| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
Davefl- Is that for real? "Ruthless Engineering"? Looks like the new advertising firm is kicking it in high gear! | ||
| Court |
Someone's going to need to write a lot better copy. Yuch. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Well, it definitely looks out of character for Buell. OTOH it does make you sit up and take notice. Interesting, the term "ruthless engineering" (which definitely stands out) was used in the interview with Erik published in Forbes at the end of May: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/253 912/463632.html?1245369391 | ||
| Ratbuell |
Interesting.... DEFINITELY a new direction.... | ||
| Froggy |
They should of used a CityX to crush instead, nobody likes the 9's anyway. | ||
| Rubberdown |
In your face advertising gets old quickly. That ad is demeaning to a decent little bike that had quite a run with Buell. Stating, in essence, that racing and sportbikes are the sole interests of Buell separates Buell from many potential markets. I'd fire the ad firm. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Stating, in essence, that racing and sportbikes are the sole interests of Buell separates Buell from many potential markets. Yea, the Uly, evidently Buell's most successful bike to date, wouldn't fit in with that, would it? I'd fire the ad firm. They just recently hired them (CPB); so there's not much chance of that at this point. CPB has done a lot of cool ads; the current series for VW for instance (LOVE that TDI Jetta ad). I'm not wild about this one, but it'll be interesting to see what their next step is. | ||
| Davefla |
Yes, it's real, and yes, I was surprised too. Shocked, actually, since somehow the Zinio Reader software seemed to 'open' to the inner cover page. It almost seemed like a practical joke. Especially since it looks as if the Blast is very much still with us - and despite all the cracks we've all heard, I'd probably still own mine, if it'd had 17" wheels. | ||
| Court |
>>>Stating, in essence, that racing and sportbikes are the sole interests of Buell separates Buell from many potential markets. I absolutely agree. Let me be the first to say that the ad to me, as a Buell owner, is insulting. Buells are NOT about "racing and sportbikes" and in fact never have been. Someone has completely missed the essence of the Buell community or they are trolling for a new community. | ||
| Rainman |
OK, maybe I'm dense. Is 2010 the last year for the Blast? It says so in the ad, that the Blast will not be moving forward because sportbikes are the only ones that matter. Am I to glean from that that Harley's given up the RE program or that the Blast is a Harley product now? Hey, Court, any insight? I do believe I'm offended. You know, I'm pretty much very offended. I think I better go for a ride on my (No identifying brand name) Blast and calm down. | ||
| Ratbuell |
My guess is, they're trolling for a new market. They've just failed to realize - and hopefully it'll be brought to their attention before it's too late - that by doing it this way, they're alienating a good portion of current and past owners and enthusiasts. | ||
| Rainman |
It's worked for me, the alienated part, that is. I can go ride with a bunch of Harley guys and take that abuse without hearing from the company. OK, I'll unknot my knickers, take a couple valium, wipe the foam from my lips and try to relax. | ||
| Court |
Hey, Court, any insight? None. I think the Blast has TONS of potential. We are in a time when folks are simply NOT buying. Motorcycles sales are in the crapper and will be for about the next two years. Most the folks who buy Buell pretty well stretch to do it. There is a ton of difference between a $5,000 motorcycle and a $12,000 motorcycle. The Blast is now well developed and has the bugs worked out of it. If I had that platform and suddenly encountered these economic times, I'd do a quick cosmetic rearrangement and make the Blast the coolest super motard looking street tracker you'd ever laid eyes on. I wouldn't touch the motor, just a bit of cosmetics to make it appeal to folks who wanted to buy a motorcycle, and couldn't do the $12,000. But . . . let me qualify this by saying I truly have NO FACTS OR INSIGHT. I'd guess, from the ad, that Buell is losing money on every Blast they sell and has been ordered to drop it from the line. It appears, from the closing of the Sportster line, that HD may drop some models too. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I just got a report tonight detailing late dealer payments to HD for inventory and I've actually seen a couple dealerships, guys who were raking in mid-six figure incomes two years ago, go into bankruptcy. It's going to be an interesting year . . . make that next 2 or 3 years. I think, at least in the case of Harley-Davidson, it will be a case of "react or perish". Poor Harley-Davidson, and it's not their fault, was experiencing a natural ebb in their business cycle when this economic mess hit. Unfortunately things done in Washington have pretty much "institutionalized" the crappy economy and we're going to be here for a bit. Harley literally took the business cycle upper cut to the chin and had it followed with an economic roundhouse. Anybody who takes a business plan crafted 18 months ago and views it as still valid might want to look again. For a neat summary of what Martin Guitar did, check out this article. Martin is a maker of guitars that generally run from around $2,000 up to $8,000, with most in the $2,000 - $3,000 range. They simply made some simple adjustments and rolled out a line under $1,000 and the first 800 sold out the first day. The company did a similar thing during the Great Depression. I guess it's just me . . . as a construction worker, but now is not the time I would be alienating ANY of my customer base. The next time someone walks up to my Ulysses and asks . . . "how would that bike be for me?" . . I hate to think about telling them that the company is "entirely dedicated to racing and sportbikes". In the last 24 months we've see B.R.A.G. disappear, FUELL disappear, Homecoming reduced to a shell, and now this ad that essentially says . . . "it was no motorcycle anyway so we crushed it and made it an ottoman". Who knows. We'll see how this pans out. Where did that come from? It looks like an ad slick? I'm withholding judgment till I see some facts . . . something just doesn't look right. | ||
| White |
Is that ad real? | ||
| F_skinner |
Is that ad real? Just what I was thinking, I am appalled at not only the verbiage but also the visual. FUELL Disappeared? I got an email from Kim T that asked me to make sure I submitted an article on the S2 Gathering less than a month ago. Maybe that is why I has so much trouble emailing it. Is this a new development? Man, what the hell is going on? What market can the advertisers for Buell actually be going after? I am confused but guess I will wait and see. | ||
| Swampy |
CH, CHA, CHANGE Speculate all you want, it is a win win, still get a RE Blast, whey will be available...just not new. And possibly a new improved Blast is around the bend. You know there was talk on the board about how cool it would be to have a Buell to compete in a 450 class... Read the book, Who Moved My Cheeze, a pop psyc embrace the change book. We may be at the threshold of something great. Let me qualify what I am saying, I am presently dealing with a totally imcompetent old geezer of a lawyer who would rather be flying his Cessna 174 then getting the facts correct for my case Monday. My future is being gambled on the good graces of a judge that is already forcing $2000 a month alimoney payments on me and I simply can't make ends meet on what is left over Something good HAS to come out of all this.....right? | ||
| Ezblast |
I'm totally nonplussed, the bike that kept the bread on the table, is now a table - all of the people who looked up to Buell for building the Blast in the first place, and where introduced to motorcycling through it, are all pot-shot in one swift move. I almost choked reading that on my Zino mag - If he doesn't have a bike to replace it, he will loose a lot of potential Buell riders, since a good majority of todays young riders, who ride Buells, probably started on the Blast, before stepping up. WTF - I did't cry, and I did laugh, but realistically, this is close to shooting your foot off, if there is no step to a replacement. EZ | ||
| Damnut |
I must admit that when I first read the ad my first thought was, WTF? Definitely did not find it amusing in the least. Hate to see them get rid of the Blast line, I enjoy both the XB and the Blast equally. I would however would like to have one of those tables.  | ||
| Ezblast |
A 5000 dollar coffee table - could work out - I think I'd want mine uncrushed - lol - Honda's looking good! EZ  | ||
| Cliffburton |
I am the perfect example of why Buell should keep the Blast.I didnt even consider buying a bike till I was 35.Gas hit $4.00 a gallon and I thought it was going to stay there. So I said I'll buy a motorcycle.I did a little research and found out I need a starter bike.The name Buell poped up.Wait a second!I wonder if this is the same cat that was building race bikes for Harley in a magazine article I read back in the late 80's.Cool!He is.Well lookie there an American made starter bike!I took the MSF course on a saturday and sunday, and put 1k down on a used Buell Blast the next day.It was a 2003 with 14 miles on it ( bought it in sept 2008 ).Within the next two years I'm going to buy an XB and An M2,S1,S3T and a Uly.Ok maybe just one bike in the next two years!The whole reason Im going to buy another Buell is because I was introduced to the Blast first.It's dependable,good on gas,handles like a dream,and Ive taken it on long trips.Just beacause the bike is small doesent mean you cant put 100,000 miles on it and have fun doing it at the same time.BOW TO THE MIGHTY THUMPER! P.S. Nothing is over till we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Heelll no. Germans? Forget it he's rolling. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
