The Buell Motorcycle Company is a motorcycle manufacturer located in the United States. It was founded by Erik Buell in 1993 with a minority interest held by the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. In 1998, Harley-Davidson purchased the remainder of a 49% interest in Buell. The company is the only significant manufacturer of "sport motorcycles" in the United States.
Models
Most Buell motorcycles use four-stroke V-twin engines. These engines were originally built from Harley-Davidson XL 883 and XL 1200 Sportster engines, but the company has now evolved their own "Thunderstorm" design.
What makes Buell's stand apart from their Harley-Davidson origins are their innovative design features which centralize the motorcycle's body mass. The most notable innovations are the use of the frame to double as a gas tank and the rear swing-arm to hold the engine oil. These features help create a leaner and more agile sport motorcyle.
Current production models, as of Februrary 2005, are the Blast, Firebolt, Lightning, and Lightning CityX. An earlier model was called the Cyclone. The Blast is the only model to use a single-cylinder engine. The highest performance bike is the Firebolt XB12R with an 1203 cc engine which develops 103 horsepower (77 kW).
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