Why the Buells went...

**Big Dave** · 11th June 2013, 20:20

If a sarcasm falls in a forum and nobody hears it, is it an irony?

**Laava** · 11th June 2013, 20:28

I read the stripped back Harley article and sadly it seems to me that Buells are very unlikely to be a mainstream bike in the near future. For a start Erik has had the Buell brand taken by Harley and prob will never get it back. Secondly he has been planning on bringing three new models to the general public but has been only able to front up with a very special street race bike. It will be a miracle if he can stay in business. I for one would absolutely love to see him succeed, but look at the number of new bike manufacturers that we see produce a road going prototype but then drop from view. Ie that american v four sport bike.

**Berries** · 11th June 2013, 23:08

I must say, I thought the HD branded linked advertising was quite clever.

**leeroy996** · 11th June 2013, 23:49

Originally Posted by Laava

It will be a miracle if he can stay in business. I for one would absolutely love to see him succeed, but look at the number of new bike manufacturers that we see produce a road going prototype but then drop from view. Ie that american v four sport bike.

Agree, margins are tight for street bikes. I think EBR will exist for a long time but end up a niche player like Bimota; it will never reach the levels of the HD backed Buell.

**Grizzo** · 12th June 2013, 04:08

Interesting read, cheers for posting.

**motogpwerks Chris** · 12th June 2013, 06:19

The article was penned from another on motorcycle dealer news .
I know Eric really well as im the only dealer for EBR here in L.A and i help with all the fuel injection (motec)on the race bikes for Ama.
Buell wasn't losing money,they made money.
All off H.D R&D costs all went on buell books ,including lemons like the V-Rod (125million) this is why buell was averaging 45-65 million loss each year.This was to make the H.D books look average during there restucture.
What also they won't say is there is a wharehouse owned by H.D finance dept in long beach with approx 25,000 units that have been repo during the past 4 years off the recession from the west coast off America and won't be released due to flooding a market thats barely hanging on.
The market is flooded with H.D's most people who brought them lost them through the recession including there houses very little are buying new bikes.Alot off dealers are now selling overseas without H.D wishes mostly to thailand and malaysia as there import laws recently changed.
H.d is the No.1 selling motorcycle in The U.S closely followed by polaris & honda.
There is some mega dealers like Chaparral & Berts who are still selling 950-1100 units per month with over 200 staff at the dealership but most single line dealerships have folded and this with 20million people and perfect riding 362 days a year.
H.D is also the only motorcycle brand not once but twice getting a hand out to get through the recession unlike the other brands that didn't from the Govt.
When it comes to owning a EBR ,maybe 3 years ago when it was new to the industry but not now.The bike is outdated ,yes they made 100 off them but i know off 30 that haven't sold and 15 or so were turned to race bikes.The motor was used from excess stock from the HD years (1125r) and then pulled apart (bigger jugs,cams, forged pistons) and reassembled.The chassis is pretty close to the old 1125r .The worst part is the wheels they are maganesuim and are sand casted and are very rough also if you look carefull the wheels don't match from the front to the back.
They did get a cash influx from hero brand a india motorcycle company that EBR works for to pay the wages.The company also got a 20million cheque for development through the local govt but think that there is a average joe buell coming is still up in the air as funding has caught up as well as other companys have surpassed them in design and the track.

**leeroy996** · 12th June 2013, 07:32

Interesting; so EBR are probably going to drop out of AMA?

**Str8 Jacket** · 12th June 2013, 08:01

Originally Posted by Big Dave

If a sarcasm falls in a forum and nobody hears it, is it an irony?

Well irony is the opposite to wrinkly, right? I thought only wrinklies rode Harleys?!?!

**motogpwerks Chris** · 12th June 2013, 09:33

I doult if EBr will leave AMA,This year they had the funding by Hero to race a season off WSB but due to the bike having really no electronic package this was just a dream.My friend was running cosworth (torrance,now closed and cosworth i up for sale for 125milloin when the owner paid 1 million for it off ford) and he was helping them since cosworth owns P.I which is what alot off wsb/motogp/F1 use for electronics nowdays but again you still need someone to drive the electronics and most techs have left the ama paddock and moved on overseas or just sick off it like myself.
The only reason he EBr had success is that AMA pulled back the spending on superbike by factory teams to futher gain more bikes on the grid but that didn't happen as the factory teams left.When i was at yoshimura it cost just as much to build a superbike than a supersport over the 3-4 year model run,the supersport needed serious man hours to extract Hp through engine development as well suspension development/tuning.Where a wsb superbike is just bolt up and go,most off the parts are already proven from the factory.Usually most parts can be used throughtout that model run off 3-4 years to keep costs down.

**Drew** · 12th June 2013, 10:08

Originally Posted by motogpwerks Chris

I doult if EBr will leave AMA,This year they had the funding by Hero to race a season off WSB but due to the bike having really no electronic package this was just a dream.My friend was running cosworth (torrance,now closed and cosworth i up for sale for 125milloin when the owner paid 1 million for it off ford) and he was helping them since cosworth owns P.I which is what alot off wsb/motogp/F1 use for electronics nowdays but again you still need someone to drive the electronics and most techs have left the ama paddock and moved on overseas or just sick off it like myself.
The only reason he EBr had success is that AMA pulled back the spending on superbike by factory teams to futher gain more bikes on the grid but that didn't happen as the factory teams left.When i was at yoshimura it cost just as much to build a superbike than a supersport over the 3-4 year model run,the supersport needed serious man hours to extract Hp through engine development as well suspension development/tuning.Where a wsb superbike is just bolt up and go,most off the parts are already proven from the factory.Usually most parts can be used throughtout that model run off 3-4 years to keep costs down.

I don't like this guy, he seems to know what he's on about.

Love the SRAD behind the Buell by the way.

**Geeen** · 12th June 2013, 11:35

Originally Posted by Drew

I don't like this guy, he seems to know what he's on about.

Love the SRAD behind the Buell by the way.

Hahahahahahaha!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Drew again.

**jasonu** · 12th June 2013, 15:31

[QUOTE=James Deuce;1130561804

I wouldn't know. I haven't really been bothering to keep up with developments in potato-potato-land, because most of the owners are wankers, and the concept seems dated, irrelevant, and massively overindulgent.[/QUOTE]

You don't see that attitude much over here. Pretty much all bikers, no matter what the ride, all wave to each other on the road.