| Author | Message | ||
     Mookie |
i may be able to find this somewhere else and maybe it should have its own spot but i hear others talk about following the vision but i and maybe others dont know of the whole path. can someone enlighten me. is it just being different? is it that hes trying to make a bike that handles better? | ||
| M1combat |
Being different... Yeah, I think that's part of it. TRYING to make a bike that handles better... Already done my friend. I liken Erik Buell to someone like Carrol Shelby. I just hope that HD doesn't lose interest after he dominates "le Mans"... If they do though, I would imagine that Erik would have no trouble finding another engine manufacturer. | ||
| Metalstorm |
This topic makes me think of one of my favorite quotes: "You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because youre' all the same". The cool thing about Erik Buell is he doesn't constrict himself to other peoples' rules. He doesn't let other peoples' perception of what can and cannot be done limit him in any way. He does his own thing in his own way. Kinda alot like most of the Buellrs on this site. Our own thing in our own way. "Nothing's impossible, just merely improbable, so lets do it"  | ||
| Xbduck |
Hey folks thats the whole reason I bought my bike. It's not a cookie cutter bike. It seems to me Erik has a vision of where bikes should be going not worrying over whats hot right now. Of course HD may think that they need to sell right now. I do however think his bikes are hot right now!!! Most just want to follow the croud. Hey someone has to lead! Didn't Lee Iacoca tell the world to lead, follow or get out of the way just before the minivan was unveiled. | ||
| M1combat |
I think he did... Too bad they chose to follow... | ||
| Xbduck |
I hope you see my point was he had the vision and drive to go outside the box. | ||
| M1combat |
Yes, I do. I just wish he wouldn't have used THE BOX as his vision...  . | ||
| Xbduck |
So true!! Sorry about the delayed response, had to get home.  | ||
| Aesquire |
"I liken Erik Buell to someone like Carrol Shelby." Well said! When trying to relate a Buell to a car, the Shelby Cobra seemed the best fit. I'm relatively new here, comparatively, BUT, back in 1983, I read an article on the New Buell motorcycle. Pretty much instant lust, but not the means to get one. ( I wish they still did the seat cowl/folding sissy bar/backrest thing, I see it on a lot of show bikes 20 years later ) That is part of the "vision" where a design feature Buell put in production 2 decades ago is the latest trick thing for a show bike from Kawasaki & Suzuki. To keep it short & woefully incomplete. Erik Buell's designs have what is needed to handle, brake & accelerate, better if possible than any other street bike. They have a minimum of what is not needed, and the arrangement of components is centralized as much as possible to minimize polar moment & unsprung weight. (mass centralization & light wheels with single, powerful brakes) There is more, as Erik Buell makes a point of lightness & simplicity (air cooling etc.) and says it better than I could. I have read he likes bikes "clean" and comparing my Cyclone to a Ducati Monster shows that well. The Sportster my motor is derived from is, as most H-D bikes, a design that Showcases the nostalgia look of a collection of parts rumbling in formation. The Monster looks like a racebike someone stripped the fairing off of, and hasn't finished tucking the stray bits, wires, & hoses yet. Polished "rat" Ducati? The Cyclone ( & XB series especially ) looks like a "lean clean machine, is that a HARLEY engine??" A magazine editor said "H-D should buy KTM, fire the guy with the orange paint gun, and put KTM's engine in a Buell, no, ALL the Buell's" roflmao | ||
| Court |
>>>Didn't Lee Iacoca tell Not bad, but let me up the "Car CEO Ante" with two words. . . BOB LUTZ. I'll let you dig up the details....do a serach for "The Seven Laws....... Oh yeah....and as a personal favor, read the part on "change agents", their role and how they should operate. | ||
| Buckinfubba |
I don't think the vison was to be different, but to do what he wanted and it turned out to be different. If you try to be different for difference sake. you'll wind up like a late 70's anti establishment punk rocker who looks different just like everybody else in the crowd looks. Whats so funny to me is the people who turn out to be different in our world look so friggin normal. woody guthrie, dylan, springsteen,jack nicholson,erik buell,carrol shelby, bob lutz,johnny cash, Britton, ect the list goes on an on.... edited by buckinfubba on January 10, 2004 | ||
| M1combat |
I'll do some reading Court. As far as where little old me see's the Buell vision headed... I'm thinking along the lines of GT-40. On the dash of the three GT-40 MKII's that crossed the line at Le-Mans 1,2,3 in ?'66? was a toggle switch for the rear brake lights. Underneath the switch was a sticker that read "To Fool the Evil Italian Menace". Personally, I think Ford should offer their F1 tech to Harley. I would say Ford OR GM, but GM don't play the F1 game... |
