| Author | Message | ||
     Keyser_soze |
Stop into South Valley Harley Davidson Buell and discover no Buells on the floor. Turns out they have tubed there Buell franchise and will no longer carry parts. The next closest Buell dealer ship is 5 hours away in St.Gearge. grrrr. Buell and HD need to pull there heads out and market these bikes. | ||
| Maddiemsu |
You'll have to check to see if Zion will still be a dealer. Their parent, Las Vegas HD, is no longer in the Buell game either. Your closest might now be Big Sky HD in Great Falls , MT! | ||
| Dbird29 |
Holy crap. Glad I moved to Portland. 2 here (fingers crossed) | ||
| Dbird29 |
They are already off the Buell site. | ||
| Keyser_soze |
Looks like Pocatello Idaho is now the closest. No Buell dealers in Utah. | ||
| Bob_thompson |
The dealers in Idaho, whos websites I just checked out, Grand Teton in Idaho Falls and Eagle rock in Pocatello show nothing about Buell's and show no inventory in either new or used. I'll bet they will be the next to bail out on our great bikes. Too bad. Some of the dealers just do not care to deal with the new technology of Buells. Their set in old school HD. AND IT SHOWS, mostly in their service depts. Glad to be rid of South Valley, their techs in service were idiots. I tried to help then learn with my M2 and now my 1125R but to no avail. Too well set in HD. Good riddance. I'll buy parts from Zac at High Country in Colorado. Rant over. Bob | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
My local dealer stopped selling Buells to. Funny they hang in there with Buell until Buell starts Winning races. I've had more people ask me about Buell after all the race hooplaa.. | ||
| Swampy |
"All the race Hoopla" Yeah, but they were cheating with almost twice the engine size, what bike would you expect to win when you are running a 600 against a 1125? And when you build a motorcycle so perfect you just have no need for the dealer after the sale! | ||
| Littlebuggles |
I was in Grand Teton in IF this summer and they had a number of bikes in inventory. Staff has alway been polite and helpful up there. Similar to the SL and South Valley store they tend to not have much in the way of shirts and such. Too bad, I've been seeing more Buells on the street here lately than ever. I'll talk to Kelly or Les tomorrow and see if he'll tell me what's up. Stefhan, mind if I ask which dept you're with? -Mike (Message edited by littlebuggles on October 03, 2009) (Message edited by littlebuggles on October 03, 2009) | ||
| Bob_thompson |
Mike, Les was who I bought my 1125R from and the only one in the store who I liked and respected for his knowledge and honesty. And for Rob(Swampy), you may not be but you're sounding like a troll. Why chime in from Lansing Mi.when this is a local issue with just one dealer. And about the racing if you have read all the knowledgeable people here and elsewhere its all about power to weight ratio and handling. Get some knowledge of your own. AMA Daytona Sportbike is the absolute best racing there is right now. Have you ever ridden ANY Buell? If I have offended, sorry. Bob | ||
| Swampy |
I'm not trolling, I'm just repeating the naysayers, all the losers are saying it isn't fair, and that they should have crushed the Blast when it came out. I just smile politely and move on. People simply don't want to change. The world is flat. There are precious few no BS Buell stores out there. None of them anywhere near me. I am sorry for your loss. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
The HD/Buell dealer in Annapolis, MD is cubing the Buell brand, too. I don't care how some like to spin it, this ain't good. If the hemorrhaging doesn't stop the only way someone will be able to buy a Buell is by mail order. | ||
| Oddball |
Well you still have Old Glory, Fredrick and Battley. Annap ignored anyone not looking at HD's. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Bob, does the shop in Ogden service Buells? | ||
| Paw |
I think Erik needs to buy back Harley's share of "HIS COMPANY". His bikes need to sit next to other sportbikes and not a bunch of Hogs. How many sportbike riders walk into a Harley dealership? IMO...He should do that is it very clear he is heading in a direction Harley is not...A new more powerful liquid cold motor...It's time to get these bike next to other sportbike and let people ride and compare them to other sportbike brands. I think if he could find a way to cut ties with Harley and get dealerships or allow other dealers to take in his bikes more people who ride other sportbkie brands would check them out...Don't get me wrong I love H-D...But they have limited Buell for way to long. If Erik had the power and backing to do such a thing I bet sales would more than double. (Message edited by paw on October 04, 2009) | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Yeah, Buell needed HD to get them where they are now; but they (HD) are really dragging the bikes down in many locations, the guys that are excited about selling Buell show it, many are here... Maybe time for HD to cut the apron strings and try an move the brand though other sources than the HD dealer network, how else will this great American Motorcycle Company survive? The cruiser market just doesn't get the sport bike thing. | ||
