| Author | Message | ||
     Hexangler |
This is hideous? I don't think so. I'm seriously tempted to trade in my 12R,...better yet own them both.   | ||
| Guell |
i keep thinking of this when i see that bike.  | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Hex, I think you got it! | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Hey Buellinachinashop, is that what they call "explosive diarrhea"? | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Ya know, even the Buell folks at HQ have mixed feelings on the styling of the 1125R. I bet nothing has changed with the intro of the CR. | ||
| Brumbear |
the XR1200 I do not like the 1125 platform I thought I would loved the ride on the 1125 R but it just doesn't do it for me and the cost is to much and to insure it may become a problem very soon. I say hands down the XR1200 | ||
| Vanvideo |
No competition. The 1125CR, by a landslide. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
I dunno................. I guess for the price of a XR1200, I probably would go for a REAL Big Twin, maybe an FXR or more likely a FXDX, put a stage three motor in her, some Metzlers, a police seat, maybe some jazzy tins, and call it a day. Perhaps a Buell front fender, billet fork brace, a steering damper and some hot rod headers to add to the sporting theme. Custom wheels, floating rotors, kinda goes without sayin', right? Something sorta like this................  but, hey, that's just me, never was a flat tracker..........  | ||
| Brumbear |
I should state if the xr1200 comes in in the us at $10K if it comes in at the Euro price I won't get it either. I have looked at the CR for 3 days now and it still doesn't do it so its a xr1200 or bust. | ||
| Rick_a |
The XR1200R is a heavily dressed up Sportster with nearly current suspension pieces. The old S1 comes closer to an XR750 replica in performance, looks, size, and geometry. I don't know why there's such a stir over it. The 1125CR is a bad mofo. With a minor makeover it'd be perfect IMO. An XB-S healight/flyscreen, a lower fairing, and muffler would do it for me. (Message edited by Rick_A on July 25, 2008) | ||
| Trojan |
The XR1200R is a heavily dressed up Sportster with /i{nearly current suspension pieces. } The XR1200 engine is nothing like the current Sportster lineup, and certainly shares more with the XB than the current XL. Chassis is mainly the same as the current sportster, but front suspension certainly is new, as is all of the bodywork. The XR1200 is NOT an XR750 replica, and it is only the H-D marketing machine that is trying to convince everyone that it is. In fact it is a really good V-Twin road bike. The sooner they drop all this XR750 heritage racing bollox the better as far as I'm concerned, as it just detracts from the bike and tries to make it something it isn't. A flat tracker it is not, but a modern Sportster with decent engine and brakes it certainly is. | ||
| Regkittrelle |
Well said, Trojan. Just how important... if at all... is the flat track image in your part of the world? My impression has been that that and 4 Euros will get you a latte at the nearest Starbucks. In other words, worth naught. | ||
| Brumbear |
I just think for me 146HP in a hooligan frame is to much and the insurance co. will catch on shortly if they haven't already. The 47mm forks sound good for the machine the brakes seem more than adequate I hope they straightened out the oil checking thing and the charging problems the bike is a real nice machine but for me it is sadly to much I will go aftrer the XR1200 or keep my xb12ss | ||
| Thumper74 |
I'd pick the 1125CR over the XR1200. I think that overall, thought, I may lean towards a Speed Triple if I purchased another nekkid bike or a sporttourer | ||
| Xl1200r |
The XR1200 engine is nothing like the current Sportster lineup, and certainly shares more with the XB than the current XL While I find your post generally on par with what the XR1200 really is and isn't, I find this statement a bit of a stretch. A "current" XL engine share heads, bottom end and cylinders with the XB line. The cases, cams, inake and exhaust systems are different. To my knowledge, the XR1200 utilizes the Buell cams in addition to the other parts, but also has heads with different oil passages and so forth. I'm not sure of the interchangability of these new heads. It's very easy to make an XL1200 head work on an XB (or vise versa), but I don't know if different oiling patterns on the XR are a make it or break it deal. Bottom line is in the grand scheme of things, the XR1200, XL1200 and XB12 engines all have about the same in common with eathother as the next. All are nice bikes, no question. But the 1125CR gets my dollars. | ||
| Ceejay |
"The XR1200 is NOT an XR750 replica, and it is only the H-D marketing machine that is trying to convince everyone that it is." That's an american thing for which harley uses to it's full advantage(and sometimes disadvatage). Look at all the muscle cars that have come about in the past 2 yrs. I haven't seen sales #'s but it may be a try to get people to come back to american car brands by using nostalgia. Harley is somewhat trying the same thing. IMO its somewhat sad and definitely unoriginal, but I guess they gotta do what they think will move them off the sales floor. Most harley buyers probably don't look for performance #'s so it almost seems like a way to get the same age group to look at an XR instead of a bagger. Sort of seems counterintuitive-why wouldn't you try to attract new customers, which to me is what they need, vs. getting folks to trade in thier baggers, for what looks to be fun scoot with some good performance #'s. I'd still take the CR over it. I'd probably lean towards the CR over most every other naked out there, as I'm not really of fan of the Triumph's after I saw them in flesh(sprint or speed triple). Ducati S4r maybe... | ||
