My new Buell 1125 CR

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by Rangerscott

For me its either look for another bike ('07 ninja 650r) or look for a house. Decisions decisions.

You can't ride a house but you can sleep under the bike.

[Rangerscott]

Tell me about it. I want another bike so bad. Wish I never saled my ninja 250.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by wbrisett

Oh the irony!!!

Today I got the December issue of Sport Rider magazine in. So what's there? A huge full page spread congratulating Danny Eslick on his 2009 Daytona Superbike championship from Geico (with a nice Buell logo in the upper right corner). Next irony? The very bike you and I just bought. A full shootout piece on the Buell 1125CR and the Ducati Streetfighter. Both testers gave the Buell the thumbs up over the Ducati! What? and this is the bike and brand HD killed? I'm telling ya, something is really wrong with a company, when it owns another that is just hitting its stride and then chopped down at the knees.

Did you read this article? The Buell came out on top, too.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/8/4506...mparo-III.aspx

[Buellboy]

I have a RED Cr. Almost bought the Black but the higher "bar kit" was on the red one.
Recently installed a set of braced "City X" handlebars and 1/2" drop pegs on my CR.
The idea is to eventually put the hand guards off my ULLY on this bike too. Really
increased the comfort level. I have XB12 Lightning bars on my Ully and love that
change also. The key is buying another upper handle bar clamp bar, turning it upside
down, and using it to lift the bars another inch. This takes up cable slack and makes
bars easier to reach. It is hard to beat the stock ride on a ULLY but this is sportier.
One of the things I love about Buells, so many of the parts interchange. The range
of comfort for my CR went from 50 miles (stock) to about 150 miles with these mods.
The ULLY was stock and still is with my mods "all day" comfortable.
Buellboy
2009 1125CR
2007 Ully "Lite"

[kurt]

Originally Posted by wbrisett

Oh the irony!!!

Today I got the December issue of Sport Rider magazine in. So what's there? A huge full page spread congratulating Danny Eslick on his 2009 Daytona Superbike championship from Geico (with a nice Buell logo in the upper right corner). Next irony? The very bike you and I just bought. A full shootout piece on the Buell 1125CR and the Ducati Streetfighter. Both testers gave the Buell the thumbs up over the Ducati! What? and this is the bike and brand HD killed? I'm telling ya, something is really wrong with a company, when it owns another that is just hitting its stride and then chopped down at the knees.

Of course the silver lining is we got ahold on one before it was too late.

Gary -- I'll have to see if I can get home before it gets too dark. That didn't happen today. Sorry.

Wayne

Even this month's HOG has an article on Buell.

[pacman]

Very nice!

I'm next in line behind Bill.

[Slo-Moe]

Just wanted to let anyone interested know that Mancuso off of 290 has more "R's" and "CR's". Ask for Denis O'brien at 281-897-7115. Tell him Matthew or Ron sent you...supposed to be a great deal ($6,500).

[Tracker]

If anybody with the CR's would post up a photo from the rider's view, that'd be cool.

[wbrisett]

Originally Posted by Tracker

If anybody with the CR's would post up a photo from the rider's view, that'd be cool.

Gary... I was thinking I forgot to do something. That was it! I promise I'll do that this weekend (it's too dark by the time I get home these days).

Wayne

[JacknTexas]

Instead of a new thread, I dug this one up.

A buddy of mine about 30 years old was looking to buy his first real bike. I had let him ride some of my herd on occasion hoping he would find a nice used bike. We emailed a lot about bikes and what to look for, etc etc.

Then a couple of months ago the call on the cell phone came, "I bought a bike". I was more concerned than curious at the time and asked him what he had bought, the second pause in the conversation came when he told me a Buell 1125cr. I did my best to sound positive and asked what the dealership had talked about future parts availability and so on. He was confident that support would be fine and was excited about the bike. As for me, I had my doubts on the purchase.

As you have seen me post to new riders concerning what to buy, I am convinced that at the end of the day you have to buy a bike that you want to ride, not what I want you to ride. And this was the case with my friend. One of those "If your diggin what you ride, I am diggin it for you" kind of deal. That was until today..........

He has put about 900 miles on it and I have dodged riding it until he had broke it in some and had the initial service done. Today he called and wanted to go riding. So Pkiser, him, and I met up and went out to enjoy the afternoon on some back roads. He had asked if I wanted to ride it when he showed up at my house, and I told him we would change bikes after a while. So today was the day I got to ride his bike instead of me being the one loaning out a bike.

The only word I have is "WOW"! I am not so sure I have ever been so wrong in what I thought a bike would be like to ride. I was dead wrong in my expectations. I have a sv1000 naked and was expecting this to not be much more than a higher performance version of a naked twin. I was no where close to being right.

The difference is night and day between the bikes. The tuck on the CR is quite a bit tighter than my SV, which was surprising. I knew the bars were lower, but the pegs are quite a bit higher than I was expecting. I was also surprised how the bike had less turbulence than the SV naked, especially my upper body and head.

