THE new Buell Lightning CityX XB9SX was bred to rule the streets. The Lightning CityX gives the innovative Buell Lightning platform a tough new profile and offers performance that's especially suited to urban riding - a combination of agile handling and muscular mid-range power.

"The Lightning CityX is our urban streetfighter, a bike that's especially suited for aggressive city riding," said Erik Buell, chairman and chief technical officer at Buell Motorcycle Company. "This is a bike for the rider who loves to dodge traffic, power away from lights and utilize the incredible agility of a sport motorcycle to charge through the asphalt jungle."

The exclusive black-and-blue styling of the Lightning CityX establishes an attitude for the motorcycle and its rider: rugged, no-nonsense, ready for streetfighting. The Hero Blue airbox cover and flyscreen are made of a new Translucent plastic that gives the bike colour but also allows some mechanical elements to be visible through the material.

This first use of a "see-through" styling element on a Buell motorcycle makes the Lightning CityX the ultimate naked bike. The gauge faces and perforated tail insert are also blue, and at night the instruments have a subtle blue glow. To better camouflage urban grime, the Lightning CityX features Villain Black cast aluminium wheels and a Midnight Black chin fairing and front fender. Pirelli Scorpion Sync tyres feature an aggressive tread pattern for outstanding grip over the everchanging urban street-scape.

To handle the urban elements, the Lightning CityX is equipped with handlebar deflectors and a headlight grille. A new Skyline seat and a wide Villain Black handlebar with a Supermotard-style crossbar, promote a comfortable, upright riding style perfect for viewing the traffic ahead. The soft-rubber Buell X Guard protects the airbox cover when the rider's tank bag is mounted on the motorcycle.

The heart of the Lightning CityX is its Buell Thunderstorm 984 engine, an air/oil/fancooled, 984cc 45-degree fuel-injected V-Twin that's lightweight, narrow in profile and tuned to deliver the kind of mid-range power an urban rider can use to dart through traffic, merge with authority and out-muscle the masses from stoplight to stoplight. Peak output is 83 hp (62kW)* and a thumping 64 ft. lbs (85.6Nm)* of torque, delivered through a smooth, durable drivebelt.

The engine is mounted in a Buell Lightning chassis that's especially well-suited to the cut-and-thrust action of urban riding. An ultra-short 52-inch (1320mm) wheelbase, 21-degree fork angle and 85mm of trail gives the Lightning CityX razor-sharp reflexes. The front wheel features the powerful Buell Zero Torsional Load brake system, with a 375mm insideout rotor and a six-piston caliper, suspended by a fully adjustable 43mm Showa inverted fork.

The Lightning CityX is ready to take the hole-shot at every green light, dart around potholes, split lanes of strangled traffic and drift through the tightest lines the urban jungle has to offer. The Lightning CityX XB9SX is the latest expression of the Buell Trilogy of Tech design philosophy, focused on three elements: frame rigidity, mass centralization and low unsprung weight.

The final key to the uncanny agility of both Lightning models is a chassis geometry that combines a 21-degree fork angle and 83mm of trail with a compact, 52-inch (1320mm) wheelbase. Fifty-two percent of the bike's mass is carried on the front wheel. The result is a sport motorcycle with the quick reflexes of a GP racer, a bike that will flick into a corner instantly and hold a line that other sportbikes can't touch.

The Buell belt drive features an additional idler pulley that ensures a constant path length of the belt. All the well-known advantages of a belt drive, such as smoothness, durability and maintenance ease, are enhanced with this new configuration. However, the most significant advantage of this new technology is the total absence of any lash in the transmission thus optimising power control. Furthermore, the constant belt geometry limits the influence of the secondary transmission to the rear suspension.