White Lightning
WHITE LIGHTNING
Big news from Buell for 1998 is the addition of a special-edition, hi-po version of the S1 Lightning. Done up in pearl-white bodywork, white-painted frame and white Marchesini wheels, the new bike is dubbed, appropriately, the White Lightning. It will sell for $10,595, some $600 more than the standard S1.
Already one of Cycle World's favorite hooligan hikes in Si guise, this Lightning should he even more wheehe-prone thanks to newly developed "Thunderstorm" high-flow cylin der heads with recontoured combustion chambers, bigger valves, and redone intake and exhaust ports. Press materials claim 101 horsepower at the crank, along with 90 footpounds of torque. Factory sources tell us that translates into just under 90 ponies at the rear wheel, an impressive gain of almost 10 hhp over CW's previous Si testhuke The same heads will he installed on all 1998 S3 and S3T Thunderbolts
Other changes include fitment of a 5.5-gallon "Manta-Ray" fuel tank lifted from the S3 line (the standard Si holds 1.5 gallons less), special-edition graphics and a stainless-steel muffler. Like the rest of the Buell lineup for `98, Nissin brakes are used at both ends, the front a six-piston unit. White Lightning options include a two-up "Twintail" seat, a soft-luggage system, clip-on bars, billet footpegs and rearsets, as well as a variety of racing-only engine parts.
