Buell no more?!?!

Flashmonkey · October 15th, 2009, 07:27 AM

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

Just saw this on another forum that I'm part of. This is pretty shocking and sudden if true. Can anybody else confirm or deny this?

Here's a link with some more info: http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum...d.php?t=101829

HKr1 · October 15th, 2009, 07:49 AM

Wonder why they dont sell it off like MV?

Nny · October 15th, 2009, 07:59 AM

http://www.buell.com/en_us/

camaroz1985 · October 15th, 2009, 08:30 AM

That stinks. Didn't plan on buying one any time soon, but they were interesting bikes. Guess if I ever get one it will be used.

So Harley can't sell their own P.O.S. bikes so they sell off or discontinue their other brands so they can "focus on growth through the Harley-Davidson brand"? I'm sure Buell and MV weren't selling all that great, but I would much rather see them around.

Mista Bob · October 15th, 2009, 08:40 AM

It's sad to see them go.
They were a great company making unique bikes and brought some great innovations to the table.

It's stupid how Buell gets the shaft so Harley can continue to make their overpriced stone age tech land yacht motorcycles.

patw · October 15th, 2009, 09:34 AM

I think part of their problem was marketing. A few years ago, when I was just getting into the sport I knew (and trusted) names like Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, but I'd never even heard of Buell.

When I went out to buy my first bike I didn't stop off at the HD dealer expecting a sport bike manufacturer to be in the same showroom.

Even to this day, I have no clue what makes their bikes special.

backinthesaddleagain · October 15th, 2009, 09:42 AM

Never rode on, nor really looked at them that much, but hate to see a company fold. And they did have some interesting twists even if those twists werent for everyone. Employees of the factory and dealers losing jobs. Tough economy.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 09:54 AM

It's all my fault! You see I bought one and in so doing it I was doomed for eventual failure and obviously brought the entire company down with my purchase.

Well I will say that this truly sucks!

Flashmonkey · October 15th, 2009, 09:54 AM

I've never ridden a buell either, but their bikes were definitely interesting. I also know that they had some success in the AMA this year. I'm personally sad to see these guys fold, as their ideas and bike designs were unique. I'm definitely blaming HD's inability to market the Buell brand and other such "incompitency" issues that they have for this.

patw · October 15th, 2009, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_E

It's all my fault! You see I bought one and in so doing it I was doomed for eventual failure and obviously brought the entire company down with my purchase.

Well I will say that this truly sucks!

It looks like they'll still support your warrantee and repair work through HD, but I guess this will be your last Buell

almost40 · October 15th, 2009, 10:01 AM

PRICE PRICE PRICE.............its no wonder.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 10:14 AM

Everything is stupid expensive these days.

I have a strange feeling that part of it was from the racing success... These races were won with a Rotax engine, not a Harley product. Maybe if Harley spent some time to advertise and to make the engines that were really needed for the Buell line they would have sold more machines.

Now all the custom work I was thinking of doing to my old 03 XB9R is out the door, got to make it as stock as possible since it was the first year of the new frame/tank design, I might just have a collectors piece. I am a little concerned with the parts supply for this machine.

Maybe Fischer will try to license the frame tech and put the kind of engine needed into this frame. At least I can hope for something like that.

Snake · October 15th, 2009, 10:22 AM

I agree with patw. Harley never marketed the Buell line as they did the Harley line which doomed them from the start. I truely believe that Buell could have gotten a foot hold on the sport bike market if Harley had invested more money in advertising.
I believe this will be the eventual demise of Harley - Davidson.

rockNroll · October 15th, 2009, 10:30 AM

Actually, marketing has been Harley's strongest area and is why they were able to sell over priced, under performing motorcycles buy the boatload in recent history. This applies to the Harley line of motorcycles as well as all that officially licensed Harley "stuff."

DarkNinja52 · October 15th, 2009, 10:40 AM

I think we had this conversation a few months ago when they released the "commercial" for the "new" buell.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake

I believe this will be the eventual demise of Harley - Davidson.

You mean the eventual demise of Harley again, right?

This is not the first time their fat was in the fire, and the last time the employees bought it back:
http://investor.harley-davidson.com/...ds/bckgrdr.pdf

Scroll to the timeline and look at 1981, they almost went under at that time, and I bet you'll see it again in the not very far future.

