Sometimes simple is satisfactory, and the Buell’ s TFT is a great example of that. Just what you need, nothing you don’ t.
Roland Sands Design developed an entirely new steel- tube chassis around the Buell powerplant, drawing inspiration from the FXR while creating something designed for modern performance. The Super Cruiser isn’ t trying to recreate the past, but it is borrowing one of the better ideas from it. It’ s nostalgic and modern at the same time.
The Super Cruiser’ s 1,190cc, 72- degree V- Twin produces a claimed 175 horsepower and 94 lb- ft of torque. The engine is derived from the same family of high- performance Buell powerplants that power the company’ s sportbikes but is now installed in a completely different kind of motorcycle.
Cruisers traditionally emphasize low- end torque, relaxed ergonomics, and long, stable chassis geometry. Sportbikes are built around cornering clearance, braking performance, aggressive chassis geometry, and highrevving engines. The Super Cruiser doesn’ t choose between the two.
The production bike weighs 485 lb, according to Buell. It has a 6- inch- wide
rear wheel, FOX suspension, and dual 320mm front brake rotors squeezed by 4- piston monoblock calipers from Brembo. Buell claims 50 degrees of lean angle. Those aren’ t cruiser numbers in the traditional sense, but they are definitely performance motorcycle numbers.
The most impressive thing about the Super Cruiser isn’ t any one component. It’ s the way the components work together. A 175- hp motor would be entertaining in almost anything. But bolting a big engine into a cruiser frame doesn’ t automatically make a good motorcycle. In fact, it can make a terrible one.
The trick is making the chassis capable of using the engine and the power it provides. That’ s what Buell and Roland Sands Design appear to have understood. The Super Cruiser has the stance and visual language of an American cruiser, but underneath that familiar shape is a machine designed to turn, stop, and accelerate with considerably more urgency than the average cruiser.
FXR’ s Logical Extreme & Buell’ s Legacy
Harley’ s FXR earned its reputation as a cruiser that handled better than a traditional big American motorcycle was expected to. Decades later, Buell has taken that same basic premise and asked what it would look like if there were no requirement to use traditional cruiser hardware. The result is lighter wheels, bigger brakes, modern suspension, more ground clearance, a high- performance liquid- cooled engine, and a chain final drive. It’ s a motorcycle that looks like it belongs at a bike night but behaves like it has somewhere very important to be.
There’ s also something significant about Buell carrying this idea forward. Erik Buell built his reputation on doing things differently. Some of his ideas became influential and some misunderstood. Buell’ s motorcycles were defined by engineering decisions that challenged assumptions about what a motorcycle was supposed to look like or how its major components were supposed to work together.
High-performance components make up the underpinnings of the Super Cruiser, with big names like Brembo and FOX handling the braking and suspension.
RIDERMAGAZINE. COM / NOVEMBER 2026 / 37