| Author | Message | ||
     Steveford |
So, if you were Mr. Belfer, what would be your first order of business? Contact the dealer network. Issue a press release. Do a mailing to the people who have purchased the EBR motorcycles. | ||
| Rodrob |
So, if you were Mr. Belfer, what would be your first order of business? Demonstrate current financial resources to operate the new company for a minimum of 5 years and the plan to capitalize for an additional 5 years. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Article at motorcycle.com: http://blog.motorcycle.com/2015/08/07/industry-new s/new-owners-erik-buell-racing/
 | ||
| Mnrider |
Great news EBR is bought by a bike guy with a business background. Good luck to all involved to move forward from here. | ||
| Greg_e |
So they bought it for a little over 2 million, does that wipe out the debt or do they still need to pay the suppliers their due? | ||
| Buelliedan |
he has no obligation to pay the outstanding debts as that is part of the receivership process. The debtors are only entitled to money the receiver got from the sale. So 20 million was owed and they only made 5 million from the sale so that would be about 25 cents on the dollar but employees full back pay and secured creditors get paid first so many of the vendors will probably get very little. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
So would that mean the vendors will be pissed about the situation and likely not do business with the new owners? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Would the vendors carry insurance against such an eventuality? I'm not in business so got no idea, I do my deals on a cash basis. | ||
| Moshaholic2 |
^^^ that is a possibility. I think the Belfer's have their hands in multiple manufacturing aspects (electronics and metal fab) and may have the ability to produce some of those parts themselves. **Thats just based off of what comes up searching belfer group and atlantic metals group along w/ an old WSJ article talking about the Belfer family fortune that was tied to Enron. or, Erik and the new owners will just have to sweet talk the suppliers into writing off their losses | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
To those, like me, who want bikes with air-cooling & do-it-yourself mechanics, I don't see EBR returning to that, though I'd be happy to be proved wrong. I bought a Guzzi for those reasons, my M2 will (hopefully) be resurrected over the winter. | ||
| Court |
The NEW entity is totally, completely and legally unrelated from the old EBR entity. Vendors, all vendors, carry an "alliance for bad debts" and periodically, for a number of reasons "write down" accounts. The dealers and vendors have, at this point, no relationship with the new entity. Eventually, they may. Business are in business (drum roll) to make money. I doubt any of the vendors are too spun up about the outstanding debts. I assure you that Porsche could care less about the $300k based on prior work . . . . . .much of which you are unaware of.. . . they have done with Erik over the years. They play the long game and I assume the engineers in Japan (likely retired by mandatory retire laws from Yamaha or Suzuki) could either. Smart businesses play the long game, not the short. Bottom line . . .If a vendor or former EBR dealer, regardless of how steamed they may have been, has the prospect of being able to make an acceptable profit . . they will come on board. If not, someone else will. That **assumes** the new entity makes motorcycles. I'm not willing to make the assumption, at this point (since all we have to go on is that someone, who we are uncertain as to who it actually is, is "an enthusiast". They may . . as a simple example . . . simply decide that a good way to make money is to get into the EBR parts supply business . . perhaps they just wanted to the tooling . . we need to wait and see. The idea that they are going to produce bikes, and specifically a bike that has some resemblance to a Buell or an EBR . . is yet to be seen. They may have been sitting on a great design for a trike and not had the wherewithal to purchase the tooling and physical facilities. They may . . since the money maker was, and could easily be again, regather some talent, put Erik at the helm and reassemble and engineering consulting group. I can see that being a money machine. At this point . . . it's ALL speculation. There are some telltale fingerprints all over this deal that, in my mind, as cause for some excitement. We'll see. This is all simple guessing on my part but I can see some pieces of the puzzle that are in the right places to do some really neat stuff. I'm pretty excited. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well clearly they're starting off in a much better position than some would think. In case you're still wondering about the new owner, see this new thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/406 2/767735.html?1438971069 | ||
| Ourdee |
I want to see the other stuff that was in Erik's head. He has already proved to me that he can make motorcycles. I like going places, but I don't like being stuck on roads. | ||
| Snacktoast |
he has no obligation to pay the outstanding debts as that is part of the receivership process. The debtors are only entitled to money the receiver got from the sale Buelliedan, are you sure about this? I'm no expert, certainly, but my understanding of receivership (as opposed to bankruptcy) is that the buyer of the entity is purchasing the assets of the company as well as the debt of the company. Am I wrong about this? | ||
| Ponti1 |
http://www.jsonline.com/business/new-owner-of-erik -buell-racing-plans-to-rekindle-business-in-east-t roy-b99552788z1-321103341.html Possible confirmation of the identity of the new owner. I am super excited to see where this goes, and keeping an open mind. I've been in scuffles before that resulted in me incorrectly charged for wrongdoing. It's a matter of good representation and, god willing, a witness or two that can verify what really happened. Thank you, Mr. Belfer, if you read this, for helping to preserve a legend. You are now part of the American Sportbike history. | ||