| Zac4mac |
We're still strong on this side of the Divide. Besides us, there are 2 or 3 other Buell dealers in the Denver area. We sell the most Buells of any shop out here and those sales aren't enough to keep one sales person fed. I do see sportbikes in the parking lot occasionally. Talked to a guy with a nice 1098 a month or two back, saw a nice old TL1000S yesterday. Bones, our GM, rode his Norton yesterday. I see at least one Buell almost every time I'm out riding. Z | ||
| F_skinner |
We sell the most Buells of any shop out here and those sales aren't enough to keep one sales person fed. I would say that is true. It would be interesting, for a great Buell dealer like HCHD, to see how many parts, service and clothing is from "Buell Dollars". I like just about everyone at that dealership. Bones is the real deal and it shows throughout the dealership. I think I have spent 12K in bikes, 1,500 in accessories for that bike and maybe 2.5K in parts and service in the last year at HCHD. That in itself is not enough for one employee I bet. However, I am just one person. | ||
| Bob_thompson |
Zac, you guys are going to be my go to dealer for parts for sure but for any flashes or the like I guess I'm out of luck on that. Maintenance I'll do myself. Littlebuggles: Ogden HD is very Buell unfriendly. No service there for Buells. They are locked in the cruiser market as is the other HD dealers in Utah. And I'll politely disagree on Buell pulling away from HD. I think it would be too big an investment for BMC to go elsewhere. Its HD's loss when a Buell division at a Harley shop closes but the market is so small in some places like Utah I doubt they care. Even our friend Les said that. I'd love to see just one Ducati/Buellcati shop anywhere. Bob | ||
| Dbird29 |
Maybe Timpanogos HD could pick up Buell. | ||
| Iamike |
It was interesting at Buelltoberfest talking to several of the other campers there. One guy had an ST1100 and was looking at the Ulys. He had been a BWM mechanic and wasn't too interested in them. Another couple guys on HDs thought that they were prety neat too. It's too bad that if they were interested that they may have trouble finding a place to buy one. | ||
| Rainman |
If my dealer didn't carry Buell, I would never have considered the brand. Going four hours for service and parts seems kinda silly. Having whole states with nary a dealer isn't my idea of a good network either. Of course, Triumph and Victory only have a handful of dealers as well. Being mechanically declined, a dealer is a security blanket for back-handed wrenches like me. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Thanks Bob. Dave, I've wondered once or twice why they don't or if they would even consider selling the line. They sure did something cool with that old building! I believe SL and SV will service the bikes, but still want to make sure. I'd be really upset if they tried to completely kill the brand here like that. | ||
| Buellishxx |
Salt Lake Harley sponsors a Buell at the MOM series. I just raced Scott last week after coming down from Calgary to race at Miller. http://www.latebraker.com/galleries/MoM2009/Round7 /HWSS_Sportsman/content/MoM_7_2774_large.html I've said it before, that Buell needs to get with it in regards to their styling. The 1125 just doesn't sit well with most people. If you want to sell bikes people have to lust for them (i.e. Ducati, MV,), or they have to be the fastest, most hp, highest rpm. Unfortunately Buell is none of the above, and hence poor sales. Motorcycles are passionate objects (as can be attested to by this site), so if the bike doesn't bring out any sort of emotion in a prospective buyer, no sale! It seems strange that Harley has all this figured out and Buell hasn't learned from their experience. I have seen people buy Harley's completely on it's looks, or how it made them feel. One friend of mine took me along, and I tried to explain that he would be getting a better bike / deal with a Road King, but he was set on buying a Fat Boy and their was nothing going to stop him. He had it for a week and then put saddle bags on, windshield, etc. He bought a bike that cost more than the RK, then spent a couple of G on accessories. All this based on an emotional sale, and Harley made some $$. When it comes to sport bikes, most of the new (younger) buyers are only interested in a couple of things, how fast does it go, how much hp, can I get matching leathers / helmet etc. I've seen it happen numerous times. It might not be right, or what we Buellers think is correct, but it's what sells motorcycles. Ducati is the business model that Buell should be chasing. Great looking product, great performance, accessories, etc. Buells advantage should be that it's product is more reliable, better dealer network, and considerably cheaper. If a I-4 rider could walk into a Buell dealership, not get the Harley attitude, see a bike that they love the looks of that's half the battle. Once again I don't understand why Buell marketer's haven't figured this out yet. Sticking to your engineering principles and designs is nice, but if it doesn't pay the bills, it's time to change direction. |
