| Author | Message | ||
     Buellinachinashop |
I was on his web page yesterday and gawked at the bikes. He's a big fan of the HD Twins and basis a lot of his work off on them. So I got to thinking..."Why hasn't he done a Buell?" So I emailed him. The response from his assistant....... "We have given thought to redesigning a Buell…however it takes Buell wanting it just as much as we’d want to do it." Why wouldn't Buell work with a custom designer like Roland Sands?      | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
Would the idea of "chopping" a Buell be a good thing to promote? I think there's enough of that going on as-is. Granted, I like the way Roland does his bikes. | ||
| Kdan |
I'd sure like to see one running the Dragon. That fat rear tire in the twisties would make for an interesting experience, I'm thinking. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
That's why I thought he'd be a great designer to do a Buell. He's a sport bike guy with a racing background. I don't know how well a 03-07 would look, but I bet he could do wonders with a tuber. | ||
| Bomber |
I'm thinkin he'd do something other than the standard "chopper" build with a Buell -- my transaltion of his email reply: "We have given thought to redesigning a Buell…however it takes Buell wanting it just as much as we’d want to do it." is that Buell would have to supply the bike, and mayube some funding -- given Buell's market (which most "custom" builders are not addressing), I'm not sure I would sign up for that expense if I worked for Buell or HDI -- the world of custom bikes has changed radically in the last few years, and corporate funding is very common -- it may even be required to support some of the shops that do high end work -- interesting concept, though, tuber or XB series, either one | ||
| Gowindward |
Bomber, I think you are spot on. They would at the least expect Buell to give them a bike or components. I would be asking why also from an ROI point of view. | ||
| Cmm213 |
All I know is no one would have to ask me twice to take either of those two machines for a spin! | ||
| Davegess |
I suspect that Buell would not like anything that would make the handling and braking less than stock. Longer, with more rake, trail and the typical mismatched tire sizes would not make a better Buell. Might make a neat custom but Erik's gola usually seems to be beer handling and braking. I would think that there would be serious constraints on what they would allow a designer to change. Might be too many restrictions for a custom guy. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Dave, People aren't customizing them now? Some of the customs I've seen don't even look like Buell's any longer. I bet Sands could pull off a design that still keeps Buell's ideas in mind. He did a great job with the VR above. | ||
| Bomber |
SPidey -- while I'll agree that the Sands VR is nice lookin, it has lost some ridability -- if my name was Buell, I'de be very hesitant to have my name on a custom that lost performance (in whatever manner) due to the alterations made by the builder . . . While "people" ARE custominze their Buells, they are doing so without Buell paying them to do so . . . . . it gotten so hard to "improve" todays bikes -- early bobbers and very early choppers were higher-performance versions of the parent bikes -- today customs are not, in my mind . . . . | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
SPidey? | ||
| Bomber |
Oops, sorry Machine -- brain fade (expected after decades of misuse) . . . I'll do better next time ;-} | ||
| Spiderman |
>>>SPidey -- while I'll agree that the Sands VR is nice lookin, it has lost some ridability -- if my name was Buell, That's why I deleted that post cause I figured it would be takin out of context. ---------------- I orginally posted a reply to Buellinachinashops quote "Some of the customs I've seen don't even look like Buell's any longer." I think you answered your own question. ------------------ Meaning that While Erik loves to see what we have done with our bikes IE The Hell Bender, BadS1's, Gentleman jon's, Bomber's, Rocket's to a lesser extent mine, and the list goes on. All these bikes still remain Buells. The Trilogy of Tech if you will. None have been bastardized of handling and performance like the customs of today... | ||
| Davegess |
I agree with Bomber, people are doing it, I suspect Erik hates them all. Now if you took and XB9R, did a full on single seat Carbon fiber bodywork, stripped off all the street stuff you could get a away with, mounted MotoGP suspension components, modied the engine to make it spin higher, replaced the stock wheels with carbon fiber, mounted clip ons, drilled out every case on the engine and tranny you could to reduce weight, etc he would like that. Of course he did that already  | ||
| Daves |
we have a couple pretty customed out XBs right here on Badweb BadS1 Ronlv Trojan Hillbilly others, I'm sure The big name builders would attract more attention because of their name but I don't think they could do much better. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
I dunno DaveS, with the seemingly unlimited funds that guys like RS have, I'd be very very curious to see what he could do. And that's no slight to the customs here on BW. I've seen a couple and they're amazing. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
just like shelby and rouche did with the mustangs. i'm sure you'd have a market for special interest names on a custom bike. | ||
| Bomber |
Nevr -- I agree entirely -- however, Shelby and ROushe's cars were still mustangs, but improved while I admire Sand's and other's buidling skills, they are not improved as motorcycles for riding YMMV, of course | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Bomber, go take a look on his page. If he can do things to Buell like he did to the Hayabusa's he's done on there, I'd have no problem at all in riding one. I would say this though, personally, I don't see a need for a wheel larger than a 200 though. The 300 to 330's are getting a little crazy with designers. http://www.rolandsands.com/ | ||
| Bomber |
Machine -- agreed, he does very nice work -- me, I ain't a fan of the big tire syndrome, both from a functional and aesthetic standpoint -- just doesn't ring my bell of the current customs, I prefer the BoardTracker look . . . . this stuff is so very personal, and there's no accounting for taste, yes? | ||
| Bads1 |
Thanks Dave I really appreciate that alot. As far as Roland doing a Buell??? Since his backgound is roadracing 2 strokes and I'm quite sure he's aware of what Buell would expect from a Custom I'd venture to say that the bike wouldn't fall off the performance relm of things as far as handling. He's have one off parts all over it that may never be duplicated and made production for us mortal's unless are wallets were starting to run out off room for cash.lol I think if..... he did one it would capture both the custom world and the Buell community. He'd have to!!! | ||
| Jackbequick |
I think Sands is saying that he needs a Buell owner with deep pockets that wants a custom Buell. I don't think Buell, as a manufacturer, would give him a bike, get involved, or touch it with a long stick. I also have to sort of wonder how you would tell a "Buell chopper" from any other chopper with an XL V-twin in it. And, finally, Roland Sands has already "invented" the "American Sports Bike" in one of his earlier creations. I think it was the "No Regrets" bike. He said so himself on a TV show. He said everything else had already been done, so he wanted to do something different and special, so he built the first "American sports bike". I owned a M2 at the time and said to myself, "What the hell! is he talking about!". I already own one of those! Nice guy though, seems to have his feet on the ground compared to some of those folk. Jack | ||
| Paint_shaker |
If Roland has an interest in customizing a Buell, why would he need Buell to be interested?? How many other custom builders sit around and wait for a manufacturer to send them a bike?? Surely Roland could afford to buy a Buell (new or used) and turn it into what he wants. While there are many people who would shell out big $$$$ for a chopper, there are probably few, if any, that would shell out big $$$$ for a Buell. Seems to me there would be nothing in it for him cept to say he did it and the publicity. Whatever happened to custom builders building bikes just to say they did it?? I quess it all boils down to the $$$ now-a-days. | ||
| Pinball |
I`ll donate my bike to the "cause",,,,,,as long as I get it back!! | ||
| Chasespeed |
The 300 to 330's are getting a little crazy with designers. I think I have to agree with you, my Rodeo only has 275/45-20s on it..... I should be doing a SSSA on a busa for one of these 280-300 tires within a month or 2.. Oh well, what the customer wants, they get(as long as they hae the money) Chase} |
