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Slaughter
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 07:20 pm: | 
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When I was first getting into road racing, I was pitting with Matthias Jezek who at the time was working at an Aprilia/Ducati/Guzzi/Honda/Polaris dealer.
I saw that motor and asked about stuffing it into a GP chassis and doing some serious lightweight twins racing. He advised against it - said the race version would need overhauls every 10 hours (factory recommendation) if ridden hard. |
Electraglider_1997
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 11:45 am: |
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Maybe the idea of Buell getting into this market segment has more to do about getting folks that have never been to a Harley dealership into one. A percentage of these folks that come in to check out the Buell dirt bike just might end up becoming a Harley rider instead and that becomes possible because they walked in the door because of Buell. |
Cityxslicker
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 11:35 am: |
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All I really want to know, is do I need to buy a light kit for this new beast, or will there be an enduro offering? I don't/won't race the thing, but riding to the local forest roads, spending all day grinding in the corners and riding home without getting pulled over for lighting, reg, and blinkers just for drill is important. Most importantly, I dont want to buy the first on that comes off the line & convert it, only to find out 5 months later there is a fully equipped street legal version. |
Bill00
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 04:06 pm: |
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Holling, Cannondale went under in 2003. They dropped the motorsports company and kept the bicycle company. ATK bought the leftovers, fixed the problems with the engine and resells them as ATKs.
Anything you want to know about Cannondales can be found at http://www.cannondaler.com/index.php |
Ulendo
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 04:26 pm: |
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just to stir the pot a bit - here's a photo of the existing Rotax model 490 V twin.
aside from the CVT drive pictured on this one, it'd also need some serious cohones adding to it in the power department...but looks like it'd be very compatible with a fuel-framer type setup, and Buell KISS philosophy |
Mcman02
| | Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2007 - 01:16 pm: |
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Well, from the information that I have, Buell wants to have a complete line of offroad bikes (like KTM) in the near future, for obvious reason (capture the future Buell/HD riders), but will introduce a big-boy version first. I do not know engine/frame combos, but Buell/HD won't half-@#s this, no one these days can afford that screw-up. Cannondale had a lot of great ideas, but the big 4 have too much of a hold on the American market and eventually caused them to go under, but their legacy lives on in ATK (engines/atv). That miscue almost brought down their bicycle empire. I expect to see something later this year (drawings/pro-type), as you must keep the buzz going, because we are a fickle people, if it is not in front of us--we can forget rather quickly. I am excited, Buell coming in from left field with dirtbikes, well, think of the possibilities and the funding (HD) they have, talk about your big dog on the block!
Oh, by the way, BMW had a prototype running in a European race, sans logos or markings! What does this have to do with Buell street bikes? It means more siblings in the family! Things look to be heating up for us Buell types. Stay tuned! |
Wile_ecoyote
| | Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 - 05:14 pm: |
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I for one am chomping at the preverbial BIT when i hear of a Buell dirtbike. It would please me so much to stomp some of these four stroke dirt bikes I ride against with an American made bike. With the Buell name would make it even sweeter. Sign me up and dont forget to give me options so I can make it my next on/off road terror. A real Supermoto? Can you say SUPERSTUPIDITY? My license is clean and I'm always up for alittle street insanity. Sat on a TT the other day and thought it should have more suspension travel so I can jump the local Railroad tracks.....HeHeHeHaHaHa |
Wile_ecoyote
| | Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 - 05:18 pm: |
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BTW Rotax motors are a nice start as they're bulletproof. Would love to see a Buell made motor though. As for the big four bitching about the twin thing, SCREW EM. Did they care when the twins in Superbike were getting clobbered? No because they had the edge. Thats what racing is, being better and faster than the other guy. Providing you follow all applicable rules. |
Motomickey
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - 10:42 am: |
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If they do it right, there will be one in my garage. I just hope they don't mess it up like cannondale did. Cannondale promised light weight, FI, reliability, etc, and introduced about a year to early so they could try to match their hype. If they had introduced the 03 bike as the first one, they might have pulled it off, but the first ones were so bad.... To go right into the 450 class is gutsy to say the least, KTM has barely made it into that class, and they helped define the class. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 05:15 pm: |
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From a google search...
The silly season talks never end, and there has been a lot of discussion about the Fifth Dragon—Yamaha of Troy—switching brands to Suzuki. We spoke to YoT team manager Dave Osterman this morning to see what’s going on.
Racer X: Dave, is the team switching to Suzukis?
Dave Osterman: The team is not switching to Suzuki, and that’s official. We’re going to be riding Bultacos [laughs].
YoT's Dave Osterman
photo: Mike Farber
I heard a rumor of YoT getting an energy-drink sponsor. Can you confirm that?
No, we’re going to pride ourselves on being the only team without an energy-drink sponsor—that’s our angle. We’re going to have ugly display girls and no energy drink. That’s our deal. No, we’re working on some stuff, but I can’t say anything yet. |
Nblack
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 01:09 pm: |
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what would it be like to have a Buell with enough top end power to hang with the big boys enough grunt to weelie past exiting corners suspension properly set up for aggressive riders. Just when we thought we were approaching the pinnacle of off road engineering along comes the v-twin power plant. once again the dealership network is the obstacle suspension and torque cant overcome. I have been in this industry for 30 years and know that a dealerships main profit center is sales and that giving floor space to a product that isn't keeping pace with H/D and needs to be discounted to boot is hard to say the least. And than you get to deal with new product lines, clothing helmets and boots and accessories, oh and don't overlook the fact they will need to hire employees with off road experience. This industry is looking better all the time. GO BUELL GO FOR BLOOD
SEND THEM HOME HUMBLED! |
Roadrash1
| | Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 - 05:51 pm: |
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Don't think the vee twin will happen.
Already banned for use by FIM (And maybe AMA?) Aprilia tried this. Now they use the engine for street-legal supermoto. |
46champ
| | Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 - 11:51 pm: |
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The 450 might not happen either. The talk at flattrack.com is the FIM and the AMA is suggesting to the manufactures that the 250 2 stroke/ 450 4 stroke formula will become a 250/350 formula in 2009. There seems to be an effort to keep 2 strokes as a viable engine package. This seems to be directed at MX/SX racing. Does anyone else know anything about this or is it all pie in the sky. |
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