I sent an email to Fischer asking if they might want to license some of the Buell tech. and give it the motors that they needed to be successful.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 10:45 AM

BTW... The Harley branded gloves that I bought a couple weeks ago said very clearly that they were made in China, wish I still had the tags for a scan.

patw · October 15th, 2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_E

Scroll to the timeline and look at 1981, they almost went under at that time, and I bet you'll see it again in the not very far future.

I'm sure there will always be a market for this style of bike, someone will more than likely buy them out when the stock is tanked and "turn the company around"... which from what I understand about business mean, cutting costs/features and offering a cheaper product with less bells and whistles

I was also going to say "Move manufacturing to China", but it's HD... they can move to some poor part of the USA and exploit cheap labour.

I know most of us would spit-up in rage at the thought of spending $30k on a HD bike, but what about $15k... or $9k?

Snake · October 15th, 2009, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockNroll

Actually, marketing has been Harley's strongest area and is why they were able to sell over priced, under performing motorcycles buy the boatload in recent history. This applies to the Harley line of motorcycles as well as all that officially licensed Harley "stuff."

I agree that they marketed the Harley bikes and products very well but they niglected to do the same for the Buell bikes and products.

Alex · October 15th, 2009, 11:02 AM

Wow. This was unexpected, to me at least....

bob706 · October 15th, 2009, 11:12 AM

Make something that people want and price it right and they will beat a path to your door. I never heard of buell till I started riding a year ago. Still, cool looking bikes they are.

shadow · October 15th, 2009, 11:38 AM

Sacrifice a subsidiary card and tap an Italian land. Add 200 profit to any of your 3/3 Sportster creatures. Plays as an "Instant". (sorry, Geek piping up in the corner here)

rockNroll · October 15th, 2009, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_E

BTW... The Harley branded gloves that I bought a couple weeks ago said very clearly that they were made in China, wish I still had the tags for a scan.

If you remove the imported parts from a new Harley, you can't ride it.

adouglas · October 15th, 2009, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_E

I sent an email to Fischer asking if they might want to license some of the Buell tech. and give it the motors that they needed to be successful.

Now that's a darned interesting idea.

That Rotax in the 1125 isn't in any Harley, so it should be up for grabs.

I'd go even farther and get Buell himself on board at Fischer.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 12:53 PM

Well I started the ball rolling, and posted on one of the buell-centric forums that other people should do the same. From the video at the Buell site, Erik is staying on with HD in some capacity but I doubt they will give him the latitude that he had with his designs.

Need to check the date of manufacture on my 03 and see if it is going to be rare,. think they made less than 2000 for the 03 model year and it is almost all back to stock now so it might be worth something to someone years down the road (unless I crash it).

KJohnson21 · October 15th, 2009, 12:53 PM

Wow! That's unexpected and disappointing.

I'd expected HD to scale down production on all of their lines and wait out the storm. I certainly thought that the Buell brand was healthy enough to not be considered an unnecessary risk. Instead, it seems that HD is going to stick with the only thing they understand. Unfortunately, I have little interest in retro designs. In any case, I do hope that HD doesn't get hit too hard so that they can stay around for a long time to come.

I really hope that Erik Buell will figure out some way of continuing to amaze us with fantastic concepts and designs. It's been really cool that he was able to get his ideas into full production, instead of stuck on a drafting board (CAD file) or a one-off test bike.

I have been lucky enough to get some Buell test rides: FireBolt (x2), 1125R. I wonder if that will still be an option at the Long Beach motorcycle show in December.

sofo · October 15th, 2009, 01:15 PM

It's strange basted on what Eric Buell says later in the video that he was staying on at Harley to do product development. Makes me wonder if they might be building more like the XR1200 in the future with his influence.

paterick4o8 · October 15th, 2009, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nny

http://www.buell.com/en_us/

DAMN!

this is just is just depressing!!!!

he looks sooo sad. poor guys.

I wish them the best, even tho I never really planned to buy one, I always thought my friends 2009 xb12s was a pretty sleek bike

tiburonsita · October 15th, 2009, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snake

I agree with patw. Harley never marketed the Buell line as they did the Harley line which doomed them from the start. I truely believe that Buell could have gotten a foot hold on the sport bike market if Harley had invested more money in advertising.
I believe this will be the eventual demise of Harley - Davidson.

