| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
It's amazing to watch how much the PEOPLE at EBR are doing with so few resources. The EBR 1190RS just seems to generate excitement. If you saw the phenomenon at Road America you know what I mean. The crowds around the EBR area were just simply off the chart. New Buellers, old Buellers, future Buellers and the casual curious congregated. It was particulate exciting to see all the old and new faces in EBR shirts all over the Road America paddocks. The performance of the bikes on the tracks is eclipsed only by the enthusiasm of the riders and team. As much as I hated to see Danny poof that motor on Saturday I confess the pain was obviated by watching what he did the 3 laps prior. Kinda cool to watch the EBR 1190RS pass 9 bikes in one lap. It'd be the foolhearty or uninformed who thought the 1190RS was "done" and a static product. The bike was developed by a small handful of folks with one phone line in a tiny space. When I walked in the plant last week I was thrilled to see all the new faces that have arrived in the past couple weeks, many names you know, some of the best minds in the motorcycle industry. i had the chance to sit and talk with 3 of them and what they are doing is off the charts amazing. All this is made more fun by racing . . . the talent this year is the best in the history of AMA racing. It's fun watching ALL these teams. Not only are the riders talented they are amazing athletes. This is an exciting season and I, as a long time Buell enthusiast, could not be happier to see the people at EBR now perceived as 'the rising threat" . . . . Yamaha and Suzuki are currently beating the Buells but you can bet that the Buell is the single most talked about topic in their trailers as well. Kinda neat to see this . . .it wasn't long ago that we could get in trouble with the HD folks if we even talked about racing . . . I'm enjoying the racing season but, more so, am enjoying seeing the hard work and things The Elves are doing. By the way . . . interesting little ex officio meeting about the use of the term "Elves" the other day. It was nice to hear the folks at the factory share how much they appreciated it. The vans, the bikes and the riders are packed and on the way . . . See ya at Barber. Court | ||
| Smoke |
great job guys!! see you at Barber! tim | ||
| Rasta_dog |
There was an awesome highlight video clip oof the cause of Slick's mechanical issue. Danny was charging like a bat out of hell after the start from pit lane and setting up his cross wheeled dive into the chicane I believe, when he angrily banged the throttle to match the rpm's that were already bouncing off the rev limiter when the 1190 RS said na, baby, na! | ||
| Xb9er |
watching this ama season so far this year has made me so proud to be apart of this community. Just when I thought my motorcycle manufacturer was dead it gave birth to something better. GO EBR | ||
| Reepicheep |
Proposed formal definition: Elves: Individuals with a desire and demonstrated capacity in anonymous, selfless, and continual pursuit of the mission to "Tell the truth, be fair, respect the individual, keep promises, and encourage intellectual curiosity". All individuals in this category are elves, it is a functional reality. At any given moment an elf may be on an EBR mission, be called on for an EBR mission or may be carrying these values to other fields of endeavor. Not a small number of Elves are also Badwebbers, and when we as a community are at our best, I think we embody these values. | ||
| Court |
Well put . . . . . simply add "past and present" following the Badwebbers . . . .retype and repost and I'll get it posted conspicuously in an important place. Grizzly just returned from Portugal. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Not a small number of Elves are also Badwebbers past and present. We as a community are at our best when we strive for these values. | ||
| Trbulnt |
Only snapped a few pics on Saturday but here they are..and someone scribbled on my new EBR backpack!     | ||
| Badgerbueller1125 |
Was an awesome weekend. Finally got my bike signed, got posters signed by Geoff, Danny, and Erik, and purchased a new EBR backpack and also had Erik sign that. Will post pics soon. | ||
| Tdiddy |
Please post more pictures!!!! Even the out of focus ones!!! | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Anyone remember the 2009 season when Danny and Mike Barnes had the exact same bikes?? Danny was clearly on another level. It could be said of the same for Hayes and Herrin for 2012. | ||
| Xb12mel |
Sometimes the slower teammate just doesn't have the confidence it takes to ride the bike on the edge of it's capabilities. Doesn't mean that he's less of a rider, just that's he hasn't reached his full potential. "Yet" | ||
| Xb1125r |
as much as some people don't like herrin, he can be a good guy. its nice to see the rookies, danny and herrin doing well. nice to see good talent move from the dsk to ASBK. it will help the sport grown. I miss hacking, he was always complaining about the buells, but that mde it fun. its good to have the good, the bad and the ugly | ||
| Husky |
If EBR hasn't already done so, they might contact these folks regarding valve springs! http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage- speed/the-spring-that-revolutionized-nascar-664377 8 Husky | ||
| Mtjm2 |
Wear can I find an ERR flag to hang on race weekends , not at EBR ? | ||
| Davegess |
 Is this the next Buell model? Very nice bike.   Always a crowd at the EBR pits during fan walk  These guys from Hero are pretty smart but they need to learn to be careful who they hang with     Seibkens is the place to see all the cool stuff after the races.     Over the years a couple of racers have had drinks year and left behind a handful of stickers. They are very few empty spaces left.  I tried to get a picture of this nice chopper but the red bike kinda messed me up   Took the slow way home, almost got myself a deer.  | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
interesting article on valve springs | ||
| Trojan |
