Sometimes what you see is what you get, but it’s not always as easy as that. Take one of the most misunderstood motorcycle brands of recent times, Buell motorcycles, and try to remember the last time you ran into one on the road. Unfortunately it’s not that often considering total Buell production numbered just over 137,000 bikes and that’s too bad. They were an interesting brand as a whole with lots of innovative features and likable sporty styling, but being the red-headed step-child of Harley-Davidson meant that few hard core H-D freaks were ever going to find themselves onboard a Buell. But, like everything, there’s always an exception and that’s what we have here.

The 2003 Buell XB9R you’re looking at comes from the first year of production of the alloy frame series that featured the fuel tank in the aluminum beam frame and the unitized engine/tranny oil in the swingarm. That’s two production bike innovations in just one sentence and there’s quite a few more. They were a black and white bike with people either loving them and exalting their virtues to anyone who would listen or people hated them basically not even admitting they might have Harley roots in any way. There was no gray area when it came to Buells.

  Actually, that was too bad as the bikes were not bad, but they were neither Harleys nor super high performance sportbikes. They lived in V-twin limbo land except for their hardcore owners who tended to understand and appreciate them for what they were ─ a fun to ride fast street bike that was different than anything else out there. Unfortunately they became yesterday’s news and the fodder for a lot of Buell-engined bobbers. But, some guys like Tom Reay of Lovingston, Virginia, the owner of Barnett’s Magazine Online’s XB9R Firebolt feature bike still burn the Buell flame and ride the hell out of them both on the street and the track.

  In Tom’s case, the track is the East Coast Timing Association’s Ohio Mile in Wilmington, Ohio, where the bike racing under the Old Fart Racing banner set a record for its class at 134.3284mph. Not too shabby for a bike that’s also Tom’s daily rider on the mean streets of Lovingston. Even though it appears to be a stock XB9R to most people’s eyes, there’s been a bunch of custom work done by Tom himself both on the performance and the custom sides.

   Tom stripped the Buell frame of its original finish gray finish and polished it up until sunglasses are needed if you’re within 20-feet of it on a sunny day. That polishing continued with other bits like the foot peg hangers, forks, foot controls, and more tiny bits throughout the bike joining in to Tom’s aluminum blingfest on two wheels. When you first look at it, you know it’s different, but not sure what makes the difference. I’d have to say there were a lot of lonely nights where Tom’s polishing fingers were busy trying to wear themselves into a nub just to keep the pack rat in him happy.

   The Sportster-based 984cc Buell engine is still stock size even though making it a 1200cc is no big deal and definitely worth it on the street, but racing rules kept it stock for the 1000cc class Tom races in. He did rip off the stock XB9R 45mm throttle body and replaced it with the 49mm version on the XB12R along with the 12’s air box (somehow signed by Erik Buell) which he modified even further for better air flow. He replaced the stock headers with some swap meet ceramic-coated oversize header pipes of unknown origin that flowed better into the Drummer “muffler” which is something kinda special just on its own.

   Kevin Drum of KD Fab in Statesville, North Carolina, specializes in reworking stock Buell mufflers until they turn out more power than they have a right to. According to Kevin, “We split it open gut it out and work our magic to make it flow, sound and look better. When we are done it weighs seven-pounds less, is shorter, and has a new heat resistant paint job. Power gains are achieved throughout the entire rev range, especially the bottom end.” All it takes to get it to its best is a race tuned ECM and a full flow air filter and Kevin had plenty of power for the record run and for everyday riding. This is no hand grenade of a race mill, just a Buell living up to its 984cc potential.

   The rest of the bike is pretty stock even down to the belt drive although it does use the primary sprocket off a 1200cc Buell. That was a surprise for me as I figured anything racing had to have a chain final drive just for gearing changes, but what do I know anyway? Besides, it is Tom’s daily rider like I gotta remind you again. It’s still got stock paint and it rides and handles like old Erik intended and from the time I’ve spent on them, that’s not a bad thing.

  Like any true motorcyclist, Tom is not through modifying his Buell with more performance to come and hopefully more records too. You can’t keep a guy down once he’s got racing in his blood, especially when he’s the patron of his own group racing under Old Fart Racing. You just can’t deter an old fart from doing whatever he wants and that’s a good thing as far as this old fart is concerned.