| Author | Message | ||
     Krjoseph |
That was terrible. I felt bad for the guy, his life's work completely shut down. I'm sure he'll find a way to continue to contribute great ideas to the motorcycle community. | ||
| Patches |
He still works for Harley Davidson. | ||
| Ezblast |
But he did not renew his contract, he was going to retire - now what will he do? Still retire probably. EZ | ||
| Swampy |
OMG, I just found out by clicking on the Thumper Forum, I haven't even been to the quick board yet... | ||
| Awf_hand |
Not that this helps, but it's largely because of the desire to "go racing" that shut Buell down. Harley's sale are down 84% from last year and one of their divisions is dumping money out-of-country into an Austrian-designed race engine!?!? C'mon, man. People can gripe about the antiquity of HD engines, but, when you get to the prom, you gotta dance with the one you brung. I'm not sure I can fault Harley for this one. I probably would've gnawed off the appendage as well. I WOULD still buy a Harley, but they do need to build or maintain an entry level division to pull new riders in. The number one selling bike in the USA is the inexpensive 250 Ninja. It is inexpensive, sporty, handles well, and is reliable. BTW it is inexpensive. If you want to get people into a sport, you need to build a bike like this. Develop your OWN racing division. Let everybody else race everybody else. Unless you've got an automotive, electronics, heavy equipment, or outdoor power equipment division to help back you, your private race shop is just that. With the (malicious) elimination of the Blast from the line, the new "entry-level" bike started at $8k. That's barely sustainable in a good economy. I don't give 2 sh!ts about where they placed in the last race, and I don't think 95% of cyclists could even name a current rider. That said, I'll ride my Blast until it's used up and then buy something else. I'm not sure what it will be. What stage of grief am I in?? Feels like "Acceptance" to me. ______________________ Firing order: 1 | ||
| Patches |
Agree!  | ||
| Blastronomer |
Well put. | ||
| Blastronomer |
Left work early to go for a ride. I bundled up and took a quick and COLD ride for Mr. Buell. Two months ago I was furious with him for the cubings. But when I saw that video I just felt so horrible. I'm not mad anymore, just bummed. | ||
| Krjoseph |
I'm starting to wonder if the Blast cubing and the "Ruthless Engineering" campaign wasn't a last ditch attempt to increase sales, and it didn't work so the HD brass pulled the plug. I think a few of you are right, the 1125 development and racing program cost a lot of money and the ROI just wasn't there. Even if Buell was making a "profit" it might have been so small that HD decided it could live without it and put the Buell funding into the HD brand. I'm not sure what Buell brought to HD strategically as a business unit. I love Buell, but the HD connection never made a lot of sense to me. Unfortunately, when you rely on another investor's deep pockets, they can shut off the tap as fast as they opened it. (Message edited by krjoseph on October 16, 2009) | ||
| Ezblast |
My wife said this sounds like a dirty boardroom tactics - since Buell did not renew his contract with HD, HD did not think they could do it without him, so they dropped the line - the whole thing sucks though - whatever happened. EZ | ||
| Prof_stack |
It was the Blast, in June of 2000, that got me into the Buell scene. I loved that thumper. The XB9S won my heart and it was the best bike I ever owned. The Blast cubing pissed me off and the Rotax thing turned me off. I am not surprised at the decision made by HD. I just hope they consider another entry level bike like the Blast. RIP Buell | ||
| Slowhand96 |
Rainman I wouldn't worry about HD shutting down RE. I think classes were canceled because people can't afford it right now. Last year in MN we set another record for the amount of riders trained. We bought more bikes and opened more ranges to meet demand, and we still had waiting lists and were booked up by May. That demand wasn't here this year. I signed up to teach 26 classes this year (my norm) and over half of them were canceled, some of them in June. We usually run classes into late October / Early November. This year we pretty much shut it down in mid September. | ||
| Slowhand96 |
Hey Black51. Do you know for sure that Polaris is Canadian owned? Did this happen recently? Maybe you are confusing Ski-doo (Bombardier) with Polaris. I'm reasonably sure that Polaris is headquartered here in Minnesota. Thinking about it, Polaris would be a good fit for Buell. The Uly would be a natural fit for Polaris's off road ATV stuff, and the rest of the Buell line fits with Polaris's forward thinking. Look at how much the Victory line had changed this decade. | ||
| Slowhand96 |
When HD brought the XR1200 back to the USA I wondered if there would be conflict with Buell. I know they are miles apart in purpose and performance but to a stodgy old board member or bean counter they could be same-same. Awf, I agree with you 100% especially on the entry level model concept. But I wonder, do you think that Eric Buell snuck that new Austrian motor past HD? I've worked in bigger corporations and I know how hard it can be just to get a couple thousand for new equipment let alone a Gigantic R&D project... Board meetings, studies, surveys.. etc. Maybe??? I was just reading about how Plymouth snuck both the Road Runner and the Duster past the Chrysler Execs until it was too late and the cars were runaway successes. I don't Know Mr Buell, I don't know anything about him, but I'll bet we haven't heard the last of him and his bikes. I wish the best of luck to you Mr Buell and maybe, just maybe we'll see you in Medina! | ||