Marketing is everything. I never heard of Buell until I met someone with one of the bikes. Then all of a sudden I noticed the brand more.

Don't think HD will ever die though. I compare it to the Mac Users

It's a cult!

CZroe · October 15th, 2009, 02:32 PM

Erik looks absolutely defeated.

Poor guy. He was nothing if not passionate for the engineering and sport. The first motorbike I ever motored was a Buell.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_E

Well I started the ball rolling, and posted on one of the buell-centric forums that other people should do the same. From the video at the Buell site, Erik is staying on with HD in some capacity but I doubt they will give him the latitude that he had with his designs.

Could a new Harley sportbike be on the way? They have raced them in the past.

andrewexd · October 15th, 2009, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patw

I'm sure there will always be a market for this style of bike, someone will more than likely buy them out when the stock is tanked and "turn the company around"... which from what I understand about business mean, cutting costs/features and offering a cheaper product with less bells and whistles

I was also going to say "Move manufacturing to China", but it's HD... they can move to some poor part of the USA and exploit cheap labour.

I know most of us would spit-up in rage at the thought of spending $30k on a HD bike, but what about $15k... or $9k?

30k is the very expensive bikes, they start at around 8k.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 05:01 PM

I doubt Harley will build a sport bike worth having, they only other thing they built was 50 of them because that is the minimum for production class racing. If they intended to go to sport bikes, it would have been easier to roll the Buell machines into their own name since they already owned the company, would have been very simple. A simple several year plan that starts by labeling the bike as Buell by Harley and then goes to just Harley, minimum of three years to do it right, or just suddenly if you don't care.

sombo · October 15th, 2009, 05:15 PM

Ummm the Buells have said "Powered by Harley-Davidson" for years already.

It's not so much that Buell was doing poor but that HD has been doing worse and worse. They keep having layoff after layoff of HD people. This was probably bound to happen because of how much Eric Buell tried to seperate his designs. When trying to bring out the new motor for the Buells he kept getting pushed further and further out of the development of the motor that by the time it was finished it was not what he wanted. That prompted him to look to Rotax to help out with the motor.

Now did this have any impact on HD's decision in closing Buell? No idea but I wouldn't put it past them.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 05:23 PM

I agree, I think the winning racing season on the Rotax engine could have been part of it. But the Buell guys all had been put on 2 week furlough so even they were hurting. The Rotax engine probably cost them a lot.

The price of bikes at the local dealer dropped like a rock today... They have a brand new 08 1125R that is now selling for $5000, that's $2000 more than I just paid for my 03 XB9R, and the price I paid was a decent deal at the time. I didn't ask about the brand new XB12R's that they have, or the Ulysses sitting there in the Buell corner on the showroom, was too scared to find ut the answer. Now is the time to buy one if you want one.

revstriker · October 15th, 2009, 05:24 PM

Interesting news, but not completely surprising to me. The sport bike market is very competitive, and other than Buell, they are all imports. I don't know for sure, but I would speculate that Buells being made in the US, had a much higher cost structure than a Suzuki or a Kawasaki. But of course, they were expected by consumers to compete with these brands on price. We already saw an example of Buell giving up on competing in beginner bikes when they eliminated the Blast. From everything I've read, these lines are typically the least profitable for companies.

With HD struggling financially, they chose to focus future investments in what they do best, which is HDs. While one can speculate that better marketing would have helped, I wonder whether it would have helped enough. What they needed was a reputation like Ducat where they could demand higher out the door prices than the competition.

Anyway, just a lot of speculation on my part. I am sad to see the company stop producing Bikes though.

revstriker · October 15th, 2009, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patw

It looks like they'll still support your warrantee and repair work through HD, but I guess this will be your last Buell

If I were a Buell owner, I would be more worried about after warranty, and the availability of new parts. I would also imagine that this will have a negative effect on the value of the bike as well.

Some of us are old enough to remember the Yugo (car) and how when they stopped making that, the parts for them really dried up. And like the Yugo, I bet even after market companies will not be producing parts for a small and shrinking customer base.

