| Author | Message | ||
     Zrjoe |
This rant is pointing to those IVY league MBA's in HD management who quashed Buell. Since your latest fear based decision to sacrifice the "American Made" sports bike to supposedly save your financial blunders, have you looked at what your competition has done? The Buell ulysses, albeit not the first dual-sport, has definately made a name in the market and was gaining momentum. Cruisers will begin to lose their luster, the new wave will be the dual-sport tourer. An american brand would have been a huge seller. Instead, HD packs it in. In the mean time, Suzuki, KTM, Motoguzzi, Triumph, BMW, and Ducati all aggressively attack this market. HD, you had the upper hand here. You had the leader in North America. Shareholders, consider this. Do want involvement in a company that is retrenching? (See the AMF years) Or, instead do you want an aggressive, risk taking, proud company. This is an opportunity, take the chance, have faith, and overcome. Food for thought. | ||
| Joshinga |
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| Gohot |
Your probably wasting your breath, but you hit spot-on.... | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
When i think of hd I think of this song and mostly the end of it. (Message edited by mmmi_grad on November 24, 2009) | ||
| Usmoto |
+20 From a business standpoint as a former business owner, it makes no sense what they did. These folks at HD can't be that stupid. I'm hoping that it's all been a marketing ploy to get more name and brand recognition only to reintroduce Buell or whatever other name it becomes back into the marketplace. The new 2010 bike line or something like that. It makes no sense to throw away a gold bracelet when you could make $100 on that bracelet instead. HD has lost their mind. I actually had some respect for HD before this. Now, you couldn't give me an HD bike. I'm done with 'em. I'm going to add a cruiser to my stable in the next couple of years and I guarantee it won't be an HD. The bike will either be Triumph or Victory. I've owned plenty of Hondas as well. The best thing Erik can do is get away from HD. Good luck with the Buell racing Erik, we're behind ya. | ||
| Joshinga |
From what I heard they did it for tax reasons. They could write it off as a loss and get more money from the govt. It is some weired accounting strategy. to show that they are making money or something. | ||
| Court |
My wife has been a C.P.A. for 30 years, Senior Partner in both Grant Thornton and BDO Seidman and is now a Chief Financial Officer . . . she read the "they did if for tax reasons" that someone posted somewhere and broke our laughing. Here. . . try this . . . Do you work? Good. Go in today and tell your boss you are quitting to reduce your tax obligation. There. Now you are as smart as a 7-figure Wall Streeter. | ||
| Sparky |
But in H-D's case, as Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid. There's not a pill you can take; there's not a class you can go to. Stupid is forever." | ||
| Buell2001b |
I love seeing how buellers have stuck togetehr thur this bad times against HD. I have read so many posts in other sites making fun of the idiots at HD that I think they somehow have realized they screwed up but won't admit it. | ||
| Ithaca280 |
Court, spoken like your true, rude unpleasant self. The "tax theory" has been floating out there for awhile. Why do business's shut down and then re-open under a different name all the time? Instead of trying to insult a fellow Bueller maybe your wife should explain to him why this rumor may be untrue. | ||
| Davegess |
Tax write offs only help you out if you are making so much money you can hardly stand it and you are getting rid of something that would be tossed out as garbage. Tax writes offs do not put cash in your pocket. they simply make the unpleasant task of losing money a little less unpleasant. If I donate my car to charity I get a tax write off. If I can argue that the car is worth 5000 dollars and I am in a 38% marginal tax bracket I save 1900 in taxes I would have to pay. I the car could be sold for only $1000 I come out ahead. The IRS takes a bluebook number and doesn't know that I have a cracked block, bald tires and a dead skunk in the trunk. In Buells case H-D gets to write off all the 125 mil they say this will cost this year so they get a tax savings this year BUT they still ahve to spend the money. If they open Buell back up they then have to pay tax on the value Buell has when they reopen it so they have to pay more. | ||
| Ithaca280 |
Dave, well put and you did not have to insult anyone to say it. | ||
| Davegess |
Court's not trying to insult anyone, just his tongue in cheek style. Not everyone gets it. | ||
| Fireonice |
The world is not flat and Eric Buell is not my friend I believe the Buell motorcycle is an amazing achievement. I currently own a 2006 Ulysses and a 96 S1 (purchased new in 95). I am truly disappointed that HD has decided to discontinue the Buell line however I am not surprised. Eric Buell is without a doubt a very insightful engineer that can take concept and turn them into forms that could be considered functional art. He also has had a dream to create racing motorcycle that will break new ground in technology and function. Over the past twenty five or so years Eric Buell has done what any hard core racer would have done and sold his ideas and concept to keep his passion alive. He has done nothing more and nothing less than you or I would. I am disappointed that HD is not a forward thinking company, but they never have been. It is tragic that they are not concerned about the workers that have supported the operation, but