high. Why that is, is a complicated formula that I am not quite familiar with my self, and won't go into here.

But back to the simple things. Erik Buell and his mates tuned the HD Sportster motor from 70 to 100 hp before they put it into the Buell. So why didn't they make it rev to 12 000 rpm too? Then he could easily had 150-160 hp and cracked both the GSX-R and probably also the R1 from the same year. Truth is, the engine could not handle it due to it's construction. It has two large pistons, each of 600 cc, almost as big as the entire GSX-R engine. It's an old construction that was never meant for reving fast, and it's a lot of mass moving in there. The GSX-R engine is a four cylinder engine, with four relatively small pistons. 12 000 rpm (200 revolutions pr. second!) put such an extreme stress on the moving parts that lots of work has been put into making every little part as light as possible. And the engine also needs to be tuned in such a way, performance vise, that the torque doesn't drop off at the top. This will to some extent make the low speed torque suffer, so a high reving engine usually won't make the best of itself unless we give it some rpm to work with. However, that was more of a problem in the carburettor era. Fuel injection and modern technology has to a large extent cured this problem. But to make the GSX-R go really fast, you still need to shift down a couple of times. While the Buell works almost from idle, and downshifts are usually not nescessary. On the freeway, it revs at 2500-3000 rpm and power is available without any need to shift down.

So is the Buell a bike I would recommend anyone else to buy? I am usually very careful with recommending anything. People's tastes are so different that I find it best to give good descriptions and make people do their own choices. If you are a fan of Harley in the first place, and want a sportier bike, you will probably go right with the Buell. But if you are a speed freak, and used to the screaming acceleration from a high reving engine, you will probably feel something is missing when you ride the Buell. It might work for you (It does for me) but I would take it for a test ride first. And if it turns out you are willing to live with the low reving engine, and sacrifice some top end power and speed, I can assure you that the bike it self gives just as good riding experience as any other bike.

Written by Bjorn Sveigdalen