Buells styling takes some getting used to. What I like is Buells outside the box unconventional thinking. When you look at something that looks odd there is usually a good reason for it and you ask yourself "why didn't somebody else think of that?".

I would love to see Buell tackle a 350 cc 25% road /75% off road dual sport, keep it under 350 lbs and under about $7,000.00

Is that WEEEEESHIN for too much?????

The Pres. CEO of Buell is a friend of mine from high school. Do I dare ask??

 

mmm IG be careful.
Norton did do quite well in the late 80's and early 90's.
They did win some superbike races and they actually won some 500cc grand prix points in 1991. Not bad at all up against 500cc 2 bangers.

BTW, what have you got against Dukes?

 

You're very very wrong.
The Norton has a pedigree.


This says a fair bit about the capability of the prototype bikes that started their very long testing phase. Steve Hislop (Norton) pushing Fogarty (yamaha) right to the very end.

"Superstar and super-hero to his fans, Carl Fogarty’s TT exploits began in the mid-Eighties. He was the winner of the 1985 Lightweight Newcomers Manx Grand Prix and went on to win three TT races. The first was the 1989 Production 750 Race and he collected the 1990 Formula 1 and Senior trophies. He had an epic battle with Steve Hislop in 1992, thrilling the crowds in a Yamaha/Norton duel to the finish. Although Hislop won by four seconds Fogarty, on his Yamaha, wasn’t hanging around - he set a new outright record at 123.61 mph on the last, nail-biting lap! This record stood for seven years until 1999. His exploits in the World Superbike series have been well catalogued and he has won an unprecedented four titles"

Steve went on to pass 3 Ducati's and dominate the cream of what was on offer from Japan at the time in the 1992 Formula 1 TT.
Note: Lost the top podium spot by only 12 hundredths of a second , and that after six, 37+mile laps.
He later went on to beat Fogarty by 4.4 seconds to give Norton their first Senior TT win since 1961.



Oh, and for those unfamiliar with the Isle Of Man TT. When they mention lap records, they're referring to average speed around the 37.5 mile course lap.


"TT 1992 Formula One TT Results
TT 1992
Posn No Competitor Machine Time Speed
1 0 Phillip McCallen 750 Honda 1.53.22.4 119.81
2 0 Steve Hislop 588 Norton 1.53.34.4 119.59
3 0 Joey Dunlop 750 Honda 1.55.13.0 117.88
4 0 Nick Jefferies 750 Honda 1.55.25.0 117.68
5 0 Mark Farmer 750 Yamaha 1.55.45.6 117.33
6 0 Steve Ward 750 Honda 1.56.45.4 116.33
7 0 Bob Jackson 750 Honda 1.57.02.6 116.04
8 0 Trevor Nation 888 Ducati 1.58.10.8 114.93
9 0 Iain Duffus 750 Kawasaki 1.58.31.2 114.6
10 0 Jason Griffiths 750 Honda 1.58.37.0 114.51
11 0 Tom Knight 750 Honda 1.58.57.2 114.18
12 0 Ian Lougher 750 Yamaha 1.59.07.0 114.02
13 0 Simon Beck 750 Honda 1.59.40.4 113.49
14 0 Gary Radcliffe 750 Honda 1.59.49.0 113.36
15 0 Colin Gable 750 Honda 1.59.53.2 113.29
16 0 Shaun Harris 750 Suzuki 2.00.31.6 112.69
17 0 Derek Young 750 Honda 2.01.49.6 111.49
18 0 Allan McDonald 750 Honda 2.02.05.8 111.24
19 0 Dave Morris 750 Honda 2.02.41.6 110.7
20 0 Johnny Barton 750 Honda 2.02.42.6 110.69
21 0 Mick Noblett 750 Honda 2.02.46.4 110.63
22 0 David Goodley 750 Honda 2.02.51.8 110.55
23 0 Dave Madsen-Mygdal 750 Honda 2.05.46.4 107.99
24 0 Marc Granie 750 Yamaha 2.06.05.2 107.72
25 0 Derek Glass 750 Suzuki 2.06.13.6 107.6
26 0 Toni Rechberger 750 Yamaha 2.07.04.2 106.89
27 0 Keith Buckley 750 Yamaha 2.07.38.4 106.41
28 0 Dave Castle 888 Ducati 2.08.07.0 106.01
29 0 Kirk Wright 750 Honda 2.09.17.4 105.05
30 0 John Crellin 750 Honda 2.09.18.0 105.04
31 0 John Raybold 888 Ducati 2.11.25.4 103.35
32 0 Martin Grein 750 Suzuki 2.12.16.8 102.68

Most info sourced from here.
Help yourself.;D

 

I think they have Troy in their sights.

 

blah blah blah. Norton makes good remakes of their old commando, etc. styled bikes. however, they will NEVER compete with the current crop of superbikes, particularly Ducati. If a Norton wins the superbike championship, world or ama, I'll personally donate my '09 to this forum.
Isle of Man TT- big whoop. anyone can take a megafast bike with sticky tires and a deathwish on that race.
Bringing up results that are 17 years old that in and of themselves really don't mean squat is really a mirror image to the current attempts of Norton and racing. I highly doubt they'll be competitive in any racing this year as even the huge teams are folding due to economic conditions. Norton is NOT a benchmark in racing, at least not in this generation or the one before it.

I don't like ducs because I'm a Ninja/GSX-R kind of guy. The ducs always break down, leaving a jap bike to win the race. How many times has that happened at daytona? If they don't break though, they usually win the race.

 

Your promises are empty. Weren't you going to cancel your membership to this forum?

 

[QUOTE=09KLXowner .
Isle of Man TT- big whoop. anyone can take a megafast bike with sticky tires and a deathwish on that race.

When they ran the Isle of man TT they used to have a thing called Mad Sunday when any Yahoo could run his bike on the course and try and kill himself which over the years did happen quite often. Just saying.

 

Well good the "duc's",nortons,and gixers have been covered I guess. Hey maveric enjoy those buells and stay safe!!!

 

Thanks roverdude I just hope it's not raining tomorrow (it started this morning) I'm not keen on riding a brand new 146hp 375lb bike on wet roads.

IG lets see you take a megafast bike with sticky tires and a deathwish on that race. Anyone that rides that place over 100mph is awesome

 

good luck on your ride, supposed to be a hot machine. I've always liked Rotax engines even going back to my Can-Am bikes, good torquey 2 strokes. The intake scoops on the Buell take a bit of getting used to and that perimeter style front brake is supposed to be a weak spot but kudos to Buell for thinking out of the box. Now for an affordable true dual sport that would be nice.