| Author | Message | ||
     P47b |
Now before this gets way out of hand. I do want to say this is not a permanent boycott. But something like a week or month long boycott against the H/D corp. would or could get there attention. I know there are some dealerships that have bent over backward and this is not meant for you. Or maybe something better that would give them a good punch in the face. I have made a commitment to stay out of the Wichita Ks. dealership for the simple reason that I do not trust the competence of there service and never did help with out me going to Buell first for my problem. If we do this we need to spread the word. And Blake if this just disappears I won’t blame you. (Cough, Cough, Christmas, cough) | ||
| Badlionsfan |
I'm boycotting HD for the rest of my life. A few select dealers will get my business for stuff I can't get or get done any place else. Once the 1125r is gone HD will be completely off my radar. | ||
| Patches |
Here we go again. I don't think Buell drivers staying away from Harley Davidson Dealerships for a week or month will have any impact on Harley Davidson. | ||
| Court |
>>>Here we go again. I don't think Buell drivers staying away from Harley Davidson Dealerships for a week or month will have any impact on Harley Davidson. I don't either. I'd rather see them write letters to media and the financial industry drawing attention to some of the irregularities surrounding the closing of Buell. Something . . . Just Doesn't Look Right. | ||
| Froggy |
Boycotting a dealer isn't boycotting the corp. Only one you would be potentially hurting is the dealership and its employees. Similar to those emails about not buying gas from certain stations, all you do is hurt the gas station, not the oil company. As for avoiding dealers that suck, that has been the norm for years. | ||
| P47b |
Well what else?? I can say that No it's not going to bring Buell back. But to me it look's like they have gotten back to the 1970's mindset of this is my hind tit and your not going to take it from me. Or is that me? (Court) I don't either. I'd rather see them write letters to media and the financial industry drawing attention to some of the irregularities surrounding the closing of Buell. I agree that needs to happen. Has any one stepped up? If so where are the websites / addresses to post the letters to? One month has gone by after the announcement and I haven’t seen anything yet for some sort of action. I was never a Harley fan. I didn’t leave Harley, Harley never wanted me.. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Your month to boycot is February. It is the time when all the chrome cowboys think about riding again in march. It would have to be coupled with a viral media campaign as to why you are boycotting them. And remember that your local dealer had no say in the Ax of Buell, and more than they did in the killing of the Rooster. | ||
| Elvis |
I think everybody has unique situations and unique talents and the word should be spread as broadly and widely and firmly and loudly and clearly as possible. Harley Davidson Needs to Sell Buell and Allow Erik Buell to Continue to Make Motorcycles. We're not fooled. We know that Harley could sell Buell tomorrow but the money they would get would be too small for them to take the risk of allowing Buell to survive to be a threat in the future. The decision is very easy for them and they don't think there's anything anybody can do to stop them, but we have to challenge that notion. A prolongued, persistent, consistent, driven, varied, intelligent, determined and articulate effort may, just may get their attention and make them re-think things. Harley's brand and brand image is precious to them and it's their most valuable asset . . . and their achilles heel. They have put a lot of effort into making that brand appear to stand for freedom, America and individuality . . . but their actions on this issue show them to be FAR from standing for those ideals. We need to make every effort we can to tarnish that brand image and speak out about what Harley truly stands for as long as they are too cowardly to sell Buell. If you post on message boards, continue to post variations of the idea that Harley needs to sell Buell and the brand's rhetoric of freedom and individuality and America will be meaningless and tarnished until they do. When a story about Buell pops up on an online news service, post in the comments that Harley needs to sell Buell and you will not respect the Harley brand as a symbol of America until they do. When your Harley dealer calls you, tell him they won't get any business from you until Harley sells Buell. If you subscribe to a favorite publication, write a letter telling them that Harley needs to sell Buell and the brand will have a dark cloud hanging over it until they do. When you're talking to friends and the subject of Harley comes up, tell them you won't have any respect for Harley until they sell Buell. When the people at work say: "Hey, you ride a motorcycle, don't you? Henry was thingking about getting a Harley, what do you think about Harley's?", tell them. Be creative. Think of other ways you can get the message out, but stay clear and consistent. Harley needs to sell Buell and we won't rest until they have. The closing of Buell and refusal to sell it isn't a tragic act of nature. It's a very conscious and deliberate act by Harley. They have legal rights but we do have power and we can spread the word - calmly and intelligently, but forcefully - every chance we get. Harley has committed a crime against the motorcycle community. They have taken away the only realistic chance we had to see an American motorcycle competing with the best in the world. We don't just have to roll over and take it. Consider what some persistent and consistent comments did for the image of AMA/DMG racing. If we can do the kind of damage to Harley that vocal race fans did to DMG last year, Harley will have to re-think things. | ||
