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Barker
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 10:34 am: | 
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"I just love the sound. Don't get that from a rice burner."
I4 ok, kinda, but a RC51 or Super Chicken with set of open aftermarket pipes, sounds purdy sha-weet.
Hon-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-da
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8VorqLfLto
oh, yeah they dont make em any more.
(Message edited by barker on October 30, 2007) |
12r
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 10:43 am: |
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Speaking as a Euro R1 troll it would have to be lack of choice.
If the 1125R or an XB doesn't appeal people will look elsewhere. |
Cityxslicker
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 01:18 am: |
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because Tom Cruise didnt ride one in Top Gun? |
Crusty
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 06:28 am: |
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Why do people not buy Buells?
I've bought three; a '98 S3-T, a 2000 M2, and an '06 XB12X.
My wife has also bought three; a 2001 Blast, a 2003 Blast and an '08 XB12Ss.
I know a few people who've bought Buells.
Why do people not buy any Marque? |
Buellinachinashop
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 08:56 am: |
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21 year old kids who are looking for speed don't want to wander into a Harley dealership. Also, the aftermarket for increased speed (especially the GSX-R 1300) is huge and somewhat affordable. |
Spiderman
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 09:45 am: |
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it is a GSX1300R
And if you don't thing Buells sell and no one buys em go talk to Dave Stueve. That man sold more Buells than anybody! It is a combination of things that is needed to sell Buells.
A passionate sales person
A cooperative dealer owner/General manager
A well stocked parts dept
AND
A felling of welcome to the Non-Harley crowd. Now this doesn;t mean the shop has to change it's whole floor plan but it does mean that guy in service who always yells "Get that Jap Crap out of here!" to any bike that isn't a Harley needs to go or at least shut up.
The phrase "Buells just don't sell here!" Means the Dealer is doing something wrong! |
Rick_a
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 11:31 am: |
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Most import riders I've known say that they like Buells but wouldn't own one.
The biggest complaints are styling, the Harley derived aircooled motors, the reliability stigma, and quirky handling (compared to imports).
I know the XB's are getting a lot of respect in the stunt scene. |
Jayvee
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 12:53 pm: |
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That 'reliability stigma' is very long-lasting, and much more widespread than the 'good part' about owning a Buell.
"Real" sport bikes in a Harley dealership?
Be honest, don't those Firebolts look out of place on the big dealers showroom floor? Next to the Softail, and the odd FXRS-SP?
I went to the Honda/Suzuki dealer yesterday, it's mostly full of all sizes of DIRT bikes, a smattering of indistinguishable street 'crotch-rockets' and some ridiculously big cruisers that make a Dyna look diminutive. They even had a pretty neat Suzuki Motard single too. Nothing grabs me though... |
Freezerburn
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 01:17 pm: |
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I have devised a dichotomous key to help answer this very question - Why do people not buy Buells?:
1a. Have not ridden a Buell... don't know what they are missing
1b. Have ridden a Buell...go to 2
2a. Can't afford a new bike
2b. Can afford a new bike...go to 3
3a. They can only ride in a straight line
3b. They can ride curves...go to 4
4a. They can't find a Harley shop that will take their rice rocket in on trade for a 1125R
4b. They waiting to see how the 1125R stacks up against the competition by their favorite magazine.
There is a key for why people have not ridden a Buell as well. |
Leeroy_jenkins
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 01:37 pm: |
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"They can't find a Harley shop that will take their rice rocket in on trade for a 1125R"
Havent found a HD shop that wont take metrics, I did not say they would give you a good deal, but they will trade for them. |
Cyclonedon
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 02:26 pm: |
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"Why do people not buy Buells?"
they are NOT educated to the product!
Everybody knows Harley-Davidson, Honda, & even Suzuki by their name because of their imagine (Harley-Davidson) and advertising on the other two names I mentioned. But they don't know that much about the motorcycles and don't compare bikes against other brands.
Example: when you talk to most people about motorcycles they will always mention Harley-Davidson, but when you ask which model they like, they can't tell you because they don't know anything about the bikes just the name brand. I've heard motorcyclist that own Harleys that don't believe the Vrod is actually a Harley much less believe that Buell's are a division of Harley-Davidson!
When I purchased my first Buell, I went to the dealership with the intentions of purchasing a Harley, but after talking to the owner and test riding a Buell, I was sold on the product and have loved the Buell AMERICAN (made locally) motorcycles ever since. Keith Ulicki said in his interview in Fuell magazine that the way to sell Buells is get the customer to actually ride one. That's what sold me on Buells!
Sometimes I think people only buy motorcycles for the pretty colors and chrome on them which is the opposite of what I look for in a motorcycle. The more BLACK and the less chrome, the better as far as I'm concerned! |
Cityxslicker
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 05:39 pm: |
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there is a nuclear half life on trade value on used foreign sportsbikes. If you manage to keep that kawa/yama/hon/uki more than 2 years, you would be LUCKY to see half of what you paid for it. And if she has been over and down... the numbers are way worse. Its not that we wont take them in on trade, its usually that the money owed is nowhere near the trade-in value |
Jayvee
| | Posted on Thursday, November 01, 2007 - 07:48 pm: |
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I don't believe the V-Rod is an actual Harley |
Glitch
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 07:46 am: |
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I guess you don't believe the 1125R isn't an actual Buell either. |
Tommy_black_shark
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 08:38 am: |
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I don't think you can over-estimate the impact the spotty reliability in some of the early Buell's has had on current sales. The motorcycle world has a long memory.
