| Author | Message | ||
     96s2t |
After searching the internet and this forum I can not find an official list of the number of S3 bikes made. I can see lots of people talking about it, but I need a list or letter with a Buell company letterhead that states the year and model and how many S3 bikes where made. I need this for a collector plate I am applying for on a 2001 S3. Anyone have a list or letter from Buell? | ||
| Stonemaster |
HD would have it | ||
| 96s2t |
I’ll ask but I’m not holding my breath. It’s kinda like asking your ex girlfriend for her friend’s number. Every time I go in to my local HD dealer and ask for Buell parts the dude rolls his eyes and passes me off to the new guy. | ||
| Chasespeed |
Do you have a parts manual? Over the years, I've only ever dealt with a few decent parts guys in reference to Buell parts... In fact, I still remember their names...lol And they usually had 1 themselves. For the most part, I'd just end up with the manual, and give them the number I wanted them to check, or order... | ||
| Stonemaster |
call corporate dealers are asshats | ||
| Stonemaster |
1997-2001 2673 | ||
| 96s2t |
Stone, thanks for the numbers but as I stated in the original question, I need an official list, or letter from the manufacturer saying what the production numbers are. They won’t accept the poster of the different Buells over the yearsI have seen either. | ||
| 96s2t |
Chase, I have both the repair and parts manual but most parts have been superceided into another part number. When I tell them to just order the part for a Sportster I usually get some disbelief from the guy. It’s not something new. I have been dealing with this since I owned the S2. Got the same attitude with my 2006 Vrod. On a cross country ride on my S2T I stopped in Charlottetown HD dealer and asked them to do an oil change on my bike. ‘We don’t work on Buells here’ they sold me the oil and let me change the oil in their shop. 10 minutes later I was done. It was like I was taking a Toyota into a Maserati dealer. Ahhhhhh! | ||
| 96s2t |
Just got a response from Buell 2.0 Maybe a personal letter from Erik? He has answered before.……. Dear sir, I own a 2001 Buell S3T and my insurance company has instructed me to obtain a letter from the Buell company with the Buell company letterhead on the top stating exactly how many S2T model Buells where made, year by year. I need this letter from you to obtain collector plate insurance for my bike. I have owned 4 Buells over the years and have enjoyed terrific customer support from your company and hope you will find the time to email me this letter I need. Thank you. Ted Ashby. Hi Ted, Unfortunately I'm not sure we can furnish that. Our company did not produce your bike. Harley-Davidson still owns all the production and engineering data and intellectual property to the tube frame Buells. I'll see what I can do, but you may have to contact Harley-Davidson Thank you, Tech | ||
| Chasespeed |
Ted, I hear ya... As I am starting to go through my X1, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get up-close, and personal with th3 supercession game. The guys I'm dealing with now, have been pretty good. But, I am also struggling with how to deal with unobtainium parts going forward. I WILL keep this bike on the road as long as possible. In fact, I need to hunt down some isolators for when I start to tear down.... | ||
| 96s2t |
Chase, thankfully most of the parts that wear out are also Sportster parts. I believe Isolators have been remanufactured with better materials. HD Dyna isolators fit I believe. Not sure. | ||
| Victory |
I have seen some official looking lists of the numbers for models but didnt save it. I remember X1 being higher than most. | ||
| 96s2t |
The reply I received from the current’Buell 2.0’ motorcycle manufacturer. I am contacting HD now and waiting for a response. Interesting to find out that HD does own the production and engineering property to the tube frame Buells. Unfortunately I'm not sure we can furnish that. Our company did not produce your bike. Harley-Davidson still owns all the production and engineering data and intellectual property to the tube frame Buells. I'll see what I can do, but you may have to contact Harley-Davidson Thank you, Tech | ||
| Court |
For what it's worth . . . I have all the leftover posters that were going to get tossed and those numbers are accurate. I also have the .xls files with all the "Build Sheets". Best bet would be to write public affairs at HD and see if you can get someone to provide something. Failing that . . . I have a couple cases of Buell Motor Co. and Buell Motorcycle Company stationery. :-) | ||
| Court |
By the way . . . there is no "Buell 2.0". LAP bought EBR which had zero to do with Buell Motor or Buell Motorcycle. The current crop is barely capable;e of spelling EBR and anyone connected with Erik Buell has been out of the picture for 10 years. | ||
| Screamer |
96s2t, Call Harley-Davison Customer Service, and see if they could provide the document you need. 1-800-258-2464 or 414-343-4056, I’d try the second and have your VIN handy. | ||
| 96s2t |
Screamer. Already in the works. The local HD dealer is contacting Harley with my VIN. Stuart Wells is on the case and he is one of us. | ||
| 96s2t |
The lame response from Buell, Hi Ted, We did some digging and I can tell you the numbers of S3T's produced: 2000 349 2001 164 2002 252 We can not speak officially as the manufacture of the S3T but hopefully those numbers are helpful to you Thank you, Tech | ||
| 96s2t |
My reply Thanks for the numbers but these are well known and available on the internet. They are of no use to me without a company letterhead. You can only strive to have the same level of customer support as Erik Buell did with his original company. When I was needing customer service from the manufacturer in 2003, Erik Buell personally wrote me 2 letters and telephoned me once to resolve an issue with my original S2T. The honest thing for your company to do is come clean with your present and future customers and rebrand your company with a different name. Ted Ashby | ||
| Mnscrounger |
