| Author | Message | ||
     Buell2001b |
Jscott i second to you, he should have raced to at least show it can race. He did not have to win. the problem i think is bigger then money. they dont have it in their mind and the worst not in their heart. To be an American is not about giving up. When i bought my bike, non of my friends knew what it was, never even heard of it. One day in San Diego a sailor looked at my bike and smiled and said "BUELL". he was the first person to recognize it. he told me how all his navy friends ride buells in europe and how the europeans buy it becuase its American and its unique styling. he sounded like a salesman for BUELL. I guess when you travel the world and see how other people have high reguard for America, you cant help but having pride in American products. This is why i think BUELL & HD should invest in a BIKE to make a statement, that we are the best. Numero UNO. | ||
| Buelliedan |
Buell, When it comes to cruiser bikes harley davidson is hands down NUMBER ONE. In all surveys when asked which cruiser bike people would like to own they almost unanimously pick HDs. Have you been to any oval track races? Guess who number one is there? Harley. The goal of HD/Buell is not to make statements, its to make money. Spending a million dollars on an FX does not make any financial sense. If you believe it is so important then why don't you organize a Buell FX team? You all make it sound so easy. | ||
| Hobanbrothers |
You guys are kind of throwing Buell under the bus on this one, aren't you? Shawn Higbee was prepared to race the 200 until Sunday afternoon. Had things been different last Sunday, there would be a Buell in the 200. Shawn is a very talented rider and would have easily made the field, he qualified 5th for the Thunderbike race on basicly a bone stock XB12, beating bikes with 20 more horse and torque. I spoke with Mike C. on Friday and I know why Hals decided not to run 200, but it was not because they thought the motor would not make it. The Hals bikes, Shawns bikes and others at that level have some beans! But with beans comes other stuff and you are always limited by the weakest piece on the bike. Sometimes that can be really little things, but to run the 200 you are probably talking about a minimum of $15,000.00 for the one race. To bet over $15,000 on one race and then to have something fail because it needs to handle over 100% more horsepower than it was designed for can be a bit disheartening. 200 bikes are built for that one purpose, then it is back to the rest of the season, so they really are one off, damn near GP bikes, and that is a lot for dealer based teams to handle. But please do not throw Buell or the FX teams under the bus, they really tried hard to be there and nobody tried harder that Shawn Higbee. | ||
| Buell2001b |
Im a BUELL guy not a HD. HD might be number one but their bikes are so outdated. Their bikes look like the ones my dad rode, my grand dad rode, my great grand dad etc. Point is HD are for older people, I mean what is HD going to do when all the Veterans die! | ||
| Uwgriz |
The problem is not bigger than money. All businesses exist for the same purpose - to make money. HD is a publicly held company with responsibilities to its shareholders and can never loose sight of that. | ||
| Jscott |
Is Buell not playing for points? Why even try in AMA, just stick to FUSA. $30,000 whats that to HD. Again I'm not faulting the privateers. Also how did that CW article come about? Do you think that they were that interested in the Buell FX effort or do you think they were approached? If CW was approached, missing daytona is a collasal screw up. | ||
| Buelliedan |
Griz is 100% correct. It is all about the money! | ||
| Buell2001b |
I can't wait for Laguna Seca, if MOTOsczle does good at the MOTOGP maybe even win. I wonder if HD will try to buy them off!. I wonder how much of a market share could they take from BUELL and the Jappy Corporations. Only then HD will realize they should have pumped some serious money into BUELL. | ||
| Jscott |
Again I don't want to be seen as down on Buell or the privateers. I know that racing requires massive amounts of money. I am huge Buell fan and a huge race fan - so thats why I may come off a bit disheartened. How much did HD pay Elton John to sing at the 100 year annniverery again? | ||
| Spike |
Just so I'm clear on this- are we definitely saying there will not be any Buells racing in the 200? Are there any Buells running at all on Saturday? Watching the Buells compete in the 200 was my main motivation for going to Daytona for the weekend. If I don't get to watch Buells race I'd almost rather spend the day at the battletrax or doing demo rides. Mike Luddy, Jr. '04 XB12R | ||
| Uwgriz |
Not trying to throw Buell or Shawn under any buses. Just trying to explain that it's not as simple as just having it in your head so you go out and spend thousands of dollars (which the teams may or may not have) if it doesn't make sense, be it because of engine, any other components or any other reason. Shawn and his team had to work their tails off to get ready for that race and I respect them for it. I would have loved to seen Shawn race, but in the mean time, I'm just pulling for his recovery. I've had the opportunity to meet and talk with him a couple of times, and he's an extremely nice guy and I'll pull for him no matter what he's riding. 200 bikes are built for that one purpose, then it is back to the rest of the season, so they really are one off, damn near GP bikes, and that is a lot for dealer based teams to handle. That's the point I'm trying to make. If my comments were taken as anything other than that, it was not the intent. There are reasons why Buell does not run a factory team and because of that it does come down to the private teams, teams with tight budgets. I'm not saying those teams shouldn't run Daytona, but I certainly understand why many don't. Shawn's team elected to make a run at it, and if it were not for last Sunday, I'd have loved to see Shawn ride the hell out of that bike. | ||
| Sokota |