| Rick_a |
*Sigh* My post was overgeneralized. I know precisely what the XR1200 is. I guess all I can say is that you can exercise and dress up a pig all you want, and in the end, it's still an F'n pig, albeit fancier and a little less pudgy  It's all my opinion of course, and stating otherwise will not change it. | ||
| Court |
It scares me that this project may go the route of the "marketing" applies to the likes of the Buell TT. The days, at least for me, when I was in lust with my XR, flying to watch Springer and Parker at Cal Expo on weekends and impressed with the Storz are nearly 20 years ago. I wonder if they have fired their shot long after the deer moved? I have no interest, based on the visuals, in the XR1200. It really doesn't look much like a "real" XR and everything I'd want it to do I get get "gooder and cheaper" in another model. I confess to having a HD catalog turned to the plain jane vanilla Super Glide and the FLHTC in the can. . . . | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Court, serious questions and on my word I'll make no comment after I read your response(s). We all know and understand you bleed "Buell" blue, but would you buy this bike or the 1125R as a daily rider? Point being. I sorta did a "Chinashop Marketing Analysis" and looked at a sampling of Buell Nuts (no you can't use that as a Bad Web knickname, its Copywritten as MINE), to see who likes it and who doesn't. I opened profiles and looked at the ages of each. My consensus, it's not a sampling of EVERYBODY and it was very very brief, found that guys in their twenties and early thirties are loving it, guys in their mid-thirties on up (I'm on up) are not. Point being. The one thing I've read consistantly (paraphrased) from the "younger" group, both when the 1125r and this new Cr were intro'd, is this...."I want one badly, but can't afford it right now." My second question is now this.......Why would Buell or HD build bikes that are very very attractive to a younger segment of bike lovers who can't afford it? I agree that bike builders like Buell and HD need to increase visibility and appeal to younger folks..I dig it. But to me, losing potential customers who can afford these bikes is suicide. | ||
| Ceejay |
buell maybe... but too me H-D is trying to appeal to customers they already have, especially by using the XR tagline... | ||
| Regkittrelle |
The best thing that the XR1200 has going for it (Do I really need to add "IMO"?) is that it's the first Sportster in decades to have any cojones. Harley seriously dropped the ball with this once-iconic model, watering it down to the point where it became as bland as a Harley could possibly be. Adding insult to this grievous injury was the "chick bike" tag that got hung on it (Insulting to both women AND Harley. The XR1200 gives this platform a chance to redeem itself. It's visuals came about under the direction of Frank Savage, a youngish fast guy devoid of conchos and leather tassels. I have yet to ride one, so I can only go on what I've read and heard, but I have a suspicion that, in the right hands, this new Sportster might really surprise on a winding road. No, it's not a pur sang sportbike but it should easily garner the title of "Best Handling Harley" (please, leave the oxymoron references out of this). BTW: that title curently belongs to the Fat Bob with mid-controls (see above reference to "IMO") | ||
| Josh_ |
>Harley seriously dropped the ball with this once-iconic model Ding ding ding. I went to Buells after loving my Sportys but wanting more. Would love to have my bone-stock 92 883 (last year for a chain) Sporty back tho | ||
| Xl1200r |
China - maybe I'm an exception to the rule, but regarding the 1125CR - I'm 25, I want one, and I can afford it, right now even. I think it's important to note that every manufacturer of every type of vehicle attracts potential buyers who can't afford it (but then again, I guess they aren't potential buyers, now are they). If I list of all of the cars I drooled over for the past five years of my life, only a handful were within economic reach for me. How many 18-year-olds dream of owning a new Corvette ZR-1 or BMW M6? How many can afford a $1200+ car payment and the isurance to go with it? My guess is very few, but that doesn't seem to hurt the BMW or Corvette business model much. The same can be said for marques like Ducati, MV Agusta, et al. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
"How many 18-year-olds dream of owning a new Corvette ZR-1 or BMW M6? How many can afford a $1200+ car payment and the isurance to go with it? My guess is very few, but that doesn't seem to hurt the BMW or Corvette business model much." But Chevy isn't marketing them for 18 year olds. Buell/HD are obviously looking for younger riders with the new 1125's. The Vette is for whoever can afford it. There's a difference. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
39 staring at 40, the only bike I want more than the XR1200 is the Buell dirt bike  | ||
| Swordsman |
1125CR, hands down. I like them both, but the XR didn't make me swear aloud in amazement when I first saw it. The CR did. Of course, I won't inquire about one until they iron out the Rotax heating issues. I find it entirely too amusing that Buell finally switches to liquid cooling, and the damned thing runs hotter than the air cooled bikes.  Gorgeous machine, though! ~SM | ||
| Trojan |