The turning was quick and precise. The big single rotor and caliper worked great out front. The transmission which I had expected to be clunky shifted smoother than any bike I own. The motor was smooth and pulled harder than I would have ever guessed.

I came away with many different ideas from my first inclinations. But the one thought that sticks in my mind is that the 1125CR is one of the coolest bikes I have ever had a chance to take a spin on.

I was glad to be so wrong about this bike. It's a shame HD pulled the plug on nice motorcycle. I would have liked to have seen where they could have gone from here.

So for you guys who pulled the trigger on the 1125, good for you. You get to ride a piece of American history and have a hoot all at the same time. What a great bike.

[wbrisett]

Originally Posted by JacknTexas

The turning was quick and precise. The big single rotor and caliper worked great out front. The transmission which I had expected to be clunky shifted smoother than any bike I own. The motor was smooth and pulled harder than I would have ever guessed.

Amazing things happen when you replace the HD engine with a Rotax.

Originally Posted by JacknTexas

I was glad to be so wrong about this bike. It's a shame HD pulled the plug on nice motorcycle. I would have liked to have seen where they could have gone from here.

The 1125R/CR was THE bike Erik and company have ultimately wanted to build for a long time. If you read any of the reviews on the CR (don't bother with the R reviews, the fuel mappings and other things really hampered the first year bikes), they have nothing but positive things to say about the bike, which is a first for Buell. It would have been the start of something awesome.

The 1190, which Erik is currently building as a race bike only, was suppose to be the 2011 bike for Buell. That bike as a race bike is doing pretty well on the track right now. Team Pegasus in Europe took delivery of two bikes and on their very first event took the podium with it, and in one race they raced the standard inline 4's from Japan and still won, so there is something to the magic of that remarkable engine from Rotax. Here in the US the team is also starting to put together some wins and take some podiums.

--------------
From Memorial Day Weekend:
Taylor Knapp, of Lapeer, Mich., won the second annual Lucas Oil Superbike Challenge GTO race on his No. 44 Suzuki, posting a 7.030-second margin of victory over Chris Peris on the No. 10 BMW. Geoff May was third, riding the Eric Buell Racing 1190R, with Chris Siglin and Ricky Corey filling out the top five.
--------------

So as you can see, it was the way Buell was finally going to make progress. At least from my perspective. There was a downside though and that is HD. Selling sportbikes at Harley dealerships simply wasn't a great mix. If they could have figured that one out, then maybe they would have had a better shot at things.

One final thing. If you buddy doesn't like the cafe bars (I thought they were too low), there are some high bars that Buell/HD sells. Apparently the kit isn't available anymore, but for the same price as the kit, you can buy the brake line, clutch line, throttle cable, and bars as service parts. I found this made a world of difference on the bike. On the 2010 models that were released, the high bars were stock on the bikes. I love them, but some who switched ended up switching back because they like the cafe bars better.

Wayne

[Buellboy]

Originally Posted by wbrisett

Amazing things happen when you replace the HD engine with a Rotax.



The 1125R/CR was THE bike Erik and company have ultimately wanted to build for a long time. If you read any of the reviews on the CR (don't bother with the R reviews, the fuel mappings and other things really hampered the first year bikes), they have nothing but positive things to say about the bike, which is a first for Buell. It would have been the start of something awesome.

The 1190, which Erik is currently building as a race bike only, was suppose to be the 2011 bike for Buell. That bike as a race bike is doing pretty well on the track right now. Team Pegasus in Europe took delivery of two bikes and on their very first event took the podium with it, and in one race they raced the standard inline 4's from Japan and still won, so there is something to the magic of that remarkable engine from Rotax. Here in the US the team is also starting to put together some wins and take some podiums.

--------------
From Memorial Day Weekend:
Taylor Knapp, of Lapeer, Mich., won the second annual Lucas Oil Superbike Challenge GTO race on his No. 44 Suzuki, posting a 7.030-second margin of victory over Chris Peris on the No. 10 BMW. Geoff May was third, riding the Eric Buell Racing 1190R, with Chris Siglin and Ricky Corey filling out the top five.
--------------

So as you can see, it was the way Buell was finally going to make progress. At least from my perspective. There was a downside though and that is HD. Selling sportbikes at Harley dealerships simply wasn't a great mix. If they could have figured that one out, then maybe they would have had a better shot at things.

One final thing. If you buddy doesn't like the cafe bars (I thought they were too low), there are some high bars that Buell/HD sells. Apparently the kit isn't available anymore, but for the same price as the kit, you can buy the brake line, clutch line, throttle cable, and bars as service parts. I found this made a world of difference on the bike. On the 2010 models that were released, the high bars were stock on the bikes. I love them, but some who switched ended up switching back because they like the cafe bars better.

Wayne

+1 for me

Buellboy
2009 1125CR
2007 Ully "Lite"