Buell Xb9s Lightning

BUELL XB9S LIGHTNING

Too little, too late

Why, you ask, wasn’t a Buell XB9S Lightning included in this comparison? Erik Buell and company are, after all, longtime players in the naked-bike market, having introduced the original S1 Lightning in 1996.

Let’s just say that, like its parent company Harley-Davidson,

Buell is on a different timetable than the other OEMs, its new models coming out in summer rather than winter. So when we approached the nice folks in East Troy, Wisconsin, about testing a 2003 XB9S Lightning in March, we were told that no testbikes were then available—they were already gearing up for ’04. We pressed the issue, but by the time a bike was made ready, we’d concluded our testing.

That’s a shame, because the $9995 Lightning would likely have made a real impact on this group. Particularly on the handling course, where its light 431-pound dry weight, stubby 52-inch wheelbase, superb cornering clearance and tractable, snatch-free power delivery could have given it a shot at victory.

Those same qualities would have helped the Lightning in the street-riding portion of our testing as well. Right up to the point that the minimalist seat wore thin, whereupon we’d have been begging to switch bikes.

Where the Lightning would really have come up short, though, is in performance testing. Its Sportster-derived, 76-horsepower V-Twin gives up nearly 50 ponies to the strongest machines in this nine-pack, and its 12.2-second quarter-mile time is more than a second off the pace. Truth be told, the Buell’s numbers are closest to those of its pushrod brethren, the BMW and Moto Guzzi.

To run with this unruly crowd, what the Lightning needs is an injection of horsepower. Maybe next year, Erik? —Brian Catterson