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2007 Buell SuperTT

Posted by Brad Puetz

Saturday, 12 May 2007

Page 1 of 2

Dining with the stars - Brad Puetz ~ Photos to go - Kevin Wing

The evening before the 2007 Buell Lightning Super TT XB12STT press introduction we were invited to dinner with a few of the staff from Buell. All of the people you would expect to see were there. You had Buell marketing reps, event co-coordinators, sales managers and the list goes on. Then in walks someone I didn't expect to see and he sits next to me at the dinner table. He introduces himself as Erik Buell. Well then, this might be a bit of an interesting dinner. I mean really, when is the last time you sat next to Mr. Honda, or Mr. Suzuki. Let's just say the conversation was much more interesting than most of the dinner dates I've been on lately.

Suiting up for my first ride on the newest creation from Buell I wasn't really sure what to expect. I am primarily a racer and even when occasionally riding on the street I am usually on some variation of a supersport track oriented bike. The Buell's have always caught my eye however. I've always been drawn to their unique styling and urban warrior look and the Lightning Super TT is no exception.

The Buell ride started out on California 's Ortega Hwy. a twisty road in Southern California and a good place to see how the SuperTT would handle in the high speed sweeper environment. From the moment you fire up the Buell you can feel the rumble and roar of the Harley motor. There is a slight hiccup off idle when cold but the motor smoothes out into a nice pulsating rhythm soon after ignition.

The new Lightning Super TT is powered by the latest 1203cc Thunderstorm V-Twin power plant and shares the 54-inch wheelbase and 4.7-inch trail figures of its Lightning XB12SS sibling. While not a powerhouse motor, it is a torquey, linear power plant which coupled with the chassis makes for a fun ride around town and on the rough back roads. Blazing through some of the faster sections of Ortega Hwy. however, did have me looking for a few more ponies. The Buell reaches its peak of 103 crank horsepower at 6800 rpm with 84 ft. lbs of torque.

The Lightning Super TT has a fairly high seating position forcing me to tip-toe when maneuvering in parking lots and at intersections. This is mostly due to the increased suspension travel on the SuperTT. Out on the open road the extra suspension travel makes for a plush, comfortable ride.

Despite the high seat height, the center of gravity of the Buell is extremely low, something Buell has worked very hard at creating. The low-slung weight is easy to feel as the SuperTT felt very planted and precise in the fast sweepers.

After getting to the tail end of Ortega Hwy. one of the journalists mentioned he knew of a few secluded “dirty-roads” as he called them so a handful of us went off to ravage the hidden trails. Now I do come from a motocross background but that was many moons ago when it was still stylish to wear hot pink riding gear and open face helmets. So it took me a little while to get comfortable riding this urban streetfighter equipped with Pirelli Scorpion Syncs on the tricky semi-paved fire road complete with small jumps, 6-inch potholes and enough dirt to form berms in the corners.

This type of terrain could easily spell disaster but the Buell and the Pirelli's responded excellent to these trying conditions and were actually giving me a little too much confidence. I caught myself charging a few sandy corners and jumps in the road a little too aggressively and had to remind myself this wasn't a dirt bike I was riding.

To be honest when I first saw the Buell Lightning Super TT XB12STT I was a little skeptical of the Buell's Supermoto abilities due to it's largely street biased appearance, but even with street tires fitted to the Buell I was able to do some pretty serious "dirty-road" riding. These back roads proved to be the ultimate test for the Buell and must have been what the company had in mind when it came up with the concept of the SuperTT.

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