Harley-Davidson shutting down Buell

[pdad13]

This is terribly sad.

For H-D in the short-term, it's probably the right thing to do. For the long-term, I think it could turn out to be a mistake. But we all know public companies don't usually think long-term these days, especially companies that are bleeding money.

[schizuki]

Wadding up that Blast seems even less funny now, doesn't it?

[sarnali2]

Tough times all around. Harley's sales are in the gutter along with the Jappers and everyone else. Guess you have to cut back but too bad for Buell, Erik came up with some really good ideas, they are what the Sportster should have become

[theDuke]

If I read these statements correctly, MV is for sale but Buell is just shut down? I wonder why they aren't trying to sell the brand rather than just taking a fairly large write off on it? With the Rotax-built engines couldn't someone else continue to build them even if H-D refuses to sell them Sportster motors for the air-cooled line (but given their sales, they would probably welcome the cash)?

Granted, it would take really deep pockets as I imagine Buell hasn't been terribly profitable, if at all, but given silly investments in dead brands like Indians using Harley clone engines with big fenders, Excelsior-Hendersons that nobody outside of a Guggenheim exhibit would recognize, and others, there appears to be money ready to invest in motorcycle brands.

[acecycleins]

Originally Posted by theDuke

If I read these statements correctly, MV is for sale but Buell is just shut down? I wonder why they aren't trying to sell the brand rather than just taking a fairly large write off on it? With the Rotax-built engines couldn't someone else continue to build them even if H-D refuses to sell them Sportster motors for the air-cooled line (but given their sales, they would probably welcome the cash)?

Granted, it would take really deep pockets as I imagine Buell hasn't been terribly profitable, if at all, but given silly investments in dead brands like Indians using Harley clone engines with big fenders, Excelsior-Hendersons that nobody outside of a Guggenheim exhibit would recognize, and others, there appears to be money ready to invest in motorcycle brands.

Puzzling isn't it? I think that it was shut down because some "ass" on the board didn't want Erik to have to opportunity to buy back his brand. Erik isn't going to stay at HD until retirement. The statement made yesterday sounded like his heart was crushed by the corporate machine. How does anyone stay with a company when that company throws you under the bus? He'll stay employed, but he'll be looking elswhere soon.
Time to team up with someone and start anew. I think that there are three possibilities: 1- Motoczyz 2- Fischer or 3- Roehr.
I can see a melding of engineering talent that any investor would take a shot at. Give him until March of next year and rumors of the next gig will start circulating.

[longride]

"Time to team up with someone and start anew. I think that there are three possibilities: 1- Motoczyz 2- Fischer or 3- Roehr."

Boy those are some great choices there. I'm sure Erik is just chomping at the bit to get to one of those powerhouses and get out of that horrible H-D hellhouse!

[MOKE1K]

Who knows maybe its a blessing in disguise. Iam sure he'll bounce back, how well, remains to be seen but I wish him luck. Maybe its time for one of Rotax's major players to step up. Even I remember the Can-Am motorcycles. Hell I'v been buggin our Can-Am rep for years, "when the hell you guys gonna build a motorcycle?"

[Kenneth_Moore]

Originally Posted by acecycleins

Time to team up with someone and start anew. I think that there are three possibilities: 1- Motoczyz 2- Fischer or 3- Roehr.
I can see a melding of engineering talent that any investor would take a shot at. Give him until March of next year and rumors of the next gig will start circulating.

Sounds nice, but I'm absolutely certain that HD got a no-compete contract out of Erik when he signed on. I would.

I swapped a few emails with Michael Czysz after the Isle of Man Electric TT fiasco; he's apparently totally focused on electric power only. I doubt Buell is interested. Also, guys like that tend to be who and what they are because they are individualists who do their own thing, making them unlikely candidates for mergers or partnerships.

[longride]

My take on why Buell is getting shut down is because Erik got duped. He got bamboozled, hoodwinked, flim-flamed.......and not by the eternally evil H-D.........but by the Internet and the fickle so-called American buyer. I think Erik read all those Internet boards that told him if he put a REAL motor in his bike they would buy one. Well, Erik ambled down to the H-D powers that be and presented his case, and bet the house on his new 'real-motor' bike. He was all in. To say the 1125 was a bust is being kind. So times got tough, and H-D called in Erik and let him know that losing all those millions developing that new bike that didn't sell for crap wasn't appreciated. And they told him that in the most convincing terms.....by shutting the whole business down. The lesson for Erik here is not to listen to Internet blowhards that aren't going to buy American anything, much less a sportbike. The closing of Buell wasn't sudden. It was in the making the day Erik dreamed that the Internet blowhards would actually buy the 1125. You know......the one with the 'real motor' in it.

[schizuki]

Originally Posted by longride

I think Erik read all those Internet boards that told him if he put a REAL motor in his bike they would buy one.

I've always thought that the sweet spot would have been a middle ground between H-D and Buell - sporty bikes with fairly conservative styling, some kind of modern cafe-racer types using the "old" engine. Buell's bikes were too modern for the Harley crowd and not Universal Japanese Sportbike enough for the squids.