There’s a new Buell motorcycle on the way. Yes, you read that right: a new Buell. And, unlike any previous Buell, this new bike is a heels-in-the-air, high-bar, cruiser.
The new Buell Super Cruiser was unveiled on Friday with its designer, Roland Sands, in California. The new bike has Buell’s ET-V2 engine, a 1190 cc, 72-degree V-twin with liquid cooling. Buell says it makes 185 horsepower, with 138 Nm of torque. But, according to Buell’s CEO, Sands was able to keep the sportbike proportions and 17-inch wheels, so the bike will likely handle similarly to Buell’s current crop of sportbikes.
“We wanted to keep the performance of the engine, the rear swingarm, and that’s key to why it handles so well,” Buell CEO Bill Melvin told Bike EXIF. “We also made the decision to keep the front-end race suspension and perimeter brakes and sport bike wheels. We kept that whole package.”
So far, all we’d seen was a few glimpses from Buell’s Instagram of the new bike, where we saw a front wheel, a seat, and a clutch cover. The new bike, though, looks like it makes liberal use of Sands’ aftermarket catalog.
The bike wears a short club-style fairing, and traditional, dare we say it, Harley Dyna-like lines. It does break with tradition with the cool exposed mono-shock under the seat.
Buell sportbikes are known for having fuel in the frame to keep the weight low and to counteract the heavy top end of the tall V-twin engines. The new Super Cruiser, though, has a traditional gas tank. It’s also sporting a seat from Saddlemen, and an exhaust from SC-Project.
A lot has been written about the history of the Buell company and the new Buell owners. We can’t speculate on the future of the company, but we can say that it’s an all-American venture. This is the third incarnation of Buell, sort of.
The company was started by charismatic racer Erik Buell in the early 1980s, and then Harley-Davidson bought into the company in the 1990s, before divesting about a decade later. Buell later founded Erik Buell Racing, which produced a series of sportbikes with the 1190 motor. Then, in 2021, the company was again re-launched with the Pegasus logo and several new sporty models.
The Buell Hammerhead seems to follow in the tradition of the older Buell sportbikes. Several years after the last Buell or EBK brand, the new Hammerhead uses the same motor but adds a sporty fairing. The company has plans to sell several new models, including a sport tourer and a dirt bike, which you can order, or pre-order, now.
