Dancing to His Own Tune

Less than five years later EBR has around 140 employees; multi-million dollar backing from Indian giant Hero, one of the world’s biggest motorcycle firms; and a new bike, the 1190RX. Not just any bike: a 185-PS V-twin that weighs 190 kg wet, incorporates some typically innovative features, and is about to go on sale in many countries (at a price close to that of Ducati’s 1199 Panigale), while also being raced in this season’s World Superbike Championship. That’s quite a comeback.

The RX is an evolution of the exotic 1190RS that EBR released a couple of years ago, of which around 150 were sold (almost all in the States) despite costing around $40,000 (Rs 24 lakh). Like the RS, it’s powered by an 1191-cc, DOHC eight-valve V-twin engine with cylinders at 72 degrees, same as the Rotax lump that powered the old Buell firm’s last models, including the 1125R. But Erik bought rights and tooling to build the motors, which are now assembled in his factory in East Troy, Wisconsin, using mostly German components. (Some RX parts are American, including frames from Chicago and bodywork from California.)

The extra capacity over the Rotax unit comes from a three-mm bigger bore that gives dimensions of 106 x 67.5 mm (much closer to the 106 x 67.9 mm of Ducati’s old 1198 unit than to the more oversquare 112 x 60.8 mm of the 1199 Panigale). Instead of desmo valvegear, the RX has what EBR calls Controlled Swirl Induction, by which one of the titanium inlet valves opens slightly earlier than the other, for improved combustion. Alongside that claimed max of 185 PS at 10,600 revolutions per minute is an equally healthy peak torque figure of 137.8 Nm at 8,200 RPM.