Grillini Racing Team will be making a welcome return to World Superbikes after four years and have signed Mark Aitchison as their rider for the upcoming season.

“Atcho” will be riding the 2012 version of the BMW S1000RR that Andrea Grillini will be putting at his disposal and the team will be sponsored by clothing brand Sweet Years.

The Australian rider who spent a season in World Superstock and three seasons in World Supersport, debuted in World Superbikes in 2011 with Kawasaki’s Pedercini Team finishing 19th overall with a 9th place as his best result in race 2 at Imola.

Team Grillini is also working on a CRT that was seen during the post season tests at Valencia with rider Gianluca Nannelli and Federico Sandi. The Italian team however, has yet to be accepted in the 2012 CRT entry list.

Source | bikeracing.it

“You’ve got all these bad ass cars, why don’t we have cool bikes?” Well, Erik Buell is here to fix that conundrum with his EBR 1190RS. We realised we skipped the Buell “Made in America” episode three video from the EBR Nation series, so that’s above, and after the jump is a close look at the bike itself and what it’s like to ride.

Described as looking like an “exotic, high performance machine” on the aesthetic front the EBR 1190RS is up there with some of the best bikes on the market and we’d agree. The great thing about this particular motorcycle is that Erik Buell has made it specifically with racing in mind - it’s about competing and that’s the driving notion behind this bike.

Aside from the technical aspects of the bike and what it’s like to ride, Erik Buell says something very pointed in the video above and that’s about innovation in America. Rather than sitting around “waiting for someone to take care of you”, he and his team have gotten on with the job, being “pioneering” and “willing”, and have produced a great bike doing so. It’s something to be noted in our world of economic downturn and presumptions over job guarantees, and proves that innovation in the 21st century is just as important as it was 100 years ago.

With the new EBR 1190rs again pushing the boundaries in motorcycle manufacturing, it seems appropriate to check out some of the previous Buell creations - even from Harley-Davidson days - to see how Erik Buell has always stayed true to his innovative principles. In fact, probably one of the difficulties with Buell bikes were that they weren’t so approachable at first glance and had to be ridden to be understood.

But there’s something to be said for purist bikes and in these pics we get quite an elegant restoration of a Buell S3 Thunderbolt, whose owner, Alberto says: “It’s a very characteristic motorcycle, with a unique style and personality. Mine is perhaps the only example left in Italy in this condition and I managed to “restore” it with a lot of passion and help from friends who love two-cylinder Buells.”

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

From the Prologue to the making of the EBR 1190RS, we go to another video called “Fingertips” on the new Erik Buell Racing 1190RS bike. The video series - EBR Nation - traces the creation of the new Buell bike and the man himself says he wanted to be “pioneering” and “innovative”.

Does that sound like bragging? Who cares, really, as Erik Buell is probably one who can brag about his engineering prowess. More from Geoff May in the video reveals how good the EBR 1190RS handling is and, despite the research and development that’s gone into it, just how easy it is to ride it fast.

There’s also more on its power delivery, throttle response and traction from Tony Stefanelli, although the video is not loaded with information. At this stage we’ll forgive them all the hyperbole - check it out in the video.

There’s no doubt that the Erik Buell Racing 1190RS is a hot bike and now it looks like we’ll get a series of videos on the making of the EBR 1190RS, starting with this prologue. The new bike from the brain of Erik has made its AMA Pro Superbike racing debut, and now we get to see just exactly what goes into this impressive (and expensive) US sports bike.

The word that Erik Buell “held nothing back on this bike” (from Geoff May) reveal what the man intended to do - come back into the industry and prove exactly what he could make. Luckily for us, it’s not always true that great people have nothing to prove because that’s exactly what they like doing, and these are the kinds of creations we get.

The man himself says “I’m Erik Buell and I do motorcycles”. And we’d like to see more here in Europe, please. Nice video - we’ll be bringing you more if it proves to be a series.

Source | A&R

Bolted-on fairing never looked so good as on the 2012 Erik Buell Racing 1190RS road bike - and it never cost as much, either. The hot new creation from reborn Erik Buell’s racing bike building outfit is going on sale in a limited run of just 100 models in the US, and the base price kicks off at a whopping $39,999 USD. That converts to about 26,650 euros and here in Europe it’s being described as more than justifiable given the engineering prowess behind this machine, and the fact it’s almost a hand-built and designed bike.