HD has never been labor friendly. It doesn’t surprise me that HD has disregarded me as a customer because; Buell has survived not because of HD but, in spite of HD. And it is disappointing that Eric Buell has lost the platform to bring his ideas to fruition. We are witnessing history as another great motorcycle joins the Flying Merkel, Indian and Britten. It is tragic that while other companies are developing and expanding their adventure touring models, once again HD shows ignorance of the market deciding to live in the 1950’s and discontinue theirs. I have been riding for 36 years and have watched HD rise from the ashes. As with most who rode HD in those “early years” have to chuckle at the HD market that tries to relive the black leather good ol’ days for the first time. We didn’t ride HD because of the history, loyalty, or quality. Then as now HD ignored its customers. So the only people riding HD, I being one, rode them because they were cheap and you could find cheap parts. HD was saved by a few, that have never learned from the past and are destine to repeat history. They have made huge profits selling a past that never existed. Nothing lasts forever and it’s been a great ride. | ||
| Fireonice |
Ps. Court, we got it. you are eric's best friend. you are a huge construction business owner. your wife is a humungus cpa to kings. you have cases of what ever buell stuff people want, but are saving everything for yourself. did i forget anything?  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Relax Steve! Court freely embraces his own stupidity and has a good laugh at it. I do 4 or 5 things a day that are so stupid I laugh out loud. Learn to laugh at yourself, and you will never be without entertainment. I know I never am...  | ||
| Court |
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families. Court | ||
| Zrjoe |
After some research I was wondering why the decision. From the trending of revenues is was obvious that Buell revenues were trending up while HD revenues were trending down. If Harley needs to retrench and there were suitors for the Buell brand, why not sell. Buell's value would have been quite good. And to take a loss of 136MM on the closure makes NO fiscal sense! Also, how did this follow HD's strategy imperatives? 1) Grow worldwide retail sales 2) Achieve Operational excellence 3) Develop leadership as our core competency OR HD's Value Centered Approaches. 1) Align our business with society and shareholder values 2) Preserve and enhance brands 3) Improve relevance of the brand to new and different customers 4) Support expansion into new markets It would seem to me that the board of HD would rate a "F" on these principles and strategies. Also, the financial implications would reduce the shareholder value. What were the drivers for such a mystifying decision? There is NO logical reasoning that is apparent. They should have allowed a sale to occur. It would have created shareholder value and retained an American company. | ||
| Doylejj |
The question why HD closed Buell in the face of steadily increasing sales continues to mystify many here. Searching for reasons, another thought occurred to me: Barracuda broke the camel's back. Buell may have peaked in sales of current models and realized the current 1125 offerings would not be great enough to enable future growth. It developed Barracuda as the path forward. Trouble was, HD was hemmoraging cash and decided not to allocate the capital to take the Barracuda forward. This focuses on cash flow rather than revenues. Where would that leave Buell? Looking at future decline in sales and dealerships? Looking at competition within the dealership network from ATK/Hysong? It's at least a possible explanation. (Message edited by doylejj on November 27, 2009) (Message edited by doylejj on November 27, 2009) | ||
| Joshinga |
For the record Court I didnt say that I believe the "tax" comment to be true I was just saying thats what Iv heard. Nor did I say it made any sense. But of course has anything HD done it the past 10 years made sense. | ||
| Carbonsteel |
What about the Unions? I wonder if they had a hand in this nonsense? I ask this because a buddy brought it up and at first I blew him off, but as I have not heard anything that makes sense in regards to shutting down Buell, I'm now curious. | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
hd and your paycheck. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/406 2/150593.html#POST521316 1988 a springer was 11500 and in 2005 the same bike can be $17,000 Not were I live. Doesnt work. edit: 2005 shadow honda http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-Shadow-VT750-2005-HONDA-SHADOW-AERO-CUSTOM-FLAME-SKULL-PAINT-13K_W0QQitemZ110464523270QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_motorcycles?hash=item19b832dc06 (Message edited by mmmi_grad on December 06, 2009) | ||
| Richsm2 |
hd does not like Buell.with that the rest doesnot matter. | ||
| Pellis |
1988 a springer was 11500 and in 2005 the same bike can be $17,000 Not were I live. Doesnt work. $11,500 in 1988 = 18,985 in 2005 dollars $11,500 in 1988 = 21,014 in 2009 dollars http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl | ||
| Zrjoe |
WOW!!! After reviewing Harley's 2009 Results. It was probably best that Erik divesting himself from the Clusterf##k called Harley. They just do not get it. Instead of expanding into new markets they create the "Forty-Eight" as a bike for the younger crowd. Yep, that's what those 20-30 somethings want. An old outdated bike of marginal technology that looks as if it should be in the 40's. Harley. Lose the market myopia!!!You need a makeover or you are dead!!! |
