| Author | Message | ||
     Rocketman |
what has any of that got to do with the blast ? Woody, read Court's excellent appraisal, then work it out for yourself. The clue is, it isn't so much about the motorcycle, more who benefited off it. why keep ranting here ? My fans love me. In time you will too. Trust me  Rocket | ||
| Woody1911a1 |
lol rocket , np . wouldn't be the same w/o you here :-) cheers bud btw i'd reply to your last post if i didn't have to get up for work so early tomorrow :-) | ||
| Anonymous |
Court, Change that to "H-D has earned more revenue" and you'd be more correct. 100,000 riders trained on Blasts at H-D dealers, and 99+% buy H-D's. And, yes, Buell would rather have spent that money on a World Superbike program, but it wasn't their money, was it? (One of many anonymi) | ||
| Spank |
With some of the things you have said in your post Court, it might finally answer my question of why I see Blasts at Harley demos and no other Buells. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Court said, "The bike also exhibits (folks who have ridden them feel free to chime in) far better handling and braking that is generally associated with $4,000 motorbikes." We love our Blast. In fact it is one of the first bikes I grab when I have to rip around town. My wife's EX500, handles better by way of greater lean angles, accelerates much better, and is about on par with the Blast in terms of braking (Blast may have a slight edge). The Blast however is less maintenance intensive, with no chain to lube or valves that I have to adjust every 6-10k miles. Oh and it sounds so much better with the Kerker exhaust. THUMP THUMP THUMP! | ||
| Bartimus |
Hmmm, if I worked for Buell I'd be a happy camper. Plain and simple.  | ||
| Jlnance |
The bike also exhibits (folks who have ridden them feel free to chime in) far better handling and braking that is generally associated with $4,000 motorbikes. It's a supprisingly good bike. Not with out it's faults for sure, but good at what it's designed for. But to move this back on topic, there are things I would like to see Buell do with the Blast. First, they appear to have no interest in the bike. It has remained largely unchanged since it's introduction in 2000. There are some nits, such as the reliabilty of the manifold coupler and the speedo sensor, which could be improved with minimal effort. However, as far as I know, nothing has been changed since 2003. My guess is that Buell isn't making much profit selling Blasts, and while the project may have been ground breaking in 2000, they have learned all they want to from it. Secondly, the bike is very popular with shorter female riders. The only other Buell that fits this demagraphic is the XB9Scg, which also seems under-promoted by Buell. Finally, many Blasts are now second or more hand purchases. You can pick one up on Ebay for about $2000. They are bought as beginner bikes, and sold when people want more power. The purchasers of these bikes may never set foot in a Dealership. They know nothing of Buell. They just read on the internet that the Buell Blast was a good first bike and found one cheap. Buell has an opportunity to convince these people that their second bike should be another Buell. I wish they would put more effort into that. I don't know if the information is available to the company, but it would be nice if when you registered a Buell, you got a "welcome to the Buell family" letter from Buell. Now for funny story time. I was driving into work a few months ago, talking to another Blast owner on phone. I pulled into BoJangles to get something to eat, and I see a guy getting off a yellow Blast in the parking log. I pull in next to him and hope out of the truck, wearing my "Buell Racing" tee shirt that Court got me down in Floridia. I start talking Buell, tell him I've got a Blast to. I look at his and its dripping oil all over the road. I tell him its the rocker box gasket, to get it replaced with the metal one from the 2003 models and it won't leak anymore. I'm sure he thought I was a nut. But I'm a passionate nut. | ||
| Rocketman |
Anonymous, I could have sworn that was my point. Not bad for someone who some BMC anonymi claim has no knowledge of such things motorcycle, even if I do say so myself. Rocket | ||
| Ezblast |