Daytona is american motorcycling history in the making.The factory could give support to one rider for this one race[each year] to put Buell on the sheets. Privateer rider could be selected by his successes or a lottery among top Buell privateers. Supply just an engine designed to finish,some tires,......etc,etc.Or maybe we have world class chassis with "fun" motors and its good its "our" secret, and best left at that....Right Eric? (Message edited by sokota on March 09, 2005) | ||
| Buell2001b |
great, they had a queer sing, WTF. maybe HD is aiming at the queer market. By the way i hope people dont take it as if i was bashing BUELL in any way. I love the Bikes but we need a new model. i have another strategy to make BUELLs faster. put the riders on a major diet so they take off live load of the bike. | ||
| Jscott |
I thought for sure Hals was going to be there, but late last week rumor got out that there was perhaps insufficient funding. Shawn Higbee was going to race, but will not be due to an injury sustained in an FUSA race on Sunday. About Shawn and his funding - we all know that Daytona costs x number of dollars to participate, do you think that his team may have been partially funded through Buell for this event. He is a Buell employee after all. Just a curiousity. Again we can all still root for Barney and Picotte for the FX race. | ||
| Buell2001b |
Sokota you have a great idea, i sencond to that | ||
| Buell2001b |
i think we just lack heart to do it. We have been so politacly correct they are teaching kids not to score on the other team until they score on you, so you dont hurt their feelings. BUELL not Racing.(not fast enough) Tommy Hayden. (not fast enough) We need the Long Ranger and Silver Bullet, lol | ||
| Uwgriz |
i think we just lack heart to do it. Apparently you have the heart to do it, so why don't you? Bear in mind that if your answer to that question in any way invovles not having the money to do it, you've proven my point. | ||
| Uwgriz |
BTW, I wouldn't question the heart of any of the teams out there running... | ||
| Hobanbrothers |
"i think we just lack heart to do it." This is the bus I speak of, Shawn's heart was in it and I do not want to let this one ride. | ||
| Buell2001b |
i do not do it beacuse im not a racer nor am i in that business. I am extremely good at what i do. I will wait for motosizcle to show off their bike and maybe get me to buy one. however if he fails with his bike, I might decide to do somethign about it and redesign the XB. and start racing. I know it can be done.i dont know how succesful i might be but all in do time. | ||
| Jscott |
I don't for one minute question the heart of any of the teams in FUSA or AMA. Any racer that risk life and limb (literally with Shawn and Walt this past week) to do what they love has more than enough heart. I do question as to why HD has the means to help support our hard working privateers and yet they do not. (Message edited by jscott on March 09, 2005) | ||
| Buell2001b |
bythe way im not refering to one person about heart. they all have to have heart, the mechanics, the riders, the owners, the spponsors and the company. the whole team. | ||
| Uwgriz |
i do not do it beacuse im not a racer nor am i in that business. Then can we agree that perhaps you don't have all the required insight to say whether or not anyone involved has the "heart" to do it? Do you have any idea whatsoever how much heart it took for Shawn to get where he's at? Or how much heart any racer has in it? Go ahead and tell the Hobans that they don't have the heart when they're out there doing it on race day, or back in the shop working on the bike. And don't forget, it was because of Erik Buell's heart for racing that the company even exists. | ||
| M1combat |
You know... I'm all for Buells in the 200. If it won't happen though, that's fine by me, I'll wait until next year. The Daytona is still just ONE race. What matters is the championship and the competition. I'll be flipping ecstatic if a Buell finishes on a podium in any race. You know what I would REALLY like to see though? Less NASCAR and more FUSA coverage on the SPEED channel... | ||
| Jscott |
M1combat - I'm with you on less Nascar, but with their fan base its unlikely. I wish that 2Wheeled Tuesday could be all day on Tuesday other than the 2 to 3 hours it actually is. FUSA coverage would be fantastic. | ||
| Spike |
So, are the Buells going to be there or not? Thanks, Mike | ||
| Firebolt428 |
I spoke to Rich @ Innovative a couple of weeks ago when I was getting my body work and mentioned Daytona and asked if he was going to run it and he said no. He said your looking at close to $30k when all said and done to run it. He said he is going to save the money and try and run the rest of the season. This makes so much more sense than spending that kind of money just to run one race and only be able to make a couple rounds the rest of the year. I would prefer to see Buells in every round after the 200 than just in the 200. Even if it is Daytona... M1combat.. I could not agree with you more about NASCAR on speed. I HATE speedtv. Hate, is a strong word and I personally do not use it much but will let it fly when talking about them.. (Message edited by firebolt428 on March 09, 2005) | ||
| Tucsonxb9s |
NECKAR is here to stay...like it or not. I wish Speed would just go ahead and do an all NECKAR channel. (left turn, left turn, straight, left turn, left turn, repeat....) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Hindsight is 20/20, and I don't want Buell to stop making me such cool streetbikes in order to •••• away a fortune on a race effort (cough*ducatti*cough). That being said, a factory offered $30,000 "break even" contingency fund to any XB that finishes the Daytona 200 on the same lap as the race winner would be a cool "gamble" to bet the farm on. | ||
| Anonymous |
Spike, It definitely appears that there will not be any Buells in the 200. All the teams have opted to save their money for the rest of the season, except for Shawn, and we know what happened there. Shawn was terribly disappointed, because he felt he would have been very competitive. |