| Skully |
+1 Elvis Keith | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
i have already said what Elvis said here and there. FTF and take names. | ||
| Xbrad9r |
here is what I posted on both the Buell and Harley facebook pages: Harley stockholders...why did the company close Buell at their peak? They won the AMA daytona sportbike class, they were getting great reviews in all the motorcycle mags. But, instead of promoting the brand or taking advantage of their current rise and sell the Buell brand, they shut it down and claim ridiculously out of line "closing costs" ... instead of selling it for millions of $$$. If I were a Harley stockholder, someone would need to answer lots of questions. Is someone from Enron involved in this? Their is something fishy in this move that makes no "business sense". | ||
| Patches |
What is Buell Motorcycle Company worth $$$? It has ben posted here and there that there are a few Investors willing to put up the Money to Buy Buell Motorcycle Company from Harley Davidson. Why not get them Investors together and start there own Motorcycle Company, hire Eric Buell to oversee all operations and not worry what Harley Davidson says or does. | ||
| Court |
Elvis nailed it. You MUST do something. Saying it on BadWeB or Facebook is a way to vent but in all candor does nearly nothing. Harley-Davidson would love it if the could corral all the Buell folks to a couple websites and whine. I suppose having heard them talk about the folks on BadWeB gets me a bit fired up . . . . It's going to require folks to actually DO something. Posting on a Facebook page will never get seen and in fact can work against us as it makes it appear there are only 61 Buell owners. Reread Elvis' post. Have you written a motorcycle magazine? Have you written anybody at Harley-Davidson? Have you written an Wisconsin legislator? There are lots of folks who have a great interest in seeing what's up Erik Buell's sleeve. Money is not a problem. There are folks ready, willing and able to step up to the plate. Erik Buell is not a smart kid with a promising future, he's a proven and known quantity. It's not like there is nothing you can do . . . Harley's decision to stop Buell is fine but locking everything down is poor business judgment, flies in the face of all HD has traditionally stood for and squashes creativity and innovation. Have you done anything today? This can work. | ||
| Sphere79 |
So if HD's decision truely was based on vindictiveness, they may also attempt to kill and bury the Buell brand AND related patented technology. So sure, after the non-compete runs out Erik and investors could start something new up - but will it have an underslung muffler? Can it have fuel-in-frame? Can it have an inverse outward mounted front brake setup? Or will they get the pants sued off of them if they try it? From what has been discussed here this weekend, it appears they may not be willing to license ANYTHING even if it's in their best financial interests. I'm not a shareholder, just a meaningless Buell owner - but seeing that this very well may have been a personal attack at Erik and his company has angered me to no avail. At an absolute minimum the people responsible for this travesty must be exposed. Who can I write about this (Harley and press), do we have a contact thread? I'll admit I've done nothing but sit back feeling like I've been steamrolled - but NOW I'm really, really pissed off about this mess. Justice must be served. And Court - I WILL be writing letters this week, I will post them here. We need an organized campaign (with a dedicated website) to direct people to the correct avenues. (Message edited by sphere79 on November 15, 2009) | ||
| Sphere79 |
savebuell.com appears unregistered (wait, they'll sue me huh?) how about saveeriksbikes.com? At this point, I'd just like to see the brand sold. It's worth the re-building process if they can get out of HD's bumbling clutches. | ||
| Teddagreek |
If someone can put together a proper list of Addresses and the "Right People" I'd be more than glad to write a letters... How about the bigger Financial news websites? When ever I see a HOG news as time permits I leave comments... | ||
| Eweaver |
Court, How about a quasi form letter? I am a full time student and work 60 hours a week. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to sit down and pull all of the info together to compile an intelligent letter. However, if there was a form letter that we could copy and paste into a word processing software, personalize it, then lick a stamp....... I could mail a lot of letters. Thoughts? | ||
| Hughlysses |
While a dedicated website seems like a great idea, why not a dedicated forum section here (like the XB forum, BB&D, Quickboard, etc.) for reversing the Buell closure discussions? We've got discussions on this topic in at least 5 or 6 threads in 3 or 4 of the sub-forums at Badweb. It'd be nice to keep them reasonably consolidated. Maybe located high on the main page with a flashing header to attract attention? Blake? Moderators? | ||
| Swordsman |
savethepegasus.com ~SM | ||
| Gregtonn |
Even though I don't believe that boycotting HD is useful, I do buy my S3 parts here because they are cheaper and more reliable than any HD dealer I have dealt with. Prescott Valley Motorcycles 6500 E HWY 69 Prescott Valley, AZ 86314 pvmotor@lycos.com 928-772-4266 Mon - Fri: 9AM - 5PM Sat: 9AM - 4PM G | ||
| Elvis |
Anyone see this?  Maybe the movement is gaining some traction. Order one here: http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/11/free-eri k-buell.html | ||