as much as some people don't like herrin, he can be a good guy I've been a fan of Josh Herrin for a while now and would like to see him in WSBK or Moto2 rather than staying in AMA for the duration. Unfortunately WSBK seems to have forgotten the AMA talent pool these days and US riders seem averse to payingfor rides in Europe (something UK/European riders have been used to for a while!). | ||
| Davegess |
seem averse to paying for rides in Europe They can make some pretty good money over here so perhaps it makes no sense to buy a ride in Europe that may never lead to a paying gig when you can stay in the AMA and actual make a living riding? Herrin is good, I wee him pushing Hayes hard next year. | ||
| Trojan |
it makes no sense to buy a ride in Europe that may never lead to a paying gig when you can stay in the AMA and actual make a living riding? Depends on your ambitions I suppose. Mat Mladin was happy to earn a lot of money being a big fish in a relatively small pond for most of his career after he realised he was never going to win a world championship, but I think most riders would like to have a go at racing for a world championship at some time in their careers given the chance. Unfortunately these days getting that chance on the ladder almost invariably entails payiong for your ride in Europe. Simon Buckmasters Honda WSS squad make no secret of the fact that riders have to pay to ride and I have heard all sorts of figures from GBP60,000 to GBP600,000 bandied about for a full season. This for a bike that is capable of running at the front of WSS though, as Sam Lowes has proved. Even in MotogP these days we are hearing that Tech 3 riders had to pay for their own brake upgrades before the last race  I think that the US will start to see similar 'pay to ride' deals in AMA racing too before long, as teams struggle to find budgets to run riders at their expense and sponsorship gets harder to come by. Certainly for a second rider it makes sense for teams to try and get some money in to run two bikes. | ||
| Simond |
Nice pictures Dave. My wife just got back from Bombay with loads of Hero branded cricket gear for the kids. I've been riding Buells since before they were born but watching a re-run of the Road Atlanta races with the Hero sponsored EBR bikes was the first time they have shown an interest.......! | ||
| Davegess |
Unfortunately these days getting that chance on the ladder almost invariably entails paying for your ride in Europe. A lot of our guys are never gonna have the money to pay for a ride. It is already too expensive for a lot of folks just to get a decent bike and fresh tires. If a paying team doesn't spot your talent you will keep racing at the back until they do or you find some money. I think, and a sure could be wrong on this, that most of the top AMA guys don't come from backgrounds where $100,000 would be easy to come by. How much does a ride cost in Europe. | ||
| Court |
>>>Hero branded cricket gear Interesting that most the gear on the HERO website is Cricket gear . . . they have a variety of bats and stuff. I'm still ticked my wife has an EBR/HERO race jersey and I don't. She agreed to let me wear hers . . . that was ugly. I think it's a sign . . . we got a GEICO race shirt . . . it comes in a small . . then comes the HERO shirt . . in a small . . I think it's a message. :-) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Forget the cricket gear, I'm trying to figure out how to get a Hero scooter over here in the states. They sound like great value and great fun. | ||
| Simond |
"She agreed to let me wear hers . . . that was ugly."  | ||
| Trojan |
How much does a ride cost in Europe. Depends who you ask and how good the team is. The only team that has actually published the amount required to 'rent' one of their bikes was Simon Buckmasters PTR WSS Honda team, and I seem to remember that the rider had to bring around GBP60,000 with him to the team for the cost of a full season. That is for a ride in a top WSS team though, so if you compare that cost to the cost of setting up your own WSS team & bikes etc it is probably cheaper than a season racing in your own team at that level. However a lot of riders have personal sponsors/backers who pay a lot of their race costs (Martin Jessop paid for his current WSS ride through his fathers bike buisness for example) and certainly very few British riders come form backgrounds where that kind of money is available without sponsors. The benefits though can be huge, and if the rider is any good he could find himself in a well funded top team after a short period of paying for a ride. That is a risk some riders are happy to take. (Message edited by trojan on June 11, 2012) | ||
| Davegess |
However a lot of riders have personal sponsors/backers Unfortunately for most of our guys the sponsors are pretty much focused on the US. These sponsors are not going to benefit from exposure in Europe. The National Guard is the perfect example, exposure outside the USA is perfectly useless to them so they have no reason to pay for it. So unless mom and dad are well fixed it is tough for a US person to come up with that kind of money; especially when the pay off is so unlikely. | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
i've never met a racer of any kind that does it to build wealth but you're right you do have to consider your market so at the very least it doesn't cost you | ||
| Davegess |
any kind that does it to build wealth True but for a guy like Herrin getting paid a very nice salary to race at a very high level on top equipment makes forking over 100,000 big ones to get a ride in a support series would be hard to justify. | ||
| Court |
Racers, by and large, are incredibly poor marketers and not always the the wisest business folks. That's not an indictment, just a statement of fact largely as a result of being so focused. Like any pro athlete they have a very narrow commercial earnings window. Be mindful that a 30 year old can be labeled "too old" to race. An extreme example, but you get the gist. In addition, factor in the tremendous expense (try flying to a different city every other weekend) and the risk of personal injury and it makes a challenging business model and one that begs for sound advise and help from supporters, |