The Erik Buell Racing 1190RS superbike is truly a powerful unit with 175 hp and weighing just 176 kg, dry. The roadgoing bike has been based directly on its racing big brother, and with the team focusing on its production, 100 units will be made in the course of 2012. The components are top quality, using an Ohlins front fork, rear TTX shock and a purpose-built EBR braking system. An Erik Buell Racing 1190RS carbonfibre edition is also available (for another $4,000 US). We doubt if any of these will be hitting European roads, but we’d love to see them if they do. 1190RS full technical specs after the jump.

2012 Erik Buell Racing 1190RS

2012 Erik Buell Racing 1190RS Technical Specifications:

Engine:
Type Liquid cooled V twin
Bore X Stroke 4.17 x 2.66 (106 x 67.5 mm)
Displacement 72.6 cu 1190 CC
Compression Ratio 13.6 :1
Fuel Delivery Dual 61mm throttle bodies
Exhaust Primary + Secondary
Peak Torque 97 ft-lbs @ 9400 rpm
Peak Horsepower 175 hp @ 9750 rpm

Drivetrain:
Primary Drive Gear, 36/65
Final Drive 520 Chain, 16/41
Clutch Wet multi-plate, slipper
Transmission Ratios:
1st 2.46
2nd 1.75
3rd 1.38
4th 1.17
5th 1.04
6th 0.96

Dimensions:
Seat Height 30.5″ (775 mm)
Rake 22
Trail 3.4″ (86 mm)
Lean Angle 55
Front Tire 120/70R- 17
Rear Tire 190/55R-17
Fuel Capacity 4.5 gal (17.1 L)
Wet Weight (No Fuel) 389 lbs (176 kg)

Chassis:
Frame Aluminum frame with integral fuel reservoir
Swingarm Optimized stiffness aluminum
Front Suspension 43 mm Öhlins inverted fork, adjustable compression damping, rebound damping adjustable spring preload
Rear Suspension Öhlins fully adjustable TTX coil over monoshock with remote reservoir
Front Wheel 3.5″ x 17″ magnesium
Rear Wheel 6.0″ x 17″ magnesium
Front Brake ISO finned rotor, 8 piston caliper with cooling duct

Pricing:
Colors Abraxas Inferno, Boreas Frost, Burnt Armor or Pitch Black
MSRP $39,999
Carbon Package Add $4,000

Source | A&R

While not being fully involved in the American motorcycle market, and therefore escaping the deep patriotism that seems to go with that territory, we can’t comment on all the goings-on in the Harley-Davidson/Buell saga. What we can say, from our perspective on how things panned out, is that it seems for some reason Erik Buell was like a thorn in the Harley side and so for whatever reason, perhaps because having a brilliant sidekick is not for everyone, HD got rid of its extra brand.

Or rather, they got rid of the person behind the brand and kept some other tidbits for themselves. On Erik Buell being interviewed by Motorcyclist Magazine, the guys at Kneeslider reveal that Harley Davidson did keep quite a few things from the Buell brand, and a large part of that is the name.

What’s in a name? You might think not a lot if Erik Buell manages to make a new brand and we all know the guy and how good he is, so what’s it matter. But quite a lot really if you consider that Harley Davidson has license to the Buell name, allowing Erik to make and sell race bikes under that brand until December 21st. After which it’s anyone’s guess what will happen with the name.

We don’t think it’s exaggerated to underestimate the importance of this brand and its name - it is, after all, inextricably linked to the man who made it. Erik seems to have the right attitude to moving forward though - he has left behind some honest comments about what happened, but hasn’t dwelt on any hard feelings he might have. But it’s got to be disappointing when your very own name which you gave to your brand, is no longer yours. Harley Davidson also kept other rights to some things from the Buell portfolio, too. More after the jump.

One example of an extra thing they kept was the Barracuda 2 street bike and the rights to it. Erik Buell is still working on that bike and wants to go to back to producing street bikes in the future, but it will have to have various modifications made to it as it’s no longer his. We wonder what other kind of intellectual property was left in HD coffers.

