| Author | Message | ||
     Alter1 |
Will there come a day when Erik Buell Racing becomes Buell Motorcycle Company with a racing division? Is it possible, legal, etc.? | ||
| Davegess |
Anything is possible but right now H-D owns the Buell Motorcycle name and shows no signs of wanting to let it go. I don't think it matters all that much to Erik | ||
| Gmaan03 |
I agree with Davegess, Erik Buell will go on | ||
| Reepicheep |
I love every (3 and counting, and actively stalking a fourth) Buell motorcycle I have owned. But why dilute the stellar EBR brand with a taint or a whiff of HD? | ||
| Court |
No | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
court - i'd read that HD had helped EB establish the new company, I dontknow if thats just in allowing him to qork on 1125R bikes into race bikes or financially - can you comment at all on this? I'd been curious for a while thanks | ||
| Reepicheep |
HD "helped" EB establish the new company in the same way HD "helped" a bunch of people here buy an 1125 that retails for $11,000 for $5000... they announced they were shutting down the brand, devalued just about anything associated with the bikes or the business, then just sold them for what the market would bear. The 1125's suddenly became $5000 instead of $11000. Likewise, highly specialized, hard to move industrial equipment was pretty hard to sell in the face of a massive recession... and so was sold for pennies on the dollar to whoever would step up and buy it. That "someone" happened to be EBR, and they were smart in picking what to buy (why am I not surprised?) To say HD "helped him" would be like saying you were in the army on a mission in hostile territory, and someone in your platoon decided they could move forward faster without you. So they shot you in the back, but then left you with your pack which was too heavy for them to carry anyway. The other way they did actually help was to give him some room in a non compete agreement to keep Buell Racing. We do appreciate the fact that they didn't sic the lawyers on him and try and shut him down with BS litigation. But it would have been stupid of them anyway... 1) It was a non compete agreement, and anyone who thinks that pure a race team fielding Buell bikes is competing with HD is an idiot. 2) Harley found out that they not only pi&&ed of a LOT of Buell owners (as they expected), but they also found out they pi&&ed off a huge number of potential Harley customers from other brands who had a lot of respect for Buell bikes, even if they didn't choose to own one. They were getting pretty awful PR and brand damage, and needed good news. 3) Non compete agreements are really hard to enforce in court anyway... and this one in particular would have gone really badly for HD. What irony. Years from now I think we will look back at the "harley days" of Buell as the AMF days of Harley. We will laugh and say "great people and great products almost ruined by clueless corporate idiots, and escaping was the best thing that ever happened to the company". | ||
| Davegess |
Individuals at H-D; who must remain secret for many reasons, helped in substantial ways. This was always the case from the day Erik first built his own bike. Levels of corporate support ebbed and flowed (if you can use ebbed for stabbing in the back) but individuals went well above and beyond their official duties to help him succeed. And a few individuals went above and beyond to impede (translation: SCREW) him. | ||
| Syonyk |
What irony. Years from now I think we will look back at the "harley days" of Buell as the AMF days of Harley. We will laugh and say "great people and great products almost ruined by clueless corporate idiots, and escaping was the best thing that ever happened to the company". I hope so.  Though I will say one of the $8000 1125Rs got me into the Buell brand. It was a 2008 closeout at the end of 2009, shortly before the shutdown. Not sure if it was "shutdown pricing" or not at that point. | ||
| Firstbuell |
Reepicheep sez, ".....Years from now I think we will look back at the "harley days" of Buell as the AMF days of Harley. We will laugh and say "great people and great products almost ruined by clueless corporate idiots, and escaping was the best thing that ever happened to the company....." ^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^ |