Also, many (most?) sport bike buyers buy on spec-sheet performance and race track success. The Buell (traditional) line has neither. The mainstream magazines do nothing to counter this as it seems each months cover trumpets the new latest greatest wonder-bike. (By the way, last months latest-greatest is now an obsolete piece of dung.)
Unfortunately, many riders are unwilling to buy anything that has any Harley Davidson association. Whether this is based on a long ago wedgie delivered by the high school bully, or just a political dislike of anything American, it is a real factor.
Finally, although we as Beullists are good Evangelists for the brand, we don't object to taking credit for the bikes performance sometimes. On the right goat path, a well ridden XB is more than a match for a well ridden GSZXRCBR1. When the inevitable happens we don't always make a loud point of insisting it was the bike. Really, it was the bike. No, I'm serious, it was the bike.
 |
Deadduck
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 09:16 am: |
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why do people not buy Buells?
Advertisement, or lack thereof.
they are running one spot for the 1125 currently in the motogp races on speed.
this is compared to every other commercial break being a Honda commercial or a suzuki commercial.
The mass of cattle simply haven't been TOLD that it is the best bike in the world.
Nearly every motorsport television show or even hunting and fishing shows have constant advertising from suzuki, honda, and polaris. The name recognition and the one thing that they are the BEST(?) at is always pounded into the masses head until it is the perception of all the potential buyers that that is the cycle or four wheeler that they have to have.
Buell simply doesn't do that.
Hillary Clinton, for example, over the past 3 years, has been talking more as a moderate instead of the socialist that she really is. She now has millions of people believing that she will be a common ground between the Republicans and the Democrats.
Newt Gingrich over the past year and a half has been on a news show of some sort every day, free of charge I might add, attempting to gain support for his cause, whatever it is.
Most people, gathering from all of our experiences , don't even know what a Buell is...never heard of em.
People don't even know how affordable they really are, how well they hold up to a low side, and best of all how much fun they are to ride.
Just think about it, Ducati has had a winning history in world superbike and now motogp for decades??, but how many do you see on the road? They don't advertise in the states at all the best I can remember.
In nascar, Toyota has had a terrible go at it, but their sales (don't know the actual numbers) are more than the big three.
So obviously, winning races isn't the answer....ADVERTISING is
sorry for rambling, but yall get my point
Deadduck |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 09:38 am: |
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21 year old kids who are looking for speed don't want to wander into a Harley dealership. Also, the aftermarket for increased speed (especially the GSX-R 1300) is huge and somewhat affordable.
I bought my brand new Harley-Davidson 2004 XL1200R Sportster when I was 20 years old and a full-time student.
4 years later I bought my '07 XB12R.
I've ridden a lot of bikes...American, Japenese, European. Everyone has nice stuff - I really liked the BMW R1200S I rode last year, and the Kawasaki ZX-10R I rode this year. I mean I like them ALOT.
But then I get back on my Buell, and the sheer brutalness of that bike makes me feel like a man, lol. Smooth and quiet and fast is nice, but that Buell starts up and just grunts at you shaking all over the place. At that moment you know you're on a real bike. |
Barker
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 10:03 am: |
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my first buell was @ 22 years old.
My brother was 21 when he got his. |
Bombardier
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 06:10 pm: |
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Nearly all of the people who see my bike ask what it is.
They have never heard of Buell.
Mention the word Harley and the first thing they ask is how many times have I had to push,trailer it. |
Jayvee
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 07:37 pm: |
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Dudley Perkins in S.F. would not take my Yamaha XV920R in trade, not at all. My impression is that this is not uncommon. |
Tommy_black_shark
| | Posted on Friday, November 02, 2007 - 08:29 pm: |
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Dudley Perkins in S.F. would not take my Yamaha XV920R in trade, not at all. My impression is that this is not uncommon.
With all due respect to your bike Jayvee, you were either trying to trade a real old bike (if this is recent) or perhaps you were trading at a time when HD dealers were not as affluent as they are now. When we had an independent shop, the nearby HD dealer always had foreign bikes taken on trade that they wanted to wholesale to us. Inevitably they gave low wholesale to the trader and weren't looking to make much if anything from us. Considering they were selling new bikes for $1500 to $2500 over MSRP, taking the trade was good business for them. They would get sport bikes, cruisers, Goldwings, atvs. HD dealers are going to find themselves on unfamiliar ground in a lot of areas in the near future. Even though Harley is cutting production, demand is still slowing. Harley may soon be forced to (bite your tongue) DISCOUNT new bikes. |
Jayvee
| | Posted on Saturday, November 03, 2007 - 12:48 am: |
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It was whenever Cyclones first came out, that would be '97. They told me they don't take 'Japanese' bikes, not just mine.
Maybe they would have taken a Triumph? Didn't ask, didn't have one. |
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