| Author | Message | ||
     Swordsman |
Just got this in my inbox, thought you guys might be interested. Dear Cliff, We're really sorry that we've taken so long to get back to you with an update, we're still a titchy team here at Mac and the project has taken some interesting twists and turns in the last couple of months. Here's a sense of what we've been up to... We have now heard formally from the 'Top Brass' at Harley-Davidson / Buell that we cannot buy new Buell Blast motors from them. They took our request very seriously and treated us professionally and we wish them well for the future of their company but this means we're going to have to re-think the way we can build more than one Mac motorcycle, we would welcome your thoughts on how you think we could do this. The feedback in favour of the Buell Blast motor over the Yamaha XT 660 motor has been overwhelming and we are sincerely grateful for all your comments and ideas but it looks like nothing comes closer to our original vision and philosophy than an air-cooled thumper. When we heard from HD we could easily have called it a day and gone back to our day jobs but the whole crew wanted to press on with the prototype because we whole-heartedly believe in Mac and just in case HD change their minds...so the big news is that we've made a start on the design-and-build of our first 'Frankenstein' prototype, a Mac 'Spud', using a second-hand Blast motor. We've teamed-up with the renowned British race chassis and performance parts company, 'Harris Performance' to build it. It's worth looking at their website ; <http://www.harris-performance.com/> www.harris-performance.com to get a sense of their capabilities and we've put some photos on our blog, the 'Chin Wag'. Steve and Lester Harris have been engineering high-performance motorcycles since we were nippers and have a real empathy with what we're trying to do. Alongside all this, we've also been working with a couple of great design engineers on some improvements to the one Blast motor that we have, we've stripped and rebuilt it for use in the prototype and there's not much we don't know about these motors now. Simon Parker at Parker Fabrications in Bournemouth (www.parker-fabrication.co.uk) is going to make the tanks for the prototype, Simon is a true artisan and craftsman and has produced tanks for the Petronas race team and now Maico's new range of motocross bikes. A British exhaust manufacturer is going to help us with exhausts for the prototype. We'll probably make one to satisfy the regulations and one that will get the best out of that Blast motor. Tracey continues to answer your mail in her 'glamorous pyjamas' at her kitchen table, well into the early-hours most nights. Mark and Ian at Xenophya are busy working on projects with a couple of well-known motorcycle manufacturers, including Triumph and Royal Enfield, and Ellis' lounge remains covered in notes, drawings and components for the prototype - no wonder he's still single ! We promise we'll keep you posted more frequently from here on, as the prototype makes progress and you'll be able to see the 'family album' on our website. In closing, we'd just like to say a BIG, BIG THANK-YOU to you for all your support, it means a lot to us and keeps us going when things don't go quite the way we planned. We sincerely hope that you'll continue to share the 'vision' of Mac with us, as we will with you. With our best wishes Miss Tracey Price aka. The Glamorous Assistant and the Chaps at Mac Mac Motorcycles Worcester England ~SM | ||
| Sdecp |
I am confused, why would HD not want to sell motors? | ||
| Hughlysses |
They're "too integrated" into HD to be sold...  | ||
| Swordsman |
Same reason they didn't want to sell Buell? | ||
| Jaimec |
Because HD Management is a bunch of hairless mole rats, that's why. | ||
| Kmbuell |
Not enough volume to tool up? What do you think the minimum profitable run is for the tooling. The real question is "how many are in the warehouse?" I'll bet it a bunch. Why is The Motor Company so afraid of Buell living in any form? Somebody crapped in somebody's cornflakes big time is my guess. We will all be looking for parts big time in seven years. They will flush us as fast as they can. To the guys at MAC, I say make your own, but make it yours. I bet theres a small company in East Troy that would help. Or maybe even S&S? Kevin | ||
| Danger_dave |
How touching. But the blast isn't that good a motor to get soppy about anyway. Deus are doing nice things with scavenged SR500 engines | ||
| Danger_dave |
Miss Tracey does write a nice letter doesn't she. | ||
| Swordsman |
Yeah, the bunch at Mac sound like they'd be fun to hang with. I think they were just excited to find an engine they could buy on the cheap that would be simple to incorporate and work on, but now that's no longer available, and trying to find a different mass-producible option isn't going to be easy on their limited budget. ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on March 01, 2010) | ||
| Court |
>>>Why is The Motor Company so afraid of Buell living in any form? Two folks answered that question the last week of October 2009 shortly before a meeting. One of them has since left to "pursue other interests". The answer would likely not make sense to normal folks. There is at least one more good reason they'd never get a Blast motor but talks never got that far. I suspect that had talks cleared the "permission" hurdle they'd never have survived the balance of the process. There is a perfectly good reason the Blast, Buells #1 seller of all time, was "Cubed". | ||