96S2T: The problem is you are asking the current iteration of Buell to provide information from the last iteration. The two companies share nothing more than the name and logos. To my knowledge there is no archival data. They can't give you what they don't have. I did hear a rumor that Steve Smith is on their team again, If true, that's good news to me. Shortly after the 2017 relaunch at the homecoming, Steve was mentioning how he would love to have the operating capital to support the legacy bikes. His best quote was something to the effect of " If Harley doesn't think your 20 dollars is worth another run of turn signals, I'd sure love to sell you them if we could make a profit on it." Hiring him back would also reinforce their demonstrating commitment to the brand beyond emptying the parts bins from the liquidation sale. | ||
| 96s2t |
Scrounge, I am just posting what I have to go through to get what I want. I didn’t really expect to get anything from the current trademark owners but my insurance company wants a company letterhead ‘Buell or HD’ stating the production numbers to grant me collector bike status and get the cheaper insurance rate. Hopefully this post will pave the way for others to follow. It all changed this year when the Buell company came back to produce motorcycles. Before that, Buell was out of business and my bike qualified for collector status under’15 years old and a discontinued vehicle. | ||
| Victory |
Hey Id be with you on this but BMC is gone and the parts promise is over with. It doesnt hurt to ask and I say try but the MOCO owes nothing now. I personally wouldnt expect satisfaction here. Insurance company. Give them this thread. You tried and have public proof the the MOCO has been shut down. What Ins co procedure is asking for can not be reasonably provided. So the next best thing is PUBLIC / EMPLOYEE OPINION. They need to stop their illegal and overzealous ignorance of the facts. (Message edited by victory on December 12, 2021) | ||
| Mnscrounger |
I needed to go through a similar bunch of hoops to get the Beta Prototype 1190 registered. I did a fair amount of research into SEC filings, court records, and Secretary of State registrations to establish provenance without MSO or title. I will share a link to the most relevant to your problem here, but some of the others I gathered contained private data of past and present principals. Out of respect for their privacy, I will not post those documents. And perhaps proof that they're separate and unrelated companies is all you'll need... Here is a link to HDs 2009 form 10K annual report filing to the SEC. http://investor.harley-davidson.com/node/12746/htm l Part 1, page 3 states discontinuation of Buell motorcycles. In fact Buell shows up 52 times in this report, and almost ALL of them refers to the end of the Buell product line. All corporate entities registered after that date of SEC filing, whether by Erik, or any other entity, are wholly separate business entities, bearing no relation to the HD owned subsidiary of Buell Motorcycles, ( the company that built your S3). In no HD SEC documents I've researched after 2010 does Buell motorcycles appear. | ||
| 96s2t |
This is the latest response from the current Buell company. Please know that I didn’t think expect any help from them but I had to start with the present Buell company and work backward to satisfy my insurance company that I have done some investigation. Holding my breath until Harley Davidson gets back to me. It sounds like they still own some of the legal rights to the tube framed Buells. Hi Ted, I believe you miss understood me. Its not that we do not want to help you, but we were not the manufacturer of the S3T. When Harley closed Buell in 2009 Erik started a new company, Erik Buell Racing which is what the current Buell Motorcycles evolved from. It was a lot of people from the original Buell (me included) but it is a separate company. We are happy to provide any support we can for any vintage Buell, but to provide the document you are asking for would be misrepresenting our company as the manufacturer of the S3T to your insurance company. Thank you, Tech | ||
| Wcbrracing |
Maybe time to shop for a new insurance company! I’m sure there will be a company with an “AGREED VALUE” policy out there for you, and you’ll pay for what you THINK it’s worth to you. If their blue book value is over $3500, I’d be shocked…. | ||
| Mnscrounger |
I would bet if the current Buell motorcycles wanted to try to get a tube framed update, dead copy of an S3, using an S&S Evo style motor through DOT/EPA certification, HD would care less, as long as it didn't say HD on it anywhere. I also doubt there would be much of a market, or that the EVO based motor could pass EPA anymore. | ||
| 96s2t |
Webracing….we only have one government insurance company here in BC Canada that offers collector bike insurance for a mere $300 per year. Can’t change insurance companies. This letter has nothing to do with value, it has to do with official production numbers. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
$300 for cheaper collectors insurance! I don't want to know what your regular bike insurance costs up there if you're using "mere" to describe that price, especially considering your riding season has to be a few months shorter up there. Mnscrounger: I'd love to see an updated version of the S1 put out! Current 1190 engine in a steel trellis frame with bodywork that takes subtle styling cues from the S1. That would be a gorgeous bike. | ||
| 96s2t |
maiden, Insurance for a 1200 cc bike with a value of $5000 runs about $2100 per year here in BC. I have more than one bike so I only insure the one bike I decide to ride for 3 months at a time. If I had collector bike status on the S3 I would have to insure it for a year at a time and I could use it in the months that I don’t have a bike insured. And it’s nice to have a spare bike at hand. Here in BC we only have 6 month riding season but there are some nice sunny days that I like to ride locally. | ||
| Cvc |
Wow insurance is spendy up there I pay $360on my 08 XT $290 on my 06SS and $63 a year for 05 Blast and my Honda xl200 with collector plates is $66. So three to four hundred miles south and not much more of a riding season. I never got why the Honda was more than the Blast. Hopefully you get it worked out soon. |
