| Author | Message | ||
     Fontx1rs |
1) Reliability (with a no-extra charge, 5 year warranty to prove Buell "put our money where our mouth is") 2) 110+ RWHP and 90+ ft-lb 3) Buell Styling (Keep it naked!) 4) V-Twin (Any angle, just keep the right number of cylinders!) 5) Cost < $10K Is this really so much to ask? JoeBuell 99 RaceStripe | ||
| Choptop |
1 - Kick butt, gain the respect of the Squids performance. One, top of heap type bike. WSB contender type. A Flagship. Other models for other purposes. All the other brands have their flagships, and then they have the Naked bikes, Torque monsters, Sport Touring.... Buell needs to flesh out the product line. They've proved they can do the Torque monster, Hooligan bike REALLY well. But an entire company isnt built on ONE type of bike. Dont get me wrong, I LOVE that type of bike, thats why I bought a Buell. Just would be nice to have the marque backed up with other types as well. Probably wouldnt hurt sales of ALL types. 2 - Romance. If I want a bike that looks like every other bike, I'd buy a Jap-clone-mobile. I LIKE the "what the hell is that?" stuff I get every time I get off the bike. Powder coated frames ROCK. featuring the engine by hanging it out in the open. 3 - Support. Send every new (and hell, EVERY dealer) Buell dealer to Modesto Buell for a month. Let them see how it should be done. 4 - Race Team Support. Put out a FACTORY Buell team. Then kick butt in whatever class they are in. Offer some sort of Factory support to anyone racing a Buell. Win on Sunday, Sell on Tuesday. Do this one RIGHT! Get the tight a$$es at HD cough up serious $$$$ for this. I dont care if shorts every swinging dork at HD and they dont get a Christmas bonus for a year or two. Give the team unlimited resources. Do you think Ducati would be moving as many bikes as they do if they were consistantly at the BACK of WSB grid? Heck no. They are at the front, and so are sales. 5 - Understand the market segment Buell is shooting for and hit it hard with the right ad campaign and marketing on the showroom floor (see Modesto Buell). A little bird told me the HD stiffs didnt like the Burn Out Ad one bit. Screw them. That ad hit SOOO squarely in the center of Buells market, it couldnt have been done any better. If the squares at HD cant see that, they shouldnt have a job that has anything to do with marketing the Buell brand. Take Buells OUT of HD dealers and set them up in SPORTBIKE dealerships (see Modesto Buell). Market Buells NEXT to Ducatis (see Modesto Buell). Market Buells as part of the Sportbike Market, and not as a 2nd cross-over bike to HD owners (see Modesto Buell). | ||
| Travis |
Amen | ||
| Peter |
Reliability- I personally enjoy tweaking my bike to keep it reliable. I always wanted an XR-750 on the road. Never had the money to do it, spent thousands trying to make Harleys go, stop and handle, and then up pops Erik with a cheap one ready to roll. Perfect. But I understand peoples needs for reliability, that's why I also have the BMW. Gearing- Most people hot them up so they are capable of pulling a higher gear. A 6 speed gearbox along the ratios of the Baker version would be nice. Power- I want a turbo for mine so it will redline the sixth gear. Quickly. So more power. Looks- Bring back the S1/W and make a fully faired version along the lines of the after market companies. Price- Keep it affordable. Use middle of the road componants, so that people can modify them with after market improvements, ala Harleys. What is on them now is good enough. I won't buy a top of the line disposable bike anymore. It doesn't interest me. I will upgrade and improve mine though. If Buell doesn't like people spending their money elsewhere, then make more options available. | ||
| Tripper |
OK, busted by the Amsterdam Copper, I should have known not to try to outrun him. I was hoping to get the discussion away from rumours cause after all, whatever is coming for 2002 is a done deal and it will be served upon us very soon, and please don't send me a TwinBlast. But this was a good chance to let the factory lurker hear what we really want. Thanx Yer Court-ness for picking up on that and posing that interesting survey. What do I want? Just like Erik says in the video, a bike for the street. Make it interesting. Throw in most of the comments above and shake it, don't stir. (Thus assuring sales success in UK) Amen here also. And remember that German ad with the multiple wheelies? The good news is that the European marketing chief is now the president of Buell. I would watch for a more Hooligan, and less "Sqirrelish" marketing presence. I'm psyched to see what is coming. | ||
| Court |
