Bikes as a whole are down, getting better, but still not good. As the article states, most manufactures are facing huge decreases in sales, BMW is one of the few. So yeah, toa point he is right
HD dealers by and large treated Buell like crap. Worse, they treated customers and potential customers like crap.
Wandell FAILED to instill ANY kind of "Can Do" attitude into his people and dealers concerning the Buell line. Dealer owners by and large did not motivate their people to talk up and sell Buells. He was happy to let the line fail, and do away with it.
Id this the man who wrecked Buell? I will always know that deep foolishness is present in the minds of HD because of that. What waste and needless mayhem.
The bikes are pretty boring and not finding much in the way of new customers and I know everyone here pretty much hates them. However, HD is a company about stock prices and profits these days.
A lot of dealers for HD are going under out there. A lot. Many just in the northern cal bay area.
Like it was mentioned, bike sales are down, and you can imagine, how much they are down in the 18,000 -25,000 dollar range like HD.
I understand how they want to get back to their core business and try to survive. But the way they handled the selling of MV Agusta and Buell is a shame.
They could have spun them off to another company, or sold them for more money than they got. MV Agusta was the big winner. How many times has he had someone to bale him out, put in cash to upgrade his factory and produce new models, then sell it back to him for a buck. smart business on his part, stupid on hd part.
And then to not sell Buell to another company. I think they probably got more from the tax write off, than what they could have made selling them. Just my point of view. Still too bad. They could have separated themselves from Buell and still got more money from it. and they would probably had better press.
I know they probably lost all of the Buell customer base by what they did. Hopefully they lost all of us and our business.
I hope Victory, Triumph, and BMW passes HD in business sales and profits. I would like to see Victory add some bikes to their line up, different than their cruisers. REX
ps - i know that Erik Buell Racing offers some stock stuff, but for the tuber guys (which also includes myself), the dealer is the only place to get some of the gaskets and such
kinda fitting for this thread... or at least I think
hind site is 20/20... I wish I knew then what I knew now... I would have taken the opportunity to tell him why Buell should be sold and not shut down when I saw him standing in front of my local dealer right after he became CEO.... 20/20
Victory is the new "American Motorcycle Company". Those dim-wits in Milwaukee just don't know it yet. As for the HD stock being up so high...it's because they beat down all of the employees that they din't terminate...and they just finished counting all the money they made selling Chineese doo-dads and sweatshop "motor clothes" to the bikers for Christmas. I have no doubt that the stock will be drooping steadily for quite some time.
Damn Slayer, that is an awesome pic. Am I going to be the one who puts it on a T-shirt or is someone else on this board (with experience) working on it ?