| Author | Message | ||
     Firebolt32 |
The Brandon, FL dealership is phasing out Buell. Their beautiful 12'X 20' section apparently is taking up too much space. This is coming from a pretty reliable source and it pisses me off. Their two Buell techs left quite some time ago so I'm really not surprised. Sad, sad day! | ||
| Texastechx1 |
it sucks when that happens. same thing happened to amarillo HD before i got here in west texas... now the nearst buell dealer that can do HONEST work is in Dallas! | ||
| Strmvt |
Know that feeling as well local dealer here in Toledo is selling all their Buells for invoice and dropping the brand still work on them tho they say but I'd rather ride 50miles north to another dealer to get any work done. | ||
| Us_uly |
Maybe Buell should start building Scooters! They are selling like crazy. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
They are killing the brand off just as it's getting a name for itself. H.D. needs to get smart. They are no longer the only American cruiser. | ||
| Slaughter |
I wonder if we're seeing dealers who SHOULDN'T be selling Buells getting out. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Soon you'll be able to know where to go for Buell bikes and work by the fact that we'll FINALLY have dealers left who are Buell enthusiasts. It's a completely different culture. You don't get guys coming in looking for bar-end tassels, chrome, buttless chaps all with a "skulls and flames" theme. ("Scuse me, do these chaps make my butt look big?") Some dealers do realize that they are the major source of buttless chaps outside of West Hollywood. (not that that's a BAD thing) | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Slaughter, I didn't think of it that way. You have a good point. But they will still be a H.D. dealer. So we can still get our chaps there. The problem is that Harley is the exact opposite of Buell. Buell - power, handling, and no unnessasary junk. Stripped down to the bare essentials. Harley, the oppositte. The question is can the H.D. guys learn to appreciate the Buells, and vice-versa... | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Few people are going to go out of their way to track down a Buell dealer. It's a losing proposition if they continue to shed dealerships. True, bad dealers don't help but not having any doesn't help either. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
that doesn't surprise me in the least jesse. stopped over at fletchers on the way to the expo in clearwater and talked to a couple of the salesman and it seems like they do get it for the most part and might even become a sponsor on the badweb. the one said they were just talking about it before i showed up. this guy has i think 2 or 