Cheap Buell stuff anyone?

**diggyduo** · 20th January 2010, 06:11

Buell liquidation sale starts Jan 28th. Here is the link for the inventory. Even have a Super Duke and speed triple up for grabs.

http://www.LiquidAssetPartners.com.

Bit of a shame to see another company down the gurgler, whether you liked their bikes or not.

**arj127** · 20th January 2010, 12:01

Interesting Diggy, they dont seem to say anything about Buell parts though

**diggyduo** · 20th January 2010, 18:18

Yeah, looks like you could setup an awesome workshop out of it.

Wonder how they plan to support existing Buell owners now H-D are selling up all the tooling?

**shrub** · 20th January 2010, 20:32

Kind of heartbreaking really. There are a lot of dreams going up in smoke there and Buell made a fine motorcycle.

Fricking HD destroying them!

**ukusa** · 21st January 2010, 13:21

Originally Posted by shrub

Kind of heartbreaking really. There are a lot of dreams going up in smoke there and Buell made a fine motorcycle.

Fricking HD destroying them!

If I had a Buell, I think I'd be shedding a few tears. Can't understand why it wasn't sold as a going concern.

**Mully** · 21st January 2010, 14:48

Originally Posted by ukusa

If I had a Buell, I think I'd be shedding a few tears. Can't understand why it wasn't sold as a going concern.

Probably cos most of the range used Harley engines.

So anyone buying them to keep manufacturing would have to use Harley engines (at least in the short term)

That causes two issues:
Anyone with pockets deep enough to buy the name from Harley wouldn't want to keep throwing money at HD to keep the engine supply
Harley might restrict what products Buell could sell to avoid hurting their own market share.

**ukusa** · 22nd January 2010, 11:18

Originally Posted by Mully

Probably cos most of the range used Harley engines.

So anyone buying them to keep manufacturing would have to use Harley engines (at least in the short term)

That causes two issues:
Anyone with pockets deep enough to buy the name from Harley wouldn't want to keep throwing money at HD to keep the engine supply
Harley might restrict what products Buell could sell to avoid hurting their own market share.

Happens in the car industry though, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini etc all sold to foreigners. Plenty of other engine manufacturers out there.
Maybe the Japs could have bought it, put a Suzuki V twin in it LOL.

**Mully** · 22nd January 2010, 12:24

Originally Posted by ukusa

Happens in the car industry though, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini etc all sold to foreigners. Plenty of other engine manufacturers out there.
Maybe the Japs could have bought it, put a Suzuki V twin in it LOL.

Harley aren't stupid - they would want to protect their market share. Plus they'd sell a few engines to Buell, which doesn't hurt the bottom line.

They'd probably (well, I would) written a lot of very draconian requirements into the contract for sale. Anyone who could afford to buy it wouldn't want to adhere to a lot of the rules.

I don't know for sure, but if the Japs bought it, they'd probably have to reengineer the frames to cope. Which takes time and costs money. Plus, you then have a "non-American" American motorbike. Sales would go through the floor from Johnny American.

Who else has a big air-cooled Vtwin to chuck in it?
Guzzi? V goes the wrong way
Victory? (are they air cooled?) Harley probably wouldn't sell it to them

It's sad, but these things happen. It's like Cadbury being sold to Kraft. End of an era, and all that.

**diggyduo** · 22nd January 2010, 18:21

Hope MV Agusta aren't next in line...

**James Deuce** · 22nd January 2010, 18:48

It's not just the "Harley Engine" thing. Harley-Davidson own Buell's IP, including the new 72 degree Rotax V-Twin in my bike, which I might add, is a thing of fierce beauty. Buell were also embedded in Harley-Davidson's dealer network to the point of being inseparable. It wouldn't surprise me to find that the air-cooled sportster based engine was on the way out at Buell anyway. I'm half convinced that the Rotax will turn up in the next iteration of the V-Rod.

MV Agusta are next in line, but are up for sale, though I would be surprised to see it survive as anything other than a name only holding company given the lack of interest from anyone with proper money.