Modern race bikes aren’t usually on our watch list. But when we came across this scorcher, we just had to share.
The number plate and slick tires are not just for show. This is a bona fide, track-only machine?powered by a tuned Buell XB engine and put together by a man who knows how to make bikes go very fast indeed.

It’s the work of Bottpower?a Spanish shop headed up by David Sánchez. David’s an experienced race engineer, and come race season, you’ll find him doing time on the European Superbike circuit.
He’s poured all that experience into Bottpower’s latest release: the XR1R, powered by a 1203cc Thunderstorm motor.

If you’re not familiar with Bottpower’s work, we’ll fill you in: they specialize in bikes built on the Buell XB platform, and also develop and sell hard parts and kits. They’re bikes that we dream about owning, but wouldn’t know what to do with if we had them. The XR1R is essentially a race-spec (read: more awesome) version of their street-based, tracker-inspired XR1. ?We see it as a big supermoto bike,? says David, ?which feels at home on twisty tracks.?

The XR1R also does double duty as a ‘Bottpower laboratory bike,’ acting as a test-bed for new parts. And the first of these new parts is a prototype titanium frame.
Bottpower bikes forsake the stock Buell XB twin-spar frame for a steel backbone design, using the engine as a stressed member. One of their loyal clients recent...