Innovation in motorcycling doesn’ t always mean inventing something that has never existed before. Sometimes it means refusing to accept that the pieces have to stay where everyone has always put them. The Super Cruiser follows that philosophy.
The new Buell Motorcycle Co. is carrying forward a name associated with unconventional engineering, but it isn’ t just trying to recreate Erik Buell’ s motorcycles. Instead, it is taking that legacy of experimentation and applying it to a segment of the market that has become remarkably predictable.
In a sense, Buell is using the Super Cruiser to create its own category of motorcycling. Call it a performance cruiser. Call it a muscle bike. Call it an FXR for the 21st century. Call it whatever you want.
The problem is that none of those descriptions quite captures it, and that’ s a good thing. Motorcycles tend to get organized into categories because categories make them easy to understand. Sportbike. Cruiser. Standard. Adventure bike. Touring bike. But the most interesting motorcycles are often the ones that make those categories uncomfortable.
The Super Cruiser has the visual language of a cruiser without behaving like a traditional cruiser. It has superbike performance without looking like a superbike. It has modern engineering without hiding behind layers of electronic intervention or futuristic styling. It is simultaneously familiar and completely strange, which is incredibly difficult to pull off.
Why the Super Cruiser?
Ultimately, the Motorcycle of the Year isn’ t about choosing the motorcycle with the biggest engine, the highest horsepower figure, or the most expensive components. It’ s about recognizing the motorcycle that makes us think differently and the one that makes us feel something.
The Buell Super Cruiser does that. It takes a classic American motorcycle idea and strips away the assumptions that have accumulated around it. It asks why a cruiser can’ t be light. Why it can’ t corner. Why it can’ t have serious brakes and suspension. Why a big V- Twin can’ t rev to the moon. Why a motorcycle with the silhouette of an old- school street bruiser can’ t have the performance of a modern sportbike.
And then it answers those questions with 175 horsepower and a grin- inducing chassis. It’ s nostalgic without being retro and modern without being sterile. And, most importantly, it’ s different.
Motorcycling doesn’ t move forward simply because someone makes the next version of what already exists. It moves forward when someone takes a familiar idea, turns it sideways, and asks what else it could become.
For 2026, that motorcycle is the Buell Super Cruiser. That’ s why it is Rider’ s Motorcycle of the Year.
The silhouette of an’ 80s FXR with the accoutrements of a modern-day superbike.
38 / NOVEMBER 2026 / RIDERMAGAZINE. COM