ROAD TEST BUELL CR1125R WORDS & PICS: Big Dave
Channelling the spirit of café racers of olde Buell main-man Erik Buell has come up with the 1125 CR, a nominally ‘naked’ version of the only recently released Rotax-engined 1125 R. Big Dave has the story. KIWI RIDER 27
ROAD TEST BUELL CR1125R
Sporty look and feel gives new pared down 1125 CR (here and opening page) a very different vibe to original Rotax-engined but fully-faired R model
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nother run in with a Buell? Oh no! The last time the good folks at Auckland Motorcycles & Power Sports said, ‘Dave, we need a Buell demo bike shaken down and run-in before we put it on the fleet,’ I ended up buying it. Whether Ray and his crew knew that the XB12X was ‘my’ bike before I did, I don’t know, but when Sales Manager Bruce chucked me the keys to their new 1125CR I’m sure there was some sort of raised eyebrow, ‘you know what happened last time,’ glint in his eye. The overview of the 1125CR from the bike’s press kit begins: ‘Naked styling and clubman-style handlebars give a respectful nod to the nostalgic era of Café Racers.’ ‘Who wrote this?’ I guffawed at first glance. The handlebars part I will buy. Chris and the Zedman both had them on their Bonnevilles in the halcyon days of Shed Night. And the Ed confirmed as much when, as he cast a knowing eye over the demo bike, he looked back up to me and said; ‘Man! Clubman bars. I haven’t seen those since the ‘70s!’ Otherwise I thought the ‘nod at Café Racers ’ bit was a pretty long bow to draw!’ 28 KIWI RIDER
Cast your eyes again to the above photograph and tell me where the 1125CR nods at a BSA Gold Star. The seat cowl maybe? ‘But styled in a thoroughly modern package’ the blurb then goes on to qualify. ‘Erik Buell’s 21st century interpretation of the classic Café Racer is a new motorcycle that defies convention’. AND CR STANDS FOR? It’s about at this time that Bonehead Dave realises that CR stands for Café Racer, doh, and that the machine certainly is unconventional in the conventional Buell way. Like it’s faired brother, the 1125R, the CR features ‘The Buell Trilogy of Tech’ – chassis rigidity, centralised mass, and low unsprung weight – as we’ve covered in detail in tests on the 1125R and various XB models. Fuel in the frame, underslung muffler et al. What I did think their blurb also said well was; ‘Positioned behind the blackanodised, tapered aluminium handlebars and streamlined headlight and flyscreen, the rider has a wide-open view forward that intensifies the sensation of speed.’ I continue to favour naked bikes for road and street use for exactly this reason. It just feels like you are going faster when ‘out in it’ and all the licence keeping aspects that implies.
It’s handy because as Buell claims ‘at 170kg, the 1125CR is the lightest litreclass naked street motorcycle on the market, and combined with 146 horsepower, it offers the best power-to-weight ratio in the category.’ This thing really flies and the cornering exhilaration factor of punting along a twisty road is huge. It feels fast and potent and after a couple of very enjoyable weeks with the bike I’m pretty sure it’s not just ‘a sensation’ of speed. SINISTER STYLING That’s what the factory calls it. ‘Love it or hate it’ styling is what it really is. I’m sure some people won’t get past its unusual looks to appreciate the competence of the vehicle – while others of us love big ram-air scoops hanging off wild engines and have images of Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth’s Hot Rods with massive air scoops on their office walls. Yeah – count me amongst the ‘I love the styling’ brigade – I really like the way it makes the conventional folk go ‘what the?’ And I particularly like, in the way of all Buell’s designs, that it’s all done for a reason. The big side scoops house the radiators and fluid reservoir. Not only do they give a sort of ‘organic’ curve to the frontal aspect of the bike, they shift the mass of
ROAD TEST BUELL CR1125R
water and radiator core towards the front axle. They also swing out of the way for easier access to the engine. I enjoyed the other styling cues as well. I had some ‘Transformers’ happening with the whole front end looks and I really like the contrasts of red and black and ‘heavy industry’ looks to the whole rear end and drive train. The red and black colour scheme is also a photographers dream – all the right bits have been blacked out and the red contrasts – right down to the pinstriped wheels, caliper and lettering on the tyres I found appealing. The Publisher just shakes his head and asks if I have been drinking. But ultimately it’s about how they go. GO HARD OR…..
includes a ‘Helmholtz Chamber’.
