#BuellXB12R

Harley-Davidson can’t seem to catch a break lately. The Motor Co. has come under fire for a multitude of different reasons, but mostly because everyone’s a bunch of whiners. That’s right, I said it. It seems like most people complaining about all the new Harley-Davidsons aren’t people who would consider buying one anyway, so what’s the point in voicing your displeasure other than for kicking someone while they’re down? Didn’t your parents raise you better? One of the new models coming out is the Street Fighter, which we can expect sometime in 2020, but Harley-Davidson, under Erik Buell’s leadership, used to build some pretty wicked bikes that were easily transformed into badass street fighters. Unfortunately, though, they went the way of the dinosaur.

I’ve always been a fan of anything that’s different or sets you apart from the rest of the pack, and it was for this reason I decided many moons ago to buy a Buell. I also grew up in a Harley family, so it was a natural choice. I was 17 when I got my first Buell, a 2003 XB9S. God I loved that bike, and I modified it quite heavily in the following years. After going through and upgrading the motor with higher-compression pistons, a five-angle valve job, porting, polishing, a better-breathing modified air intake, freer-flowing Randy Hawkins exhaust, more aggressive Andrews cams and a remapped ECU, it was cranking out 110 hp to the wheel – it was pretty wicked, and it sounded awesome on the pipe with the throttle pegged. And that’s just what was done to the motor.