One Man's Support of E-H

After refinancing, there has been no sales increase for the company (no longer managed by the Hanlons), and production has not resumed. Bills are going unpaid and people are losing jobs.

But, despite all the negativity about the company, one reader still believes in their products. Here's what he wrote:

I'm an owner of an Excelsior Henderson and I generally accept the ups and downs of life but I have a hard time especially in these times, seeing the Excelsior Henderson Motorcycle company not get a fair chance to survive. What I mean by this is I don't believe the new EH partners and their background, are the right people who generally are looking at making this company survive. Maybe they are simply looking to cash in on some assets? I don't know and I'm not looking to waste your time or mine about what I think I know. But this I do know:

When I went looking at a Harley Davidson, Victory, Yamaha Royal Star, Honda Shadow, Suzuki Intruder, and Kawasaki Vulcan, I saw fine bikes but all of them (especially the Indian) were designed to emulate the Harley. All these bikes are fine but they aren't innovative, or unique, or truly a treasure of America's history. Yes the Indian and Harley may be something that Americans are proud of, but Harley admits having an outdated design, and the separation of engine and transmission is not the optimal setup on a bike. Indian, sad, but true, it's just a name and it borrows a non-Indian motor (S&S). The Japanese bikes are ok, but they lose value immediately, run ok, last long, and they are dogs lacking innovativeness and American pride. Victory, a Canadian machine trying on it's own to it's credit it is it's own proprietary design, but not inspiring.

Now, the Excelsior Henderson, it's historical not just because of the name, but the bike has retained much of the old design characteristics (fender, frame, suspension, powerplant layout) and in addition, it remains true to it's innovatiness by offering 4 valve per cyclinder, overhead cam, closed loop fuel injection, integrated engine/transimission.

I don't want to sound like a crybaby, but it doesn't seem fair that a company like EH can build a good product and not have any help with some cash to allow it to continue. Our government is so involved in social re-engineering, and all this other crap, why not get back to our roots, creat jobs, and help unify and strengthen our values by helping our companies and people survive. This issue is the tip of an iceberg of the decaying of America, and our culture. I just don't know what else to say except "please help if you can". I have a url at http://users.erols.com/cirrustec/eh.htm and it gives some summation of this bike.

One note here, if EH folds, I may have a bike that can shoot up in value in the next 10 years, but this type of selfishness is not going to do justice to this motorcycle company. I firmly believe theExcelsior-Henderson's design has stimulated Harley-Davidson to offer fuel injection, and an integrated motor and transmission and we should give credit where credit is due.

I know life isn't fair, but I expect newspapers to point this things out so corrections can be made. Please see if you can do a followup with this story to better help it's fair chance of survival. More importantly, I feel we need to get the real bikers involved in helping this company and not some bunch of sneaky liquidators.

On that note, just to show my patriotism, I also wish Oldsmobile would remain with us.

Frank Cottone,Former Assembly Candidate, 19th DistrictFords, New Jersey