I can't say fairly if your right or wrong - I know that there are a lot of experienced motorcyclists coming around to the Blasts simplicity, gas millage and inexpensive fun factor and are actually buying them for second bikes - a good example is the SF MC - there was a time that I had the only Blast there - and a lone X1, now there are 3 to 4 Blasts and 3 Uly's regularly showing along with the X1 - most folks think they look fine that I run into, and I've only gotten a couple of stupid remarks - the - it still sounds like a lawn mower - comment - after totally smoking a couple of new stock Sportsters, and the - is that some kind of Harley- lol - I usually answer - Hardly Davidson - I like the Blasts simplicity, ease of hopping up and maint., and the fun I and others have riding them - I think a serious update is in order, not because they are worse than the other bikes you've mentioned (they are not), but because they look dated next to the XBs - making them less desirable to new bike buyers - even the Ninja's and KLRs get updates to keep them fresh in the market - Buell has failed there, which is sad - when you read here how much the bike has supposedly done for them. Even now is there appreciation - no - rather from the horse I hear - I'd rather blow the money racing - hell - more Blasts have won on the Dirt-track than XB's on the track - but any appreciation - no - just HD following its tired practices which where winners 20 years ago - lol, making the privateers carry the checkered flags, places, and shows and do the real racing - Erik created one of the most powerful smokers racing, yet his lack of real appreciation for what the Blast has really done for Buell and could continue to do has totally passed him buy - I understand corporate decisions are made as the dollar being a bottom line, however, it is that same line making them blind to a bikes real potential - a pitty that I as a consumer see this, and the mfgr. does not. GT - JBOTDS! EZ  | ||
| Rex |
so court, when can we see a book on buell written by you, or a book of buell adventures..... blast, I think is pretty cool..would love to see one in the fuel in the frame bike...a little tweaking with the motor, updated looks etc. flat track blast for sure. rex | ||
| Court |
>>>>but it wasn't their money, was it? No it was not. I think many folks would be absolutely agast to read how the BLAST® came about . . . ditto the VROD. Neither has been made public and both are mired in rumors based entirely on "hype". One of my favorite rainy day activities is to watch the DVD "The making of the VROD" and giggle . . . thank you Harleywood. Rex, I am off and started. I, today, will begin a fairly biggish lifestyle change for two years that's going to pretty much consume my spare time. . . I've put "book" at the top of the leisure time list. I'd like to have it done by mid-2008. I'm also comtemplating asking folks to share with me their "I just gotta know" list. I think some folks may have a cardiac arrest when they learn the truth behind some things. | ||
| Nutsnbolt |
Have I told you that I LOVE this THREAD? | ||
| Anonymous |
Rocket, even a blind hog will find an acorn once in a while. Ez, I wish you could know the whole story, really. Basically there were four Blast models planned, but corporate issues got in the way. So it never had the chance to become what it could have been. | ||
| Kuuud |
Four Blast models...hmmm. Anything like the 'family' of 650's BMW just introduced? That would have been fantastic! | ||
| Blublak |
I know, that BumbleBuell (my wife) wishes that there was a bike that was Blast sized, but sportier, more power, designed more as a 'street/sport fighter' then as a standard. I know her. If there was a bike that fit her as well as the Blast and had the attributes she wished it had. She'd already be putting money down. Or, if it's like the Blast, really affordable... She'd buy one outright. Just a thought or two on possible Blast futures. | ||
| Steveshakeshaft |
I've put "book" at the top of the leisure time list. I'd like to have it done by mid-2008. Two first edition copies please Court. (Message edited by steveshakeshaft on January 08, 2007) | ||
| Bomber |
My four votes would be to do something about the distribution channel -- while Dave and other on-the-ball folks will testify that parts availability and delivery are aces (and they can be, I know), the proof is in the hands of the customer -- it does no good telling some poor rider that Buell Parts have never been more available, nor as quickly, when THAT rider is waiting for something that COULD have been gotten into his hands in a matter of days, rather than weeks or months -- ditto for the entire buying experience -- if you wish to build a long term customer, deriding their choice in bikes is not a good way to build that relationship -- even at dealerships in which my interests and predelications (motorcycle-wise) are