#BuellXB9RReview

Well lookit that: I was already a Buell apologist 20 years ago. The low-handlebarred XB9R was Buell’s first with the sweet Verlicchi fuel-in-frame design, but it was the XB9S that came out the following year that we still covet. Meanwhile, taste may finally be catching up to the new Ducati 900SS Pierre Terblanche designed in 1998.

Years later, we learned that the 984 cc Sportster-based engine in the Buell XB9R was supposed to have been turbocharged to the tune of 150 horsepower. A last-minute Harley-Davidson-induced change of plan scuttled that, but if  the turbo had happened, the whole arc of Buell would’ve bent much more toward justice. As she stood, the 9R never quite caught on. But we’d still give our left ventricle for a clean XB9S, preferably with blue translucent gas tank cover…