that Buell is losing money on every Blast they sell I'm not so sure about that. I bought a Blast from my local HD dealer. Granted it was used. When I tried to haggle on the price the sales woman showed me the paper work on what they payed and put into the bike.They made $400 minus the helmet she threw in, and not including labor for work done to the bike. She then explained to me the point of selling that bike was not to make mon ey, actually to lose a little. But hopefully I would love riding and want to upgrade. 2 months later I came back for an XB. I would have never even dreamed of spending 11K on a motorcycle. After spending my time on the Blast all I could do was think of ways to buy the xb. But truth be told sometimes I really miss that Blast. Especially now that my son wants to learn to ride... | ||
| Rainman |
Thanks, Court. I don't know what's going on either in the economy or in the motorcycle business. I know I'm training hundred every year to ride and that a lot of folks aren't buying and the banks aren't lending to those who want to buy. As for the Blast, I loved my Sportster, I loved my Gold Wing, but there's something about this Blast that makes me ride to work all seven days a week that there isn't more than a 70 percent chance of rain (Anything under 60 percent, I just take my rain clothes). This thing is addicting. I understand it may get cut, I work for a newspaper and I have seen cuts you'd never believe probable happen. Somehow, though, I take the whole mocking thing a bit personally. I'll get over it. Whether I'll be as loyal to Buell (considering an Uly XT as a touring bike in the next two years, if I'm still employed) then as I am now, I can't say for sure. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Blast will not be moving forward Hasnt moved forward since 2000. Thrown on an XB top end, add 7 hp - all current factory parts that fit. End of the Sportster line? They killed the Sportster? Huh?  My Blast is an ottoman, the Sportster is dead. Its getting dark....walls closing in......room is spinning........must maintain consciousness........must.... hang......... on........ | ||
| Pushrodpete |
And Blast!s hold their resale value quite superbly, if CL is any indication: http://tucson.craigslist.org/mcy/1275187458.html "CL" evidently meaning "CrazyList"..... (Message edited by pushrodpete on July 23, 2009) | ||
| Mattwhite |
I'm away from home and I only brought MCN and Motorcyclist from my stack of backed up reading material with me so I can't dig up my latest Cycle world. I assumed it was a photoshop. If it's real, I have to assume they have a replacement on the way. I may have to go browse the magazine stands. Whatever it means, it's generating some conversation, isn't it? | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Crazy is right. $2000 worth of work at 5000 miles and it looks bone stock!? Oh, yeah, that sounds like a good deal LOL! Generating conversation yes. But Im not sure how many people really know (or care) what a Blast is. They'd have to come out with something really special to warrant that ad. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
You can crush my bike when I run out of ammo and molotov cocktails. I cannot BELIEVE that a motorcycle company would stand for that kind of ad. There was a switch that just got flipped. I am about to check the F outta here. The Blast is not a stellar bike as pitted against 600cc supersport bikes, but for bringing people to riding, bringing riders to Buell, bringing Buellers together, its a FUN bike. I watched Nick Ienatsch Walk 10 XBs on that lil single cyclinder, because nobody wanted to ride the lil 'girls' bike. The bike will perform, who are these ad geniuses? who are these marketing flunkees? And as for the AMA phfiaz, warm up the compactor for them and their bureacracy. Polite society is best kept downrange. The two hundred yard line will do just fine. Crushing perfectly good motorcycles. First the dirt bike, now the Blast. Lets eat babies too while were at it. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Just F'n donate them to the Brits, at least they have some respect for the bike and the engineering http://www.mac-motorcycles.com/ | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
I kinda like the ad. Definitely got my attention, and very tongue-in-cheek which made me laugh . As a Buell owner and admirer I'm not insulted by it. To me Buell *have* always made sportbikes, and that includes bikes like the S3T and the Uly. Quote "Is there a rule that says a motorcycle can’t handle like a sportbike on both back roads and fire roads? We didn’t think so. That’s exactly why we created the Buell Ulysses XB12X, an adventure sportbike that defies any and all limitations." To me the ad says Buell is moving forward, and that's another thing that Buell has always been about. I find it strange that Buell let the Blast remain unchanged for so long. I do, however, hope this also means there will be a new Buell entry-level bike announced next week. (Other contenders for longest unchanged production run - Honda CT110 and C90, Kawa GPZ900R and GPX250(baby Ninja)) | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
mac-motorcycles link is *very* cool. Thanks City! |