Greg_E · October 15th, 2009, 05:55 PM

Most of the after market stuff has already gone away.

andrewexd · October 15th, 2009, 06:57 PM

didn't Buell win these races by cheating ? you know, if you consider a 600cc vs. a 1125cc unfair.

Courteau · October 15th, 2009, 07:24 PM

past my exam on a Blast!
RIP Buell

backinthesaddleagain · October 15th, 2009, 08:20 PM

I think the only HD sportbike we will see is the XR1200. I hear it is popular outside the US. My local dealer said sold a couple but most HD customers want a low seat height bike.

October 15th, 2009, 07:27 AM	#1
Flashmonkey Professional belly dancer Name: James Location: Toronto Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): 1992 GSX-R 750 Posts: A lot.	Buell no more?!?! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj Just saw this on another forum that I'm part of. This is pretty shocking and sudden if true. Can anybody else confirm or deny this? Here's a link with some more info: http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum...d.php?t=101829

October 15th, 2009, 07:59 AM	#3
Nny ninjette.org member Name: Zach Location: Upstate NY Join Date: Jun 2009 Motorcycle(s): Yamaha R6 (street), GSXR 750 (track) and a Harley FXDB Posts: 140	http://www.buell.com/en_us/ __________________________________________________ Previous rides: Ninja 650, Ninja 250, Goldwing and a Nightster

October 15th, 2009, 09:34 AM	#6
patw ninjette.org guru Name: Pat Location: Barrie, Ontario Join Date: Jun 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Ninja 250 SE Posts: 338	I think part of their problem was marketing. A few years ago, when I was just getting into the sport I knew (and trusted) names like Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, but I'd never even heard of Buell. When I went out to buy my first bike I didn't stop off at the HD dealer expecting a sport bike manufacturer to be in the same showroom. Even to this day, I have no clue what makes their bikes special. __________________________________________________ 2013 CRF250L 1985 GL1200 Interstate

October 15th, 2009, 10:01 AM	#11
almost40 ninjette.org Monkey Spank Name: Kevin Location: Illinois Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 250R Track-Bike Woodcraft clip-ons and rearsets FZ-6 track bike Posts: A lot.	PRICE PRICE PRICE.............its no wonder. __________________________________________________ Black 250R Full Area P QC Dyno Jet Kit 100 main 41T Rear Sprocket

October 15th, 2009, 10:40 AM	#15
DarkNinja52 ninjette.org sage Name: aj Location: New York / PA Join Date: Jul 2009 Motorcycle(s): Red 09 Ninja 250r aka Sheila (RIP), Red '10 Ninja 250r aka Sasha (Sold), White '13 Ninja 300 (To be Purchased) Posts: 855	I think we had this conversation a few months ago when they released the "commercial" for the "new" buell. __________________________________________________

October 15th, 2009, 07:49 AM	#2
HKr1 IC2(SW) Name: Kerry Location: Pensacola Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): . Posts: A lot.	Wonder why they dont sell it off like MV?

October 15th, 2009, 08:30 AM	#4
camaroz1985 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ryan Location: Carlisle, PA Join Date: Nov 2008 Motorcycle(s): 2008 WR250R, 2006 Ural Raven (Sold), 2009 Versys Green (Sold), 2008 Ninja 250R Green (Sold) Posts: A lot.	That stinks. Didn't plan on buying one any time soon, but they were interesting bikes. Guess if I ever get one it will be used. So Harley can't sell their own P.O.S. bikes so they sell off or discontinue their other brands so they can "focus on growth through the Harley-Davidson brand"? I'm sure Buell and MV weren't selling all that great, but I would much rather see them around.

October 15th, 2009, 08:40 AM	#5
Mista Bob Über n00b Name: Bob Location: Alberta, Canada Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): Triumph TT600, Honda NS50F, Kawasaki ZZR-250 (sold) Posts: 225	It's sad to see them go. They were a great company making unique bikes and brought some great innovations to the table. It's stupid how Buell gets the shaft so Harley can continue to make their overpriced stone age tech land yacht motorcycles.

October 15th, 2009, 09:42 AM	#7
backinthesaddleagain ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Greg Location: Rhode Island Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2013 ZX6R 636 Posts: A lot.	Never rode on, nor really looked at them that much, but hate to see a company fold. And they did have some interesting twists even if those twists werent for everyone. Employees of the factory and dealers losing jobs. Tough economy.