| Hootowl |
The new 3%'ers logo: %^3 | ||
| Hughlysses |
I wonder if they've thought of the Suzuki Boulevard S40 engine (it used to be called something else):  650 cc air cooled thumper. I believe Suzuki actually offers a "standard" version (as opposed to a cruiser) of this bike in Japan. | ||
| Danger_dave |
>>The answer would likely not make sense to normal folks. << Oh yeah, sure, like that's us anyways. Dare you to spill. | ||
| Court |
>>>>>>The answer would likely not make sense to normal folks. << Yikes . . . you are indeed correctomundo . . . if you stand right on this spot and hold your head tilted a bit it does sound like I called you "normal". WOW. What age has done to me.  | ||
| Brumbear |
I wonder if triumph would sell its older bonneville motors on the cheap I know they were like 690's or something only the thruxton and the speedmaster had the 865 twins. I believe thats a retool of the yamahaxs motor anyway. | ||
| Oddball |
I'm sure suzuki would sell them as many savage motors as they can handle. I still think of the bike as the savage not the boulevard S40. HD could use the money and they're going to be stupid yet again. It does look like a continuing concerted effort at the complete elimination of anything even buell related. That whole goat screw purchase of MV starts to look a bit clearer | ||
| Kmbuell |
Court, So, what is the perfectly good reason the Blast was cubed? You seem to want us to believe you know. It is starting to seem that when ever you add to a thread we come away with more questions and few answers. If you can't answer the question why add confusion? Kevin | ||
| Hex |
It's not confusion, it's marketing. | ||
| Kmbuell |
Hex, You know that's exactly what I'm thinking, but what is being marketed? I not a big fan of having my chain jerked. Real information is good, bullshit is bad. Life would be so much better if we all followed simple rules and quite stroking our own egos. Kevin | ||
| Xbmacon |
If I read that correctly, at least one of the reasons was that it was "Buells #1 seller". It took sales out of the small sportster, a starter bike (or at least it was perceived as so). "Marketing" and "product alignment" is also eliminating products perceived as duplicate or competing with yourself. Oh, they also didnt want anyone else to have the "good thing" they killed. I may be off base and completely wrong, but that it what my uninformed ear heard... | ||
| Kmbuell |
XBmac, Heard where from who? This is kind of typical internet bs that drives me nuts. Of course, no word from Court! Once he asked a direct question he disappears. Why? Lets just keep spreading incorrect guesses! Kevin | ||
| Danger_dave |
>>Court, So, what is the perfectly good reason the Blast was cubed? << They were commercially obliged to follow a highly paid agency's advice....for 20. | ||
| Danger_dave |
If the economy hadn't imploded whose to say it wouldn't have worked too, now that I think about it. Sure got some hornets stirred up. | ||
| Swordsman |
In the letter they mentioned the Yamaha XT660 engine. They had a poll up on their site a good while back asking which option "I" would prefer, hence the response they sent me. Interesting that she says the Buell motor was the far more popular choice in the poll. ~SM | ||
| P47b |
Give Court a chance. He's on at least 5 sights that I know of. He will be back around. | ||
| Froggy |
The Blast cubing was just marketing. Buell was trying to build up an image of being a sportbike manufacture, and the Blast did not fit the bill. The Blast was still being built for 2010. | ||
| Swordsman |
Slightly OT, I do wonder what H-D will be using for their Rider's Edge classes in the future. Perhaps they'll keep making Blasts just for that purpose, without making them available to the public? It's a helluvalot better machine to be learning on than a Sportster. As far as Court's mysterious ways, might as well just roll with it. I don't think he's blowing smoke, because he really and truly knows these people. But, I believe that's also the reason we don't get much more insider info than we do. Sometimes you can be too close to the action to speak freely, y'know? That's my uneducated theory, anyway. ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on March 03, 2010) | ||
| Xbmacon |
KMbuell, if you read the words in my post right before the the one you jumped on to slam me with, you would have "heard" that it WAS an opinion I reached and it was from reading this board and using my noodle. The "who" is this bunch. Yes most of the things that the people NOT IN THE KNOW say are opinions. That being part of the fun of it all. Speculation, banter, and debate are "in my opinion" the most interesting part of the human experience. Everyone that feels that you are going to get a huge "secret" or "insider knowledge" on a public forum needs to really check reality. You may get hints and cryptic messages that lead to speculation and even true hope and excitement, but part of "being in the know" is knowing when to keep the particulars close to your chest. Have a beer or eat a cookie and chill... | ||
| Kmbuell |
XBmac, No disrespect, but urban myths need to be stopped! As long as some of us feel that being mis-lead and mis-informed is FUN we will continue to be fed BS. It's up to us a community to demand accountability. Certain folks seem to feel the need to stroke their egos here. I happen to feel that is not OK. I guess it's my issue of the week. I'll try the beer, and maybe a cookie too! Are you buying? Kevin | ||
| Paw |
They need to go after the 660 Duke motor that is a real nice thumper!!! |