well known, I STILL get the "when are you gonna get rid of that POS and buy a real bike," generally while pointing at which ever model is most numerous on the sales floor . . . it's all good and well to deliniate the differences between a Buell employee (in East Troy) and a dealership employee (wearing a shirt that very often has Buell printed on it) -- at the end of the day, it's easy for one to give the other a black eye -- preaching to the chior is of little value, so I'll hush up -- distribution channel, votes one, two, three, four, five, and so on btw, we LOVED the Blast in our motorpool -- this era's version of the Honda 305, I say (no faint praise there) -- with a little tweaking, it would still live in the elab -- the primary rider wasn't interested in a tweaked bike (go figure ;-} ), and neith was the factory, for what I'm sure are good reasons . . . . . . did I mention distribution channels? | ||
| Rainman |
As an ex-Harley rider and recently ex-Gold Winger with too many bills and not enough cash for a "real" motorcycle, I lowered myself to buy a Rider's Edge reject 2003 Blast. Sure, it's underpowered compared to my Wing and Sportster, but it gets 65 mpg in the city and I take it over mountain passes on I-64 at 80 mph without blowing anything up. Sure, it's not as modern as the B-King, but neither is it as ugly. The damn thing works, doesn't leak, starts every morning even at 28 degrees and will take the Blue Ridge Mountain curves with great aplomb. I don't know how it came about. I don't know what else was planned. I know it's a damn good motorcycle and I never would have bought it had I not been financially strapped. Sounds like some marketing ideas need to be kicked around in Wisconsin. | ||
| Davegess |
The BLAST is truly a fun bike. I am a long time fan of big singles having owned an SR500 and a GB500 (the GB spent a bunch of time at Buell during the BLAST developemtn period) and the BLAST is better than either of those. If I had the cash I would love to take a BLAST and put it on sport bike program, hop up the motor, lower the bars, lose some weight etc. I suspect that it would not take much work to make it a serious back road scrapper. Never gonna have the power of a multi but it would still be fun. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
I wonder if the Blast is in HD's plans after 09 if they come out with the new Sportster. | ||
| Rainman |
Guys and gals, me thinketh y'all take this Buell stuff far to seriously. The only problem is, I'm beginning to like this community of outcasts. I bet you'd all be fun at a party. I tried to convince a friend of mine that my Buell ain't nothing like no Harley. The engines may be related, but they don't feel a damn thing alike. | ||
| Rocketman |
Anonymous, one can't turn a sows ear into a silk purse. Rocket | ||
| Wardan123 |
In 1921 the management of Arthur D. Little, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., issued a small report describing the methods employed by the firm's chemists to create "silk" from pork byproducts. The idea behind this surprising and not very practical experiment was to prove that something said to be impossible was, with sufficient effort and ingenuity, attainable. As the report notes, the old adage "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear" had been used for years to discourage inventiveness and enterprise. "We resolved...to prove that it was false, and we have done so. We have made a silk purse of a sow's ear." The chemists' first step was to observe the production of silk by silkworms, analyzing both the process and the product. They found that the viscous liquid emitted from ducts in the worm's head turned to silk after contact with air and that it was chemically akin to glue. Following this lead, the lab reduced one hundred pounds of sows' ears (certified to be authentic by an affidavit from the supplier, Wilson & Company, meatpackers in Chicago) to ten pounds of glue, which was turned to gelatin by adding small amounts of chrome alum and acetone. After much trial and error the chemists hit upon a means of producing fine strands by filtering under pressure and forcing the substance through a perforated spinneret. The resulting brittle strands, softened by bathing in a glycerin solution, were dried, dyed, and woven into cloth of "the desired soft, silky feel." From this cloth two "silk" purses were cut and stitched in imitation of a medieval design. The company freely acknowledged that the two "silk" purses, expensive to produce, had more value as conversation starters than as items intended for practical