October 15th, 2009, 09:54 AM	#8
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	It's all my fault! You see I bought one and in so doing it I was doomed for eventual failure and obviously brought the entire company down with my purchase. Well I will say that this truly sucks!

October 15th, 2009, 10:14 AM	#12
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	Everything is stupid expensive these days. I have a strange feeling that part of it was from the racing success... These races were won with a Rotax engine, not a Harley product. Maybe if Harley spent some time to advertise and to make the engines that were really needed for the Buell line they would have sold more machines. Now all the custom work I was thinking of doing to my old 03 XB9R is out the door, got to make it as stock as possible since it was the first year of the new frame/tank design, I might just have a collectors piece. I am a little concerned with the parts supply for this machine. Maybe Fischer will try to license the frame tech and put the kind of engine needed into this frame. At least I can hope for something like that.

October 15th, 2009, 10:22 AM	#13
Snake ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Rick Location: Alexandria, Louisiana Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 05 Blue Ninja 250 Posts: Too much. MOTY - 2017, MOTM - Jan '19, Oct '16, May '14	I agree with patw. Harley never marketed the Buell line as they did the Harley line which doomed them from the start. I truely believe that Buell could have gotten a foot hold on the sport bike market if Harley had invested more money in advertising. I believe this will be the eventual demise of Harley - Davidson.

October 15th, 2009, 10:30 AM	#14
rockNroll . Name: rock Location: greenville, south carolina Join Date: Jun 2009 Motorcycle(s): black Posts: A lot.	Actually, marketing has been Harley's strongest area and is why they were able to sell over priced, under performing motorcycles buy the boatload in recent history. This applies to the Harley line of motorcycles as well as all that officially licensed Harley "stuff."

October 15th, 2009, 10:45 AM	#17
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	BTW... The Harley branded gloves that I bought a couple weeks ago said very clearly that they were made in China, wish I still had the tags for a scan.

October 15th, 2009, 11:02 AM	#20
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	Wow. This was unexpected, to me at least.... __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

October 15th, 2009, 11:12 AM	#21
bob706 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Sean Location: Mary Esther, FL Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Ninja 250 1998 HD Road King Posts: A lot.	Make something that people want and price it right and they will beat a path to your door. I never heard of buell till I started riding a year ago. Still, cool looking bikes they are.

October 15th, 2009, 11:38 AM	#22
shadow chicken strips Name: Joe Location: Southern NH Join Date: Sep 2009 Motorcycle(s): Black 2009 Ninja 250R Posts: 79	Sacrifice a subsidiary card and tap an Italian land. Add 200 profit to any of your 3/3 Sportster creatures. Plays as an "Instant". (sorry, Geek piping up in the corner here) __________________________________________________ It doesn't matter where you're going...only how fast you're going whilst getting there..

October 15th, 2009, 12:53 PM	#25
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	Well I started the ball rolling, and posted on one of the buell-centric forums that other people should do the same. From the video at the Buell site, Erik is staying on with HD in some capacity but I doubt they will give him the latitude that he had with his designs. Need to check the date of manufacture on my 03 and see if it is going to be rare,. think they made less than 2000 for the 03 model year and it is almost all back to stock now so it might be worth something to someone years down the road (unless I crash it).

October 15th, 2009, 12:53 PM	#26
KJohnson21 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ken Location: Indio, CA Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): '08 Kawasaki EX250 "Yoshi", '99 Kawasaki Concours "Grace", '06 Concours "Belle", '06 Yamaha YZF600R "Slick" Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 3	Wow! That's unexpected and disappointing. I'd expected HD to scale down production on all of their lines and wait out the storm. I certainly thought that the Buell brand was healthy enough to not be considered an unnecessary risk. Instead, it seems that HD is going to stick with the only thing they understand. Unfortunately, I have little interest in retro designs. In any case, I do hope that HD doesn't get hit too hard so that they can stay around for a long time to come. I really hope that Erik Buell will figure out some way of continuing to amaze us with fantastic concepts and designs. It's been really cool that he was able to get his ideas into full production, instead of stuck on a drafting board (CAD file) or a one-off test bike. I have been lucky enough to get some Buell test rides: FireBolt (x2), 1125R. I wonder if that will still be an option at the Long Beach motorcycle show in December. __________________________________________________ < ATGATT > Sweat you can wipe off, Road rash you can't. HEY!! Unregistered!! Does your bike have a name?

