The Hellbender - 145 horsepower Buell XB

The Buell is one of the most distinctive and sweetest-handling motorcycles available, but with its motive force provided by a decidedly outdated Harley Davidson pushrod motor it's easy to yearn for a few more horses. Enter the Hellbender, arguably the ultimate answer in Buell XB customising.

The Prototype Hellbender is the creation of German Buell parts specialist Hillbilly Motors. Shown for the first time at last week's Fighterama show in Germany, the Hellbender has a turbo-charged 1430cc M-TeK motor producing 145 horsepower. Though fitted with an ultra-wide rear wheel, the Hellbender still has more than enough power to smoke the nine inches wide 240 Metzler tyre with a whopping 165 Nm of torque.

The visually-stunning Hellbender is the creation of Tom Matzerath and Jens Krüper, who have used the short tail section and longer front to give the Buell a stretched look.

Krüper told Gizmag, "We're not sure which of these parts will be manufactured and sold to the public at this stage, but the tail section and the rear wheel/tyre kit will become available for sure."

"Most of the parts we used on the bike are already available, such as BKG triple clamps, Gilles Tooling footpegs, CR Performance and Ironmachine covers, Sprockets and Belttensioner from Free Spirits, and the Razorblade rear disc from Stewart Walter," said Krüper.

The HillBilly Short-track tail kit is available now, and is 70mm shorter than the normal XB tail section. The tail comes as a complete kit with a new cast aluminium tail section and a fiberglass seat-section, plus a new under tray.

The idea was to show what is possible when you go over all limits and elevate to the next level of building an individual bike.

We hope that the Hellbender project will give other bike builders and owners ideas for what is possible. After finishing work and promotion, the Hellbender will be for sale.

Price will be 27.000 Euro or US $35,000.

More info at: http://www.hillbilly-motors.com/html/hellbender_1.html