From a purely business point of view, Harley Davidson has the prerogative to sell what it wants and keep what it wants based on its past investment, what makes money and future business plans if any. But the way things have been done begs the questions: if Harley has kept some rights to the brand and some motorcycles, could Buell have been profitable? If so, why was it cast off in the way it was? In the future, will Harley do anything with the Buell brand and the associated rights and licenses it has retained?

And on the softer side of things, while Harley has the right within the rules and ethics of business practice to do what it thinks is best, we wonder if they’re comfortable with how things panned out, and whether the guys with lesser money shouldn’t still have equal bargaining power in these kinds of things. Erik Buell recently claimed that he’s not just an engineer and that he understands how a business works and can makes things profitable. We guess he’s probably learned a tough lesson from his dealings with Harley but it looks like you can’t keep him down, so here’s to his spirit of soldiering on, whatever his bikes will be called in the future. Get your naming opportunity in by commenting.

The 2011 Dakar rally has a list of the usual suspects for its motorcycle categories, but with a few changes in the number of participants. Making its presence felt is the new 450cc capacity rules, meaning that KTM has a lot less bikes in the rally this year than previously. There will be a reduction from 126 to 62 KTM bikes, but the flipside is that other manufacturers are increasing their competition, with Yamaha, Honda, Aprilia and BMW all entering extra bikes.

This is not to say that KTM won’t take home the prize in the 2011 Dakar anyway with its new 450 Rally bike; it’s been on a winning run since 2000 after all. Last year, though, it had to share the podium with the new Aprilia RXV 4.5. Meanwhile, news has broken that before Harley-Davidson killed off the Buell brand, there was an Erik Buell 450cc off-road model in the works.

According to an interview between Buell and motorcycle journalist Alan Cathcart, that offroad project is back in the development books. The 450cc Buell offroader uses a single-cylinder Rotax motor and has an aluminium frame, although it may not be the lightest bike in this segment. While Erik Buell Racing is clearly born of track roots and will probably stay that way, it plans on investing specifically in the reliability of its offroad model.

We know that Erik Buell’s engineering talent knows no introduction and while the project will apparently cost much less than the purported millions that HD invested, the new company is still looking for significant financial partners for the future of Erik Buell Racing. Whoever they may be, they will have to allow Buell his head, as he says in the interview that he wants no limits on his creativity. Finally being able to produce bikes that he designed years ago, and taking the fortunes of the new company and its racing enterprise forward, there is room for this small offroad project as well.

Of its 450cc offroad model, Erik Buell says:

Among my projects there are also offroad bikes. I’ve been thinking about making one for a while even if it hasn’t happened yet; but now I’m close to doing that. It will have a special single-cylinder, 450cc Rotax engine. We’re not aiming on producing the lightest bike ever, but a very light one anyway, that is more reliable than competitors’, that needs little maintenance and that it easy to start. It will have an aluminium chassis that will also function as the tank….

Harley Davidson had spent years and many millions of dollars on this project, but then management decided that it wasn’t appropriate for the Buell brand. We knew that many dealers would have appreciated an offroad model in their range, though. The project was stopped between the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 and I think that was the start of the end for Buell.

So it was a simple dirt bike that was the beginning of the end for Buell…? We’ll be very interested to see whether this project gets off the ground, and if we could see a future Erik Buell Racing offroad model in a Dakar rally. That definitely could shake things up a bit.

Source | Dakar blog via HFL, and Motonline via A&R

Another motorcycle brand jumping on the teaser video band wagon (we don’t mind for the moment but how long will this go on for?) is Erik Buell Racing, who has produced this video of its first street-legal bike, the 1190RS. It’s based on the 1190RR track-only bike and should be available from February next year in the US.

The racing bike was originally based on the Buell Barracuda 2 which never made it to production before Harley-Davidson shut down Buell operations, but the new 1190RS will be equipped with a v-twin engine. We’re expecting more videos to come but so far the Americans are not happy with the marketing efforts, saying that this world class, high end bike comes across as a red-neck barn build (from HFL).