October 15th, 2009, 01:15 PM	#27
sofo ninjette.org guru Name: Andrew Location: Vancouver, BC Join Date: Jul 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 250R Posts: 410	It's strange basted on what Eric Buell says later in the video that he was staying on at Harley to do product development. Makes me wonder if they might be building more like the XR1200 in the future with his influence.

October 15th, 2009, 05:01 PM	#32
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	I doubt Harley will build a sport bike worth having, they only other thing they built was 50 of them because that is the minimum for production class racing. If they intended to go to sport bikes, it would have been easier to roll the Buell machines into their own name since they already owned the company, would have been very simple. A simple several year plan that starts by labeling the bike as Buell by Harley and then goes to just Harley, minimum of three years to do it right, or just suddenly if you don't care.

October 15th, 2009, 05:15 PM	#33
sombo Newb..... on a steeek! :D Name: Mike Location: Windermere, FL Join Date: Feb 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2012 Harley Davidson XL883L Sportster Superlow Posts: A lot.	Ummm the Buells have said "Powered by Harley-Davidson" for years already. It's not so much that Buell was doing poor but that HD has been doing worse and worse. They keep having layoff after layoff of HD people. This was probably bound to happen because of how much Eric Buell tried to seperate his designs. When trying to bring out the new motor for the Buells he kept getting pushed further and further out of the development of the motor that by the time it was finished it was not what he wanted. That prompted him to look to Rotax to help out with the motor. Now did this have any impact on HD's decision in closing Buell? No idea but I wouldn't put it past them.

October 15th, 2009, 05:23 PM	#34
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	I agree, I think the winning racing season on the Rotax engine could have been part of it. But the Buell guys all had been put on 2 week furlough so even they were hurting. The Rotax engine probably cost them a lot. The price of bikes at the local dealer dropped like a rock today... They have a brand new 08 1125R that is now selling for $5000, that's $2000 more than I just paid for my 03 XB9R, and the price I paid was a decent deal at the time. I didn't ask about the brand new XB12R's that they have, or the Ulysses sitting there in the Buell corner on the showroom, was too scared to find ut the answer. Now is the time to buy one if you want one.

October 15th, 2009, 05:24 PM	#35
revstriker ninjette.org sage Name: Scott Location: DFW TX Join Date: Jul 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Ninja zx6r Posts: 609	Interesting news, but not completely surprising to me. The sport bike market is very competitive, and other than Buell, they are all imports. I don't know for sure, but I would speculate that Buells being made in the US, had a much higher cost structure than a Suzuki or a Kawasaki. But of course, they were expected by consumers to compete with these brands on price. We already saw an example of Buell giving up on competing in beginner bikes when they eliminated the Blast. From everything I've read, these lines are typically the least profitable for companies. With HD struggling financially, they chose to focus future investments in what they do best, which is HDs. While one can speculate that better marketing would have helped, I wonder whether it would have helped enough. What they needed was a reputation like Ducat where they could demand higher out the door prices than the competition. Anyway, just a lot of speculation on my part. I am sad to see the company stop producing Bikes though.

October 15th, 2009, 05:55 PM	#37
Greg_E ninjette.org sage Name: Greg Location: central new york Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 90 Suzuki gsx600f Katana, 03 Buell XB9R Posts: 868	Most of the after market stuff has already gone away.

October 15th, 2009, 06:57 PM	#38
andrewexd ninjette.org guru Name: Andrew Location: LA Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 07 GSXR600 (N250 sold :( ) Posts: 415	didn't Buell win these races by cheating ? you know, if you consider a 600cc vs. a 1125cc unfair.

October 15th, 2009, 07:24 PM	#39
Courteau ninjette.org member Name: David Location: Quebec, Canada Join Date: Jul 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 250R SE Posts: 22	past my exam on a Blast! RIP Buell

October 15th, 2009, 08:20 PM	#40
backinthesaddleagain ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Greg Location: Rhode Island Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2013 ZX6R 636 Posts: A lot.	I think the only HD sportbike we will see is the XR1200. I hear it is popular outside the US. My local dealer said sold a couple but most HD customers want a low seat height bike.

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