| Author | Message | ||
     Firebolt020283 |
Ok i have noticed that buell over the last few years has been coming out with new bikes that are less geared for the sport bike arena and more towards the dirt and now with the rumor that they are going to produce an all out dirt bike has me concerned that Buell is going away form building awsome handling street bikes to pursue the dirt. Now dont get me wrong i dont see anything wrong with buell deciding to go break in to the dirt arena but i just hope that they dont forget about there bread and butter (the street) and stop producing the firebolt and lightnings, or worse yet never come out any improvments on them. | ||
| Swordsman |
I can understand your concern, but from what little I've heard, Erik's a pretty hardcore street guy. They may be shifting a large portion of the business to dirt (who knows?), but I don't think they'll ever get out of the sport bike business. It may be that Erik feels he's done about all he can with the H-D power plant for the street, and is waiting until he can get his hands on something else before progressing any further in that area. Again, who knows? ~SM | ||
| Aydenxb9 |
Don't be scared, I believe that Buell's expanding it's product line to include dirt bikes bodes well for the future of Buell and Buell's continued core product-high performance street/sport bikes. The sport bike segment is the second largest piece of the street motorcycle market though far behind cruisers. IMHO, what Buell is looking at is how do you get the youngest consumers turned on to the brand? Get them on your product early on, like before they have licenses. Many motorcyclists start as youngins who catch the bug through dirt bikes. Think of the big 4 Japanese manufacturers, they are all in dirty bikes and by no way are their sport bike sales hurting. Second, for Buell to continue, it has to expand. To expand it's going to have to go into different arenas. As it expands, it can invest in more new products down the road. It may be that Erik feels he's done about all he can with the H-D power plant for the street, and is waiting until he can get his hands on something else before progressing any further in that area. Again, who knows? Buell is essentially a chassis company, it's never designed it's own engines, even the current XB and Blast! engines were developed by Harley-Davidson Powertrain for Buell. The new dirt bikes will be Rotax powered so I believe Erik and Co already have an alternate source for engines if it wants them. Again, IMHO I think a Hypersport Buell is very close at hand and that the Buell/Rotax alliance is playing a role in that. | ||
| Spiderman |
Yeah really look what happened to Honda, Kawi, Yamaha and Suzuki! | ||
| Spiderman |
it's never designed it's own engines, Ahem, The XB power plant was designed by Buell for Buell, built by H-D. The design was so good that H-D adopted it as their new sportster engine. | ||
| Spiderman |
Oh yeah lets not forget the Blast engine... | ||
| Aydenxb9 |
Sorry, it was "Spec'd" by Buell, but the design and development was by H-D. The "new" Sportster engine was under development at about the same time and improvements from the XB engine were included on the Sportster. Same with the Blast engine. | ||
| Davegess |
Spec'd" by Buell, but the design and development was by H-D. I have to agree with Spidey here. Buell was driving the design of the XB/Sportster from the beginning. Many of the design team may have been H-D employees and many even worked at an H-D facility BUT the Beull was driving the train. Buell has developed most of the Buell specific engine design changes over the years in house even if the details were carried out by H-D employees. Don't for a minute think that Erik would let the engine escape his vision. | ||
| Court |
>>>Don't for a minute think that Erik would let the engine escape his vision. You're kidding . . . Erik Buell wanting more power? . . to go faster? Gads man. . . where will the madness end?? The is much more Buell in a Sportster than Sportster in a Buell. | ||
| Aydenxb9 |
I must have mis-understood the synergy as it was explained to me, wouldn't be the first time. Point I was trying to make was that Buell has options in the engine dept. | ||
| Bomber |
as a part of HDI whose sales are NOT dependant on selling the same thing to the same people, Buell is in the enviable position of, once again, being able to re-invent itself -- making (and selling) dirt bikes can only have a positive impact on the company's revenue, and, I'm betting, it'll have a similar positive impact on R&D cool stuff, fun to guess as to the future | ||
| Rick_a |
Any Buell engine design changes to date have been more evolutionary than revolutionary (except for the RR of course!) | ||
| Rick_a |
Anyway, bring on the dirty bikes, I'm all for 'em. |