| Swampy |
You know, many many years ago, Harley Davidson was very much a performance motorcycle. I have an old CYCLE magazine from October 1975 that has an ad bestowing Harley Davidsons residual value, and how a customer recently traded up from a new Kawasaki Z-1 with 350 miles on it to a three year old Harley Davidson FX. Quoted from the advertisement "What keeps Harley-Davidson on top? Some say styling. Others, engineering. Still others talk about pure value; the rider gets more of what he pays for. The plain fact is that people are willing to pay a premium price for the best." You know, maybe the economy is just worse than what we think it is and we just don't know it yet. We have the best in motorcycles, but very few of us are buying Buells because we are buying one for residual value, we are simply buying the hottest deal for the buck. The economy is rough right now. A few years ago we were buying bikes on credit, how many are doing that now? Back in 2002, I remember going in to look at a couple year old used S-1(what a wonderful beast) and though I could get financed I couldn't afford the insurance. The advertisement goes on: "Visit your AMF Harley-Davidson dealer. He's got the bikes. The 125cc through the legendary 1200cc superbikes. You'll be buying value. And, in motorcycles, that means Harley-Davidson. Period." Harley-Davidson, you are missing a revolutionary opportunity. The rest of us, we will still be here as long as Blake keeps the Badweb running. On towards the future! | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
FWIW: ALL XB's use Sportster engines (like it or not) with minor differences between the two. Sportster engine parts will be available for years as will XB parts. | ||
| Krjoseph |
Polaris? Now that's an interesting idea. Not sure HD would sell the division to a competitor, but that's a novel idea. They are an American company. I just wish they still made PWCs, I love my old Polaris "jet ski", wish they still made them. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Concur Black51! I'm saving the rest of my commentary for later. Lots of people saying stupid things (mostly elsewhere). Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. Didnt we just go through this? | ||
| Dankno |
Memo to self: "If you haven't checked the board for a while and are feeling depressed anyway, DON'T CHECK THE BOARD!!!!" Wow... for the first time ever there isn't a smiley to express how I'm sure we all feel. Dammit... | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
An example of the current economy Glendale Buell/HD has cancelled the 26th annual Love Ride, a hugely popular event in past years. "Glendale, Ca -- Love Ride 26, slated for October 25, 2009, has been canceled. The announcement was made by Love Ride founder Oliver Shokouh, who cited the weak economy as the reason for the event’s cancellation." | ||
| Robdog88 |
On a positive note, now is the time to buy. Get yours before they are gone is right. Huge discounts at dealerships means Buells are flying outta there. Our local HD dealer up here in Maine was expecting to sell half their Buell inventory today, with one guy paying cash for three. Me? Ya i got mine. 2009 XB12R, at a price better than i coulda ever got on a used one, rode it outta there with 5 mi on the odometer. Dont worry i still have my Blast! | ||
| Blastronomer |
Seriously? The dealer in Ann Arbor said he had 24 Buells in stock and wasn't cutting any prices until he heard what was up from HD. I was eyeballing a couple Xb's in the showroom. | ||
| Robdog88 |
Seriously. took $3000 off the showroom price. i rode out for $8117. Tried getting a deal on a pre-owned but they wouldnt do anything. | ||
| Ezblast |
I got my CR09 for 8g, you can find them for as low as 6g a few lower, but those are gone, 6g is the going, so its not too late to go back and dicker. EZ | ||
| Blastronomer |
Damn, that's not fair. | ||
| Gussie |
Howdy boys. Good to be back even under the cloud of some bad news. Checked the 2000 Gearhead. Has new pulley and sensor. I knew the guy that had it before me was a blast nut, health made him quit, so I never worry about things that were supposed to be done. Turned 8300 today with no problems so far. 1000 on the pirelli scooter tires. Can't really tell unless I get out the coin. See your new bike Easy and looked at a new red 1125, was gone when looked today. Hope everyone has faith and maybe something good will come of it all I've had more fun riding "El Diablo" than I can say and will continue. Hope you all keep posting | ||
| Buellboy492 |
Oh Crap. Just found out, when My local Harley Stealership sent me an e-mail with SLASHED Buell prices. Dang it Dang it Dang it. | ||
| Indybuell |
38 degree's this morning in Indy. I made the 25 mile commute to work. It's supposed to be gorgeous this afternoon, with a high of 60. Made good use of my new Buell all weather Gortex gloves. | ||
| Babired |
Hey Guys and gals I just read from my MC safety forum that the Blasts will be made for the next 5 years for the Rider's Edge Program so you all riding the Blasts should have another 5 years tacked onto the service agreement. Inside information that I know of Slowhand the economy slowed the classes down in maryland too. K | ||
| Krjoseph |
That's interesting. I'm not sure what bike they would use for riders edge if there was no blast, maybe just an 883? I really doubt rider's edge is going away, that's been a great way to get new riders buying Harleys. |