I still have the OFFICIAL Buell t-shirt with my little brother doing the mondo wheelie...... Rumors suck. What's coming was pretty much cast several years ago. But, these types of "talk to me" dialouges get read by the folks who DRIVE the design process.....trust me. No one says so, but I know precisely what room of the house several of them run to when they get home. Reading the responses is getting ME excited! Thanks to all. . . Court | ||
| Chuck |
I pretty much like my Buell the way it is . . . but the area around the battery looks "unfinished". I know its a little thing . . . but I think it would be neat to have some sort of battery cover that also included a small space to stash tools. What do you think, Erik? | ||
| Hans |
Well said Chuck. And an adjustable tacho for different gearings and a steel grab rail under the saddle and some choices in steering bars for long or short armed individuals. Hans | ||
| José_Quiñones |
Cross posted from the Blast section, By M2Cyclone: Bold text by me... FYI I replaced the handlebars on my girlfriends Blast this past weekend with factory S1 bars. The idea was from an article in Battle 2Win magazine. The article says to use part # 55925-96Y. It said a hole would have to be drilled in the throttle side of the bar to locate the throttle assembly. When I received the bars, the part # had been superceded with N0002.9 (handlebar, S1). These newer bars already have the hole drilled in the throttle side. Now why would Buell go out and do that? They are for S1's, right? Tripper, get ready for a V-twin S1 Blast!  | ||
| José_Quiñones |
If I'm right about my V-Twin Blast! prediction, whoop de doo, I'm right. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy, because it will be better than a V-twin Blast!. But as I said before, whatever it is, it MUST BE RELIABLE. | ||
| José_Quiñones |
Court, Do you have one of those rubber covers on your keyboard...  | ||
| Aaron |
My S1 bars, original equipment on my wife's S1, have that hole, too. It locates the throttle assembly. We stuck M2 bars on the S1 for her because they're slightly taller and slightly narrower. I plan to put the S1 bars on the Blast, but I'll cut'em down a little first, which will necessitate drilling a new hole. | ||
| Blake |
1. Naked! Raw in your face Buell styling; hide the unsightly stuff (tubes, cables, wires...) or sheath them in purdy wrapping (SS braid?). And when I say "naked", I mean the rear spring too dangit! For example: Gimme the '97/'98 M2 or S1 with clear-coated smooth tank labels, exposed spring rear shock, no tach, cleaned-up nicely integrated front end so that if I want to remove the flyscreen, the bike looks clean and mean, show off the tall sinuous V-twin (lose the black painted heads etc) gold (or other metalic.. Copper...) tinted (very lightly) might look way cool and would be different/eye catching for a powder coated engine. Blah blah blah... and so on and so forth, sorry for too much content on #1. 2. Guaranteed minimum 100 RWHP @ 398 LB dry with a belly full o' torque (air cooled V-twin of course). Oil in the frame, SSSArm?, hooligan bike. 3. Low Maintenance... solve the crankcase breather excessive oil vapor spewage into intake problem. 4. Reliable (and how about adding some kind of auto-tensioner to the primary, not necessarily for a no-maintenance scenario, but to at least help cut down on the noise) 5. Under/around $10K My checkbook is poised, Blake PS: Referring to a nicely integrated Force Sidewinder intake with rerouted breather system, who do you think said this... And also... And also... saving some for later. | ||
| Aaron |
That would have to be EFB ... and I agree with him completely! If I wanted a bike like that, I'd go buy one, there are excellent examples already available. But I like the Buell formula, I'd like to see it carried forward. More power is good. Less weight is good. More reliability is good. But keep it a real world, fun to ride, simple, v-twin, street bike, I don't want no race rep. 'Course, if you want to build a race rep too, for those who want one, I don't care. AW | ||
| Anonymous |
Was at a local powersports shop the other day. Started talking to a sales guy. Turns out he recently used to work for Buell.(He left for his own reasons to do his own things) So I asked a few questions about the NEW Buell. The response I got was a grin ear to ear. Ya know that type of grin you when you've been out riding, come home and your wife thinks you have been out somewhere you shouldn't have been. He said that the bike has been put through the ringer and will be the "best" and "most reliable" bike that the modern BMC has produced to date. I really didn't want to get him into trouble or anything so I didn't pry to much. That grin was enough to tell me that something exciting is coming. Besides there wouldn't be any of this mystery thing going on here. Anon |
