2000 Buell Lightning X1
Miles: 12,781
Clean Title
Listed Price: $6,999
Listing Ends: December 30th, 2024
We’ve featured a few Buells recently, but it honestly seemed a shame to me when the company shifted away from the brutally simple 45° Harley Davidson v-twins to the much higher-performance, liquid-cooled 72° engines found in the EBR machines. I’ve ridden both, and the EBR is obviously the better bike by far, but the older bike was just cooler. This Buell X1 Lightning was an evolution of their earlier S1 Lightning, but with some stylistic updates and, more importantly, fuel injection for the rubber-mounted 1203cc Harley v-twin, although it wasn’t especially refined at lower rpm, and the five-speed box was still very clunky. Luckily, the bike’s otherwise charming character was largely unchanged, and quality Showa suspension made the X1 a real back road weapon. Buells definitely seem to benefit from some basic performance modifications, and this example has had a number of updates to improve said performance. Or, in the case of the freer-flowing exhaust, at least the perception of performance…The honking big snorkel seen here isn’t the most elegant solution, but is far more elegant than the even bigger, honkinger plastic airbox that was fitted from the factory.
How much fun is it possible to have on two wheels? I thought I knew before I was handed the keys to the throbbing, aggressive and ear shattering X1. An up-grade from the S1 White Lighting for 2000, with new dynamic Digital Fuel Injection. The Buell X1 Lightning is one of those bikes that many wouldn’t even consider spending money on. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many have stopped me and asked, “What’s a Buell?” A Buell is the creation of Erik Buell, a long-term employee of Harley-Davidson, who’s burning desire to construct the ultimate race bike lead him to eventually develop and manufacture an American sportbike for the street. From 1982 Harley-Davidson began supplying Buell with engines whilst keeping a watchful eye on Erik and his impressive designs. Holding 49% of the company Harley-Davidson eventually purchased an additional 49% in 1992 leaving Erik Buell retaining 2% and a long term employment contract to ensure continuity of innovation, engineering and styling. The Buell is fast and has the styling to make Monster owners look twice.
Buell’s X1 Lightning represents a bit of a middle child, the final evolution of the tube-framed bike before the company went really crazy and started using an aluminum beam frame to house the fuel and a matching swingarm for the oil… I prefer the earlier bikes and don’t really like the cast aluminum rear subframe seen here, although I’m sure there are plenty of folks who love it. Certainly it’s a striking design element. Overall, I’d expect that this example is priced a bit ambitiously, as it’s being sold by a dealership, so there might be some room to negotiate on the price. Even at that asking price though, this offers a ton of quirky bang for your buck, and critical engine and driveline parts to keep it running can be sourced from your local Harley dealer, making it a practical, if not always perfectly reliable sportbike.
-tad
