EBR Owners Trademark “Black Lightning”

[Hughlysses]

Wow! Hiding in plain sight. Thanks! Intriguing. I mentioned on a different conversation that I had heard the hole in the frame of the original XB was there for a turbo, so it certainly is possible.

The turbo XB is documented in Steve Anderson's article in the May 2010 issue of Cycle World on the demise of Buell, complete with photos.

[Hughlysses]

Pic of the "Diablo" turbo XB12R prototype from the May 2010 Cycle World article:

[Hughlysses]

I just checked the certification listings for motorcycles at EPA.gov:

https://www.epa.gov/compliance-and-fuel-economy-da ta/annual-certification-test-data-vehicles-and-eng ines

There's nothing listed for EBR under 2017 and the only listing under 2016 is the 1190 used in the SX and RX.

I'd guess the manufacturer could request the EPA not to publish results until a new model is released, or it may mean the new engine isn't going to show up yet.

[Scott]

Pic of the "Diablo" turbo XB12R prototype from the May 2010 Cycle World article:

Nice! Thanks! I don't think I've ever seen that before.

[Hughlysses]

Nice! Thanks! I don't think I've ever seen that before.

PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you a PDF of the entire article. It used to be floating around on the web but it appears to have been deleted.

The interesting part is Buell planned to engineer 3 new engines based on the Blast engine architecture, which had a high deck suited for long connecting rods and a short stroke. One would have been ~900cc, one would have been 1300-1350cc, and the final would have been a turbo'ed version of the big engine. Harley was too concerned with the "brand equity" of "883" and "1200" and didn't want to change the fundamentals of the engine.

I guess it never occurred to them they could call the engine whatever they wanted (like some of the BMW models) and optimally engineer it at the same time.

OK, back to EBR...

[Scott]

I just checked the certification listings for motorcycles at EPA.gov:

https://www.epa.gov/compliance-and-fuel-economy-da ta/annual-certification-test-data-vehicles-and-eng ines

There's nothing listed for EBR under 2017 and the only listing under 2016 is the 1190 used in the SX and RX.

I'd guess the manufacturer could request the EPA not to publish results until a new model is released, or it may mean the new engine isn't going to show up yet.

IF they do something that big, it might be a while. Maybe they'll show a prototype or some sketches at the shows to get people interested and then actually release it in a year or so.

[Scott]

PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you a PDF of the entire article. It used to be floating around on the web but it appears to have been deleted.

The interesting part is Buell planned to engineer 3 new engines based on the Blast engine architecture, which had a high deck suited for long connecting rods and a short stroke. One would have been ~900cc, one would have been 1300-1350cc, and the final would have been a turbo'ed version of the big engine. Harley was too concerned with the "brand equity" of "883" and "1200" and didn't want to change the fundamentals of the engine.

I guess it never occurred to them they could call the engine whatever they wanted (like some of the BMW models) and optimally engineer it at the same time.

OK, back to EBR...

Cool! Sending it in a minute. Thanks!

[Purves]

Less than a week... we should be seeing something cool!