use. They were widely exhibited at trade shows and promotional events. "We frankly admit," the report states, "that it is not very strong or very good silk, and that there is no present industrial value in making it from glue." The report concluded: Things that everybody thinks he knows only because he has learned the words that say it, are poisons to progress. The only way to get ahead is to dig in, to study, to find out, to reason out theories, to test them... This making of silk purses of sows' ears was merely a diversion of chemistry at play. When chemistry puts on overalls and gets down to business, things begin to happen that are of importance to industry and to commerce. New values appear. New and better paths are opened to reach the goals desired. Arthur Dehon Little (1863-1935) attended MIT as an undergraduate student in chemistry from 1881 to 1884 and taught papermaking at the Institute from 1893 to 1916. He served on the visiting committee for MIT's departments of chemistry and chemical engineering and was a life member of the MIT Corporation. The firm he founded in 1909, Arthur D. Little, Inc., has since grown into one of the world's foremost independent consulting and research organizations. "On the Making of Silk Purses from Sows' Ears" is one of thousands of reports in the Tech Collection at the MIT Archives and Special Collections. The Tech Collection consists of publications about MIT or by MIT authors. These and other historical materials are available for use in the Institute Archives reading room. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I too would like to see BMC freed from HDI, but I can't completely justify because I happen to just love the motor so damned much. And I wonder if the XB's would have been nearly as groundbreaking if they didn't have HDI's money to play with. Any thoughts? My fix-it list for Buell woudln't be very long. The bottom line is the entire lineup has been fairly stagnent for some time now - new models pop up, but the entire Lightneing line is basically the same bike over and over again. I know there have been new things, but nothing as radical as I'd like to have seen. To be honest, I'd be happy with a re-bodied Firebolt. 6 speeds would be nice, but not needed. The Blast is ugly and beautiful at the same time. One must keep in mind that the styling was born out of the tubers styling, which is quite different from any of the modern bikes. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
" And I wonder if the XB's would have been nearly as groundbreaking if they didn't have HDI's money to play with. Any thoughts? " I doubt, without HD money, there would be a Buell. From what I understand, new model year will be 09. | ||
| Gomo |
Well if not anything else, this thread has been some great reading........hopefully more to come | ||
| Rubberdown |
I'd like to see Erik and those close to him pull a Willie G and buy back the company. Surely there are astute investors to be found that could fund Buells continuing efforts without the (as I see it) stifling hand of HD. I would be very interesting to see what Erik and his band could do given a free hand with enough money. The whole Erik/HD thing is kind of ironic as I see Erik as cutting edge and HD as a conservative, play it safe, don't take chances company; todays HD, not the Willie G buy back HD. | ||
| Rainman |
I don't know. I think H-D needs Buell. Certainly, Buell needs H-D, without it there would be no Lightning. The cash, the backing made all the difference. What H-D has gotten out of it seems to be a testing ground for new engines (is the XR1200 motor not based on the Lightning?) rubber mounting and other work for the Sportsters and big twins that they couldn't otherwise pull off. Judging from the reactions I get at the HOG chapter (my dealer offered to PAY for my membership the first year, apologizing that there was no more BRAG, even though they sell few Buells. Class move, I thought) Buells and H-Ds differ in enthusiasts as well as mechanicals. Maybe marketing, more development and closer reading of this web site will help the HDI figure out what to do with the step child and all of us step-nieces and nephews. | ||
| Danny_h__jesternut |
Jest you loyalest XB lovers waite an see. When the next latest greatest platform comes along and your beloved XB's are jest dumped/discontinued. Buell Motor company will jest turn its back on you. Thats their M O. Then you'll know the pain of the old tubers who have gone before you. Ha Ha Ha. | ||
| Diablobrian |
Danny J: how so? parts are available, even if your dealer gives you trouble. |
