Motorcycling world takes a loss...

[dasbulliwagen]

My beloved Buell Motorcycle Company is no more. I just read in cycle world magazine that Harley Davidson is shutting the doors to the Buell factory no longer to produce any more bikes. And Harley will be selling off its recent aqusition of Italian bike maker MV Augusta. They want to concentrate all their resources on the parent company with the economy the way it is. I thought it was hard to find parts for my bike right now, I can just imagine how its going to be in the near future. My 97 Buell Lightning S-1 only had just over 1000 bikes built that year. The production numbers slowly crept up through the years, but still were nothing compared to Harley. They just introduced a new engine last year too, the 1125. It was developed by Rotax and finnally put Buell in close competition with the Jap bikes. I wonder if Harley will do anything with this new motor now that they no longer have the Buell to put it in. I think too that the Buells are like our MJ's, they are rare, but they are not really collectable or worth that much.

 

Buell you will be missed!

 

 

[freakjeep93]

man buell made a nice bike. myself I'm looking toward a nija 250 or something along that liens but ive heared they arnt good on the highway?

[jpdocdave]

i'm a harley rider, i don't care all that much for sport bikes, but i like the story behind those bikes.

[AutoMoto]

Buell made a unique bike that was really coming into it's own. I was looking at them for a new bike next year...

[64 Cheyenne]

BUELL is an offshoot of HD, so it is saddening when another American company or division of a larger company decides to throw in the towel. :(

FWIW, a multi-cylinder sport bike has nowhere the cool appeal compared to the sound of a bad a** V- twin sport bike!

[dasbulliwagen]

I too love the Harleys, and would love to have a Heritage Softail or a dressed Roadking, but they have yet to be in my budget.

 

I bought my Buell used 10 years ago while still in my twenties. I always loved the look of a sportbike, but also oved the sound of a Harley. Even at the point when I began looking for my first bike I knew nothing of Buell and that the combo I was dreaming of already existed. I saw in the sale ads mention of the Buells and then researched them and found the most gorgeous bike ever! The Silver Lightning S-1! I kept looking through the sale ads to no avail.

 

One day i decided I wanted to pick out a helmet before I even bought a bike, and there in the showroom in the used area was my bike! I put the helmet I picked out on layaway, and left the store. I told my buddies at work about the bike and I guess they got tired of me crying about it and they told me to "JUST BUY IT!"... so I did! I think my mother cried when she found out I did that. At home as a kid/teen/college grad it wa always "Youll never have a bike as long as you live in this house" from my mom. Good thing I wasnt living at home! I think she got over it.

 

And for those looking to buy a bike... I remember reading columnist Peter Egan writing about buying a bike. He said something to the effect of : You should buy a bike you love. One that you would be happy even if all you could do is sit there and stare at it in the corner, a bike so beautiful to you that just having it in your possesion will make you happy.... riding it is just nice benefit you get. I think this is especially more true to the northerners who can't ride for 6 mos of the year. All you can do is sit and stare at it... Ive been there when I lived in Michigan.

 

I just wish Harley had more vision and kept at the sportbike market instead of letting it go like they did. I think their biggest problem selling the Buells was their dealer network who is used to huge profits on huge bikes and wanted nothing to do with competeing with Japan in the sportbike market on technology OR price. If they would have let the Buells be sold in smaller dealers alongside the Japs and Italians maybe they would have done better. Who knows!

 

Sorry about the rant!

[LoTGoD]

That's a beauty!

 

I was introduced to bikes at an early age, and ran in to the same motherly resistance that you had. My father has had his 1968 Triumph TR-6R Tiger since 1972. In 2006 he purchased a (still new) 2004 Triumph Speedmaster. By default, I was given the '68 to ride, with much ranting and raving from my mother. Its a great little 650, bored over to a 750, but with my height and weight (5'11", 250) I just feel too big for it. I've seen my share of Harley's, and they are nice bikes, but just not for me. One day I'll inherit the Speedmaster.

 

I think the Triumph's are similar to the Buell's, in that they are rare, but you don't see them going for anywhere near as much as a Harley.

 

This will be my next bike: Triumph Speed Triple!

 

 

Very similar to the Beull!

[WBKrazy]

i heard about this a while ago, it sucks but such is life i guess.. harley says theyll be be making parts for them though, at least for now....

[Shandley]

I agree... They are great bikes. Personally I ride a Honda Shadow but the Buell turns my head every time.

[DJM/78]

I am a avid bike fan . Race bike fan fabricator and builder.

I have a saying; Race bikes are like race horses, Their expensive to breed ,ridden hard ,and forgot about when the new one shows up

next year . No matter the brand or company , thats the sad reality to all race bikes.

Once the company quits racing the bike its not even profitable to the manufacture anymore and thus the dealership.

I have several bikes but my fav. is a Honda 929 RR 2001 fireblade . Its a formula extreme bike and honda quit racing in that class that year

and there went the bike and all the aftermarket. Just doesnt exist anymore.

Its sad to see another American Icon find its way in the history books. :(

don't worry I'm sure Harley has a couple cards op their sleeves. :thumbsup:

 

 

'Dave

[jpnjim]

Bad News. :(

 

Hopefully Eric Buell will come out of this, and build motorcycles again.

 

The guy is a great designer/forward thinker.

Doing so well using an engine designed to lug around heavy cruising machines, with weight being a distant afterthought is a credit to his abilities.

 

It would be like building a race car around our 4.0L's.

 

Just about every sport bike today has the muffler center mounted below the frame now (for weight/mass centralization & ground clearance), when Buell was the first to do that 10? 12? years ago, people laughed at the concept.

 

I was happy that they (HD) was finally loosening up the reins, and allowing him to go elsewhere for an engine ($$ to design his own would've been even better),

too bad it ended so soon.

 

 

I'm a first generation GSXR guy at heart (air/oil cooled 750's & 1100's ), but I always liked the compact design of Buells,

amazing that you could build something with that short of a wheelbase, and that steep of rake/trail numbers, and have the thing go down the road so well (bikes get death wobble too, and it's scarier than any Jeep's :yes: ).

 

:USAflag: :USAflag: :USAflag:

[HOrnbrod]

Just about every sport bike today has the muffler center mounted below the frame now (for weight/mass centralization & ground clearance), when Buell was the first to do that 10? 12? years ago, people laughed at the concept.

 

I may be wrong, but I think the 4-stroke Rotax engine MZ bikes were the first to do this since the Rotax engine was so tall, like starting in 1992. This is one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers (est. 1907) that has also fallen on hard times. They are still building 2-strokes in Malaysia, but that's about it. MZ made some cutting edge bikes back in the day............

[Dave Stark]

:(

 

I always wanted one...

[dasbulliwagen]

The article I read says Eric Buell is talking with Harley management to try to stay there in some sort of job, maybe in engineering, or in new product development... who knows. Maybe he needs to start over by himself again and go from there, but with everything the way it is thats probably all but impossible.