It really doesn't look much like a "real" XR and everything I'd want it to do I get get "gooder and cheaper" in another model. Maybe Harley made a mistake when naming it the XR1200 and alienating a whole generation of American fans for whom the XR750 is an icon. It is of course completely ironic that the bike was launched in Europe, where the XR750 never raced and Scott Parker is believed to be a character from Thunderbirds. Over here the XR750 is not perceived as a sporting legend at all, but as an ageing anachronism that has been kept alive by strict AMA rules that do their best to keep Johnny Foreigner out of flat tracking ( which is also seen as an US only sport). The only XR750 that we ever saw in anger over here was ridden by Cal Rayborn in the 1972 Transatlantic match races and certainly didn't look like a Sportster or a flat tracker, but a 'proper' road racer. In my opinion, (for what is is worth), they should have kept the Sportster name for the XR1200 and just renamed the rest of the XL range as the 'Plodder' or the 'Poseur'. For those that haven't ridden the XR1200, please don't write it off too soon. On paper it looks like it won't manage to be that exciting. In reality it is a very well rounded and put together motorcycle that is huge fun to ride and is probably the most important H-D model since the V-Rod, maybe even ever. It is certainly the model that will get buyers crossing over from Sportsbikes in the greatest numbers that H-D have ever seen. It may not be a cutting edge (but uncomfortable) 146bhp sportsbike that requires 100% commitment every time you throw a leg over it, and that is the beauty of it. The brakes are astonishingly good, especially when you consider the weight of the bike and that it has rubber brake hoses, fixed rotors and 'just' twin 4 piston calipers. It just goes to show that when you get something right it doesn't need that much high tech mumbo jumbo. Once the hoses are changed to braided steel and some floating rotors put on they will be even better. What makes this bike a real pleasure to ride is that sports bike riders are surprised to see a sporting Harley, but don't see you as a threat so don't want to race. It is what the Sportster should have been 10 years ago instead of the XL1200S that we got instead. To my knowledge, the XR1200 utilizes the Buell cams in addition to the other parts, but also has heads with different oil passages and so forth. As far as I can ascertain, the XR 1200 uses the XB12 crank, pistons, valves and valve gear. The oil pump looks the same as the 08 XB range as are the cams. The only differences are the cases and the new oil cooled heads, which still use the same combustion chamber shape as the XB. In fact I would not be surprised to see the oil cooled heads on future air cooled Buell models. Gear ratios are identical and primary ratio is the same as the XB9, so could be given longer legs with the XB12 primary ratio. Power is down on UK model XB12's by just 5bhp, and that will be due to the smaller airbox and restrictive exhaust (both of which are being 'sorted' right now). Weight is the major difference, and you can immediately see where the pounds have been piled on. Every component looks like it was carved from pieces of the Golden Gate bridge rather than exotic alloys, and I'm pretty sure that the terms 'unsprung weight' and 'lightweight materials' were phrases unheard in the corridors of Milwaukee during the design brief. But it has a solid appeal, that can easily be improved upon if the fancy takes you, and weight shedding can become an obsession. So far I have weighed every component that I have taken off and am still staggered how they can make things like footrests that heavy! I'm sure there must be an employee at H-D who's sole task is go around adding lead to every component that he can get his hands on! Here are just a few of my favourites so far: Mufflers; 7,5kg (not including heat shields or header pipes!) front mudguard(fender) 1kg front pulley cover 0.7kg rider footrests 0.5 kg Plastic seat/tail unit 2kg Plastic tank cover 0/8kg The list goes on..........and so does the pile of redundant and unused parts in my workshop  In case you are thinking that there is nothing wrong with the XR1200, there is....The rear shocks are absolutely appallingly, shockingly, criminally hard. Even on the softest of preload setting I cannot get the shocks to move more than 1/4", and I am no sylph like figure I can assure you  Why is it that H-D think that 'sporty' and 'rock hard' mean the same thing when it comes to suspension? Thank god for Bitubo. | ||
| Rick_a |
A majority of the guys I see on late model sportbikes including literbikes are younger guys. The biggest caveat there is often the astronomic insurance rates, not the actual price of the motorcycle. I also see a ton of middle-aged folks in Scions...point being that smart people buy what they want regardless of what they try to sell it as or who they try to sell it to. I'm sure there's plenty of older folks that can't afford them, either. ATM I can't afford the bike I want, as we have other priorities. I am a patient man, and it will come in time. | ||
| Thumper74 |
I’m with your XL, I’m your age. I want it. Fully faired bikes don’t do anything for me. I can afford it. I can afford the insurance on it. I don’t think I can bring my self to sell/trade-in my XB12 and I’m really looking for something more versatile like a Uly, XT, Tiger, etc. The same riders who can’t afford it, can’t afford any sportbike then… The 600s are all running around $9,000. The Liter bikers are in the $10,000 price range. The Hyabusa and ZX14R are pushing a little more than the asking price on our 1125CR/Rs. In my opinion, I feel that the XBs are overpriced when new compared to what you get with a Japanese bike of the same price. I feel that the 1125R is an extremely fair price for what you get. All in all, the bikes are appealing to my generation and at a price comparable to it’s competitors. I think the 1125R/CR is going to get it done for Buell. It’s going to attract younger customers who had never even thought about sitting on a Buell, assuming the younger customer is brave enough to go against the grain ride something that appeals to THEM. | ||
| Rick_a |
new oil cooled heads That's nothing new...the oil just finally circulates like it's supposed to. |
