HD Shutting down Buell

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I'm gonna hold on for a buyout from Hero and/or BRP.

Sad, tho, Erik was the innovator who kept the Sportster motor as good (not very) as it is. His work on it for the XP is not the standard Sportster motor. Wonder if Harley has him contractually committed to them?
 
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I'm gonna hold on for a buyout from Hero and/or BRP.

Sad, tho, Erik was the innovator who kept the Sportster motor as good (not very) as it is. His work on it for the XP is not the standard Sportster motor. Wonder if Harley has him contractually committed to them?
I seem to remember hearing that he did not renew his contract, but in the video he mentions continuing to help design HD bikes. :shrug2: Watching the video sure seems like BMC is dead and gone.
 

Phartz

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Re: Buell is finished.

That's a bummer. I doubt I ever would have bought one but it was interesting to follow their story and the bikes were something different to behold.

:06biker: :06biker: :06biker:
 
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A Honda mechanic I knew back in South Dakota owned a Buell. Heck of a nice guy. He offered to let me ride his Buell back in '96. I didn't know him very well so at first I declined. He said go ahead so I went for it. The bike had torque like no other I have ridden. It was a hooligan bike, for sure. I would have gotten in too much trouble owning it but I was impressed.

I hate to see any manufacturer go out of business. Competition is a great thing.

I rooted for Erik from the first time I saw one of his bikes in Cycle World.

Feel sorry for all the great people at Buell that are out of a job in this terrible economy.
 

Byron

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Re: Buell is finished.

I wonder how much of their going out of business has to do with Harley-Davidson?

When they came out with the 1125R I was impressed because it didn't have a HD motor like the majority of their earlier bikes. I've thought long about buying one. Guess I should make up my mind soon.
 

Scooter

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Feel sorry for all the great people at Buell that are out of a job in this terrible economy.
The gal that lives next door to me works in their Engineering department. They have been on pins and needles for awhile now. This will not be good for them. :(
 
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Re: Buell is dead...

Mark,
My sense is that Buell will be reborn somewhere else..
and you know what...getting divorced frmo Harely may be the best thing that happens to Buell...I do like their bikes
That's my hope, but the more I think about it, I'm thinking Buell will be gone for quite a while if not forever. First, who would HD be willing to sell Buell to and at what price? Do you allow, say Polaris, one of your chief competitors access to, arguably, your best technology and ideas? I'm guessing not. Aren't there other manufacturers buying engines from Bombardier? They might not like it if their supplier became a competitor. Buell going out on their own (with a deep-pocketed investor) would be difficult at best seeing as they would no longer have a dealer network. Great, I just made myself sick again :D
 
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Re: Buell is dead...

That's my hope. It would be nice to see Buells sold in shops where the salespeople might actually know more about the bikes than the customers. :rolleyes:
What fantasy land do you live in?:D I've never stepped into that shop!
 
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Lots of comments about liking them but not so much on actually owning one so is it really a surprise.
Kind of like when a mom and pops goes under due to a chain. They wish they were still around but nobody shopped there.
Oh Well
 

EASt

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Re: Buell is dead...

Mark,
My sense is that Buell will be reborn somewhere else..
and you know what...getting divorced frmo Harely may be the best thing that happens to Buell...I do like their bikes
This is a great thought. I think Buell, if possible, can get better from this situation.
 

veefore

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Just think.....the 1125R will now be called the ALL NEW Sportster :rolleyes::new::BDH:
 

Snowman

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Wow, sad for the workers, Eric has some good ideas and I hope he aligns with another manufacturer for some decent engines. The HD engines really didn't help his cause.
 
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Re: Buell is dead...

Mark,
My sense is that Buell will be reborn somewhere else..
and you know what...getting divorced frmo Harely may be the best thing that happens to Buell...I do like their bikes
+1 What did HD actually bring to the table for Buell at this point anyway? It sure wasn't dealer support (even though they pretended that it was.)
 

veefore

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Re: Buell is dead...

+1 What did HD actually bring to the table for Buell at this point anyway? It sure wasn't dealer support (even though they pretended that it was.)
$$$$$$$$There's no way they had the sales volume to support engineering, advertising etc.- Harley had the :money1:
 
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Re: Buell is dead...

$$$$$$$$There's no way they had the sales volume to support engineering, advertising etc. Harley had the :money1:
I'm not an accountant, so I'm probably reading this wrong. But, for the nine months ending 9/27/2009, it looks like net revenue for Buell/MV Augusta was up by $3.295 million dollars over the same period in 2008. In this economy, I think that's pretty good. I know Buell/MV Augusta are just a drop in the bucket of the overall HD business, but I don't think they were costing the mothership money.

http://investor.shareholder.com/sec/...&CompanyID=HDI
 

veefore

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Re: Buell is dead...

I'm not an accountant, so I'm probably reading this wrong. But, for the nine months ending 9/27/2009, it looks like net revenue for Buell/MV Augusta was up by $3.295 million dollars over the same period in 2008. In this economy, I think that's pretty good. I know Buell/MV Augusta are just a drop in the bucket of the overall HD business, but I don't think they were costing the mothership money.

http://investor.shareholder.com/sec/...&CompanyID=HDI
In that case the decision makes no sense........instead of pushing the engineering envelope they're sticking with nostalgia - long live the empire.
 
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Lots of comments about liking them but not so much on actually owning one so is it really a surprise.
Kind of like when a mom and pops goes under due to a chain. They wish they were still around but nobody shopped there.
Oh Well
why do your posts read so angry all the time???:confused::(
 
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