| P47b |
(Have you written a motorcycle magazine?) Yes (Have you written anybody at Harley-Davidson?) Yes (Have you written an Wisconsin legislator?) Lost my way from being pissed off from writing on the other two. No. But I will after tonight. Direction is where it's at. Sometimes some people need a little more than others. I'm included in that. A good form letter would be great for Finical Institutions and Legislators if we get enough people to do it. Magazines we would need to flood the chat rooms or message board. Be polite and respectful but get your point across. As some of know on other places if it doesn’t have chrome or come from an outside country its crap. My question for now is if they started building again. Will they go back to the XB or the 1125's My thought is they would do there best to keep it down to make sure it would fail instead of going forward. | ||
| Jammin_joules |
Working at a dealership that has been very supportive of, and therefore very successful selling, Buells, I am confident that probably less than one in 100 of my customers will boycott us. Instead they chose to act by boycotting, or rather by-passing several half-assed Buell dealers to ride 100+ miles in order to buy from us, get service, attend numerous sportbike oriented events, go racing with us, or just hang out on a nice weekend meeting fellow Buellers and riding our Buells on demo rides. IMHO I would say that such a boycott will have an adverse effect, should people cease business in their Buell Harley dealer. If a dealership is standing by Buell, and that dealerships customers start acting out adversarially, what message is that dealer getting? Additionally, even the worst of Buell selling Harley dealers did not contact Wandell in September and tell him to shit-can Buell. Inept or not, they had the product in their store and that is more than non-Buell selling dealers were doing. No, I think it better suited use of time & effort that you write. Write Wandell, write the Harley board, write and attend the next stock holder's meeting, write motorcycle magazine, write motorcycle blogs and motorcycle rags, engage people in positive encouraging manners not with bitchy whiney self-serving attitudes. Do not fade away, and do not let yourself be written off from being irrational about it. Build bridges not tear down relationships. | ||
| P47b |
Thanks Jammin_joules, Yes I overstepped my boundary on this. But I am glad for where it is going. Thanks, | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Boycot H.D.? What does the average Buell owner buy from H.D.? I could say I've boycotted H.D. for months. I almost never go in there. What for? To look at Harleys? No, I'm A Buell guy. To buy parts from them? No it's faster and easier to go to American Sport Bike. Harley would never notice A boycot from us. | ||
| Court |
Look . . . no need to boycott Harley. That'll serve no purpose. A couple Harley-Davidson execs, from all appearances, got over zealous, built a persuasive case to dump Buel and sold the idea. Dandy. I'm fine with Harley getting back to their "core market: vrooom...vrooomm. . . but destroying the Buell technology and hamstringing Erik is bad business as is simply shit canning lots of stuff that has value. Shareholders are the ones who should be incensed. This could, and should, be a WIN-WIN deal . . .Harley-Davidson licenses certain Buell IP and insures the agreement strictly forbids access to anything such as their dealer network, business systems . . blah, blah, , blah. If I were writing Wisconsin Legislators I'd start with Representative Scott Gunderson and Senator Mary Lazich As has been pointed out in other threads . . . . Our cause is best served if your letter is:
If some of you who want to write are uncomfortable with how to address folks in the state legislature or would like a "sample" letter we can get some to post a template here. Very important to stay on the high road . . . these folks are very interested in any sort of surviving entity that can come from Buell. | ||
| Rick_a |
My boycott is indefinite. Harley was never a choice for me. Only things I go in a dealer for is the few things I HAVE to get there. (Message edited by Rick_A on November 15, 2009) | ||
| Jon |
HD deserves to be boycotted. Don't ever lose sight of the fact that they suppressed Buell with their stupid corporate culture, hindered Buell's efforts and vision, actually killed the TT with a stupid sophomoric add campaign, and mis-handled the product from sale to service in their HD showrooms. They could have done other things for themselves besides kill Buell's customers. | ||
| 86129squids |
PLUS ONE THOUSAND, Court. I have been writing for a local magazine for 6 months to date, was an original hire at Smoky Mountain H-D/BUELL and looked to as "the Buell guy". I'd be happy to offer my $.02 in a letter. Every time I have to talk about it I get pissed off, usually best to change topics... Crummy weather coming up in 2 days, I shall be percolating my brain in the meantime. I look forward to venting in a concise essay. | ||
| Babired |
I weeded all of my HD t-shirts out and I'm giving them to Salvation army for my tax donation this year. But I still have a lot of HD stuff in my house and I don't think boycotting the HD dealerships will do anything either. We still have to work with them for the next 7 years for parts and service. The guy in corperate who made the decision is the one you all should protest to he is the one who stopped the Buell production. If I go to Milwaukee next year for the CIW and the Womens event I will defanitly have some kind of peaceful protest happening for them to see, I will ride the Buell Uly there if I go. K |
