This nameplate was introduced for the 2009 model year as the café-racer styled sibling to the liquid-cooled 1125 sportbike. It took the same Helicon-based 1125 platform and repackaged it with a more upright, stripped-back streetfighter attitude, trading the full fairing look of the earlier road-oriented model for a minimalist front end and wider handlebars. That made it the more relaxed, visually traditional member of Buell’s final generation of motorcycles, while still keeping the brand’s emphasis on handling, chassis innovation, and a distinctive V-twin character.
The model arrived late in Buell’s Harley-Davidson era, during the short-lived 1125 period that represented a major technical departure from the company’s earlier air-cooled, Sportster-derived machines. In practice, it served as both a stylistic alternative and an enthusiast-focused roadster, aimed at riders who wanted the 1125 performance package in a less race-replica form. Production was brief, ending after the 2010 model year when Buell’s original motorcycle operations were discontinued. As a result, the 1125CR is remembered as a transitional machine: one of the last Buell street models built before the brand’s shutdown, and one of the clearest expressions of Buell’s late-era engineering and design direction.