And go it does. The spec sheet reads; Buell Helicon 1125 liquid-cooled 72-degree V-Twin engine (If you don’t work for Buell you probably say ‘Rotax’) developing 109 Kw (146 hp) @ 9800 rpm and 111 Nm (82 ft.lbs) peak torque at 8000 rpm.
So I had to ask – What a Helmholtz Chamber be? The Helmholtz effect is a phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity, an example is when you blow across the top of an empty bottle and the noise it makes – in short it reduces the exhaust noise.
The familiar underslung muffler (one of the numerous patents Erik Buell owns)
Fortunately it doesn’t completely stifle the vee twin throb altogether and what is an unremarkable note at idle Trademark fuel-in-frame/oil in turns into quite swingarm Buell foundation means a pleasant growl both R and CR have the same when wicked up, short, quick-steering personalities hauling out of a as H-D Sportser-engined fellow tight corner. models XB models The DDFI III Electronic Fuel Injection ECM proved to be the best of the 1125s I’ve ridden so far. Only one of the four examples ridden suffered from it, but the wires carried plenty of reports of early R models suffering from throttle lag issues. They seem to have been resolved as there were no real issues of note with this unit. It stumbled once and backfired once in the first couple of kms and I thought ‘hello,’ but as it
has bedded in it’s been a case of hit the throttle and ‘bam.’ Quite reliably and the closer you are to 8,000rpm, the bigger the bam and it all gets very rapid very quickly. Even though Buell claims that the bike has been ‘re-geared’ for stronger acceleration I found it needs to be ridden a gear lower than I would like in heavy traffic, or the directness of the drive train and the fuelling necessitates some clutch work – or it gets a bit uneven – but really, commuting and traffic isn’t what the bike is about. TRACK READY To really get the best from it a Track Day would be in order, but even using it as a regular street conveyance and weekend rider I found it to be an absolute barrel of monkeys on the open road. The symphony of surge and acceleration, the very pleasant gassed up exhaust note, and the power it develops just make it a hoot. So does the very efficient three-way adjustable Showa suspension both ends and the way it corners like…a Buell. Some of the bike’s capability is beyond where I took it – or anyone who wants to keep a licence would take it – on the road. It’s fitted with a HVA (Hydraulic Vacuum Assist) Slipper Action clutch that didn’t come into play in normal road use. What did come to the fore was how nice and solid the Pirelli Diablo Corsa III tyres felt and how well they hung on during a spirited run around the Mangawhai Heads loop. I put in some very satisfying day rides to the north and south of Auckland city and found the bike very, very rewarding.
KIWI RIDER 29
ROAD TEST BUELL CR1125R
GREAT FLIP-FLOP ACTION GR Fli Flicking it along a windy road and the th way if flip-flops and changes direction, and its ability to change d lines around an obstacle mid apex, are simply delightful. It has some of the aspects of an XB series bike in the way it’s so nice nic to leave it in third and carve up twisty section, and I quite like the a tw ZTL2 brakes.
