Buell to go

That's a shame...I really do like Buells! Couldn't afford one now like, but then again that's probably why they went out of business...not enough sales!

bloody hell. Erik Buell seemed properly gutted.

I think they may get bought out at some point, I doubt they're laden with debt as a small firm, Harley will have supplied that. May be good in the long run as if they were to be purchased they may stop using archaic Harley engines and develop some pretty special kit!

Originally Posted by sauluk

bloody hell. Erik Buell seemed properly gutted.

Hardly surprising when he's just had accountants and businessmen close down the business that he's spend 26 years building up, and he's probably just had to make his team redundant too.

[_Stretchie_]

Originally Posted by sauluk

May be good in the long run as if they were to be purchased they may stop using archaic Harley engines and develop some pretty special kit!

They have mate, the 1125's have a liquid cooled Buell engine in, not a Harley engine and it's a goodun

[squirrel_hunter]

This is such a shame. Buell have made some really good machines and tried new ideas and technologies. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to ride most of their final range. The 1125R, their Superbike is fantastic, I almost bought one and one day hope to have one in my garage.

The problem with Buell has aways been Harley-Davidson the parent company. They have never given Buell the support that it deserved and have been the engineers of its demise. Almost everybody I've spoken to about Buell slate it for having a Harley engine, but then almost everybody who I talked to who has ridden one has praised it. Then they developed the 1125, all of the technology and handling but with a non Harley engine. It is a bike that can take on the established Superbike offerings and hasn't done to badly in its first year in AMA. They built a contender and what did they do with it? Nothing.

Where was the 1125R in the usual Superbike reviews in magazines? Why did no one know about the bike? Where are the bikes in the shops? The problem is that Harley held the purse strings they refused to advertise the bike and publicize it. Bikes don't appear in magazines and reviews for free. And Harley didn't want to spend the money.

But it didn't just stop at magazine publicity. The race team for the AMA was a privateer team. Harley did not support them properly. And for a Superbike the best form of publicity is trophies and race wins, the idea is this is translated into sales. But then there is the problem of buying one, Harley ask all of their dealers to take Buell in, it is a condition of their franchise. But go in to a Harley dealer and if your lucky there may be one or two Buells tucked away in the corner. The Harley dealer would say its due to them not shifting, the Buell dealer will say its because its tucked away.

So why are they tucked away? Simple, money, profit. Harley makes roughly £3000 on each bike that they sale, before the extra chrome that most customers add. A Buell, even an 1125R will only contain around £700 profit for the dealer. So they are simply not as profitable and are tucked away. They do not sale and are unwanted by the Harley dealers, thus the cycle begins. If they publicized the bikes better I'd bet they'd sale more and thus economy of scale comes into play.

I really think that Buell has so much more possibilities and I hope that the man behind the bike, Erik Buell would leave Harley behind as they have only dragged him down. That way I hope that Buell can get back to making motorbikes and Harley can get back to making toys.

[Wideboy]

what a shame, was thinking of one aswell

[_Stretchie_]

I still want a Lightening

[Wideboy]

Originally Posted by _Stretchie_

I still want a Lightening

buy me on and i'll tell you what they're like

[dizzyblonde]

Buells are great. Absolute cult classic.

Shame. Poor guy looks genuinely gutted. I know a couple of Buellers, had one or two parked on the drive. Lovely dinky little things with a lot of menace for the wrong hands.

So basically they've killed this:


in favour of this: