While most everyone is familiar with the image of American motorcycles being personified by that ubiquitous brand, Harley-Davidson, there was one man who felt that there was an alternative to the traditional, overweight, bloated, cruiser. That man was Erik Buell, and he produced, for a time, the only American sportsbike using a Harley-Davidson engine.
Using a Harley V-twin, he created a series of sportsbikes and customer racebikes under the Buell name, culminating in the company being bought-over by Harley-Davidson in 1998, after acquiring a 49% stake in 1993. In 2009, Keith Wandell, CEO of Harley-Davidson, who had never ridden a Harley in his life before joining the company, announced the closing of the Buell brand.
Facing the demise of his brand, Buell set out on a search for buyers, and tied up with Hero Motorcycles of India. A series of bad turns saw Buell’s firm going under, and finally ending up under the care of Liquid AP, a liquidation firm. This has now culminated in the launch of the 2016 EBR 1190SX and RX models.
Using a 1,190 cc V-twin, with four-valves per cylinder and liquid-cooling, the 2016 EBR SX and RX are variations on EBR’s base theme of a bike capable of handling sports riding in both the canyons and the city. The RX is a full-fairing sportsbike, while the SX is molded in the “streetfighter” style.
EBR claims 185 hp and 137.8 Nm of torque for the two-pot mill, and the SX comes in at 188 kg wet with no fuel, while the RX weighs 190 kg wet. Certainly, these figures would not be out of place from any of the major manufacturers. A trademark touch of Buell’s bikes are brake discs mounted to the wheel-rim, instead of on the hub as is normal practice.
Pricing for the 2016 EBR 1190SX is