Again, for normal road use the knowledge that they are 2.5kg lighter than the best twin disc set ups is just that, knowledge, I couldn’t tell any difference in the performance, or the effects of unsprung weight – it would need some objective work on a race track to really tell, but that’s not what AMPS have in mind – at this stage. I did find it very easy to do a stoppie or for that matter hoist it up on the rear wheel (closed road – professional rider) or any of the other tomfoolery that sitting astride a Buell creation seems to engender. I found it reasonably comfortable to sit astride. I needed an occasional ‘knee break’ on the return leg of an all day ride, but that’s due to me really only needing the long red shoes and stick on nose to complete the comical look of a very large man on a reasonably compact bike (wheelbase: 1389mm), but I found the ergos and comfort OK for a decent ride. The demo wasn’t fitted with a passenger seat; it can do it, but carrying a passenger isn’t what the bike is about either. This one is a more selfish pleasure. TO CONCLUDE Available in red or black I thought the Buell 1125CR was a great fun street bike. The ergonomics are on the sporty side of sporty, due to reasonably high set pegs (45-50 degree lean angles) and the drop bars. (A traditional ‘street fighter’ handlebar is also available’. Nice touch with the
drop bars, nice nod, give me the flat bars please.) The naked styling lends itself to enjoyable sports riding that won’t draw too much heat at fun-to-ride speeds and if a day at the track is your fancy, then chewing the fuel cap will see it put in some very competitive lap times. It even has a lap timer built in to the instrument pod.
SPECIFICATIONS BUELL CR1125R ENGINE Type: Helicon liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, 72° V-Twin Displacement: 1125 Compression ratio: 12.3:1
WHO’S IT FOR?
Bore x stroke: 103 x 67.5
Someone looking to spend $20k on a great fun road bike that raises a finger at convention. Someone who wants a bike capable of a respectable lap at a Track Day or mixing with the quickies on a day ride, but who also wants a machine that makes a bit of a statement while doing it.
Starting system: Electric
Someone who wants a 2009 incarnation of a Café Racer, in fact!
Transmission: 6-speed, straight cut gears
Eventually I snuck it back into the showroom and split while Bruce wasn’t looking – and I made double sure I left the cheque book with the co-pilot, so the 1125CR is still available for a test ride at AMPS now – see www.amps.co.nz. KR Hi-tech Rotax-built engine should mean that the R (and now CR) are worlds apart from earlier H-D Sportster-engined models, though that’s not really the case when you climb on. In much the same way there’s still a strong home-spun side to R and CR models which will appeal to some, not others. Big surprise with nominally ‘naked’ CR is olde-world ‘wrap-around’ clubman-style welded steel handlebars which while working perfectly well are in stark contrast to the sharp, futuristic lines of the bodywork. Despite its thoroughly modern design, build and performance potential. the Rotax engine also has quite a rorty, rambunctious side to it, something – again – which will appeal to existing Buell owners but perhaps surprise others.
Engine management system: CDI Fuel system: Dual 61 mm down draft throttle bodies, DDFI III fuel injection Clutch: Wet, multi-plate, Hydraulic Vacuum Assist (HVA) slipper action clutch, hydraulic clutch lever effort Final drive: 14mm pitch aramid-reinforced Veyance Hibrex belt with Flexten Plus technology, 2.815:1 ratio FRAME Type: Black aluminium frame, fuel in frame Swingarm: Suspension: Front: 47 mm Showa inverted forks with adjustable compression damping, rebound damping & spring preload. Rear: Showa coil-over monoshock with external piggyback reservoir & adjustable compression damping, rebound damping & spring preload Brakes: Single 375mm perimeter s/steel floating rotor disc brake w/8-piston fixed caliper front & single 240mm stainless steel rotor w/two-piston direct mount caliper rear Wheels: 6-spoke cast aluminium 17” x 3.5” front & 17” x 5.5” rear Tyres: Pirelli Diablo Corsa III 120/70 ZR-17 front & 180/55 ZR-17 DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 1385mm Rake: 21° Trail: 84mm Seat height: 778mm Dry weight: 170kg Fuel tank capacity: 20.1 RRP: $19,990 Test bike: Auckland Motorcycles & Powersports (AMPS) Tel 0-9-300 750 or www.amps.co.nz GEAR Helmet: Shoei Jacket: Rev’it Pants: Teknic Boots: Teknic
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