| Mrlogix |
Don't forget that Victory just ran a sportbike at pikes Peak, HD came out with mid size bikes. Competition is brewing in American Sportbike history. Your move Mr. Belfer | ||
| Slaughter |
Have you LOOKED at the Victory run at Pikes Peak? Looked at HD's XR1200?? They are NOT sportbikes by any definition. | ||
| Gaesati |
But victory is talking about putting project 156 into production in late 2016! | ||
| Hughlysses |
It'll be interesting to see how quickly Mr. Belfer can get EBR running again and how soon another model can be added to the lineup. Erik said in a post-closure interview EBR had at least one new, less-expensive model that was 18 months away from production. Mr. Belfer observed that he thought EBR got diverted from their core task of building motorcycles and concentrated too much on being an engineering firm with one outside customer. With re-arranged priorities (and sufficient cubic dollars), maybe this new model can be put production sooner? | ||
| Sifo |
While I'm glad to see what has happened, I still feel the need to wait and see where it will lead. I'm also curious where this leaves dealers. Are they dealers for the new company? Do they want to be? Is the fire sale over? Well I plan on going to the classic bike show that our local dealer does every year. It's next weekend. I'll be sure to ask what his take is on the situation. Hopefully, by then he will have some idea where it's all heading... At least for them. I do see this as a very promising outcome of the receivership ordeal. It could be worse. It could be raining! | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I called "Pegram Racing" as soon as I heard the news... "This number has been disconnected" So I would say my local dealer would fall into the NO category. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Yea, it'll be interesting what steps they take to re-build the brand. The new owner has said something about the dealers:
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/2015/08/ exclusive-buyer-of-erik-buell-racing-speaks-out.ht ml On Facebook, I noticed one EBR dealer (from NY?) posted that he was looking forward to working with the new owner, so at least one dealer hasn't given up the brand. Hopefully there are others. | ||
| Court |
>>>>It'll be interesting to see how quickly Mr. Belfer can get EBR running again I may be incorrect but I do not think the EBR entity survives the receivership. If so, it'd essentially be a simple reorganization. Having parsed the pieces of the corporate entity into slivers and sold them individually I am of the opinion (personal opinion) that what the buyer (whoever it actually is) has purchased is a pile of parts, not a company. Granted that the pile of parts are properly aligned to start building motorcycles absent some of the normally encounter impediments to entry. I am hoping that there is, perhaps, some "assignment" process whereby the new entity can "inherit" the authority to do business in the various locales. Be mindful that, as a manufacturer, the firm must get certified to sell products in any state in which it has a dealer or any other presence. There are also a host of time consuming, as in up to a year, items such as registration with NHTSA, EPA and so forth. My sense is that, at this point in the chronology of the continuing adventures of Mr. Buell, our greatest assets include a wealth of experience, connections and a host of lessons learned over 25+ years of building motorcycles and running a motorcycle company. I'll be in touch with Erik today and am going to offer, gratis, to do anything I can to kick off any early customer liaison, support, connection efforts that I might be able to help with. I know him, the business and the customers and, to the extent I can help, I'm going to offer to. Another thing that the new owner can leverage is the fact that there are a plethora of folks, both riders and non-riders, who are cheering Erik on. Following the HD debacle in 2009 some of the most vocal support came from BMW owners who would never consider buying an EBR but who, uniformly, admired, respected and cheered Erik's passion, tenacity and spirit. Folks who may not want the bike REALLY want to see Erik kick one through the uprights of the motorcycle business. I'm about as excited as I've been in a long time. Court | ||
| Hughlysses |
Court- If I'm surmising correctly from a recent comment you made, couldn't the "new" company legally be named "Buell" if they wanted?  | ||
| Readyxb |
You were probably joking, but Buell and several associated words and logos are still trademarks owned by H-D U.S.A., LLC. | ||
| Froggy |
Do they?  | ||
| Ljm |
I wonder about the new entity. It may well be a grey area, but it could be argued that the new owner acquired the old entity with all its agreements, approvals, etc. intact. If that argument could be made they could roll the first bike out the door Monday. | ||
| Robertl |
The AIMExpo is in October here in Orlando and that is where I first saw the EBR 1190x. Last year EBR did demo rides but they were already full for the day by lunch (guy said they were full for the day within the first hour of opening. Bike week is just around the corner in March and that is where I met Erik at the Daytona trace with the EBR truck. Looking forward to seeing them again real soon. Maybe Court and a few of you will be there too. Robert | ||
| Mrlogix |
You were probably joking, but Buell and several associated words and logos are still trademarks owned by H-D U.S.A., LLC. Actually, that may not be entirely correct. I did some trademark search investigating back about a year ago for anther purpose. The Trademark maintenance fees for the Buell trade marks have been dormant since '09. | ||
| Ljm |
Court, please extend the willingness to help on the part of the community. We have a vested interest here, and I know a lot of people have offered at some point as well to do whatever would be helpful. I offered the RS to a dealer for the IMS show when he didn't have one to show and the offer still stands. I expect the same for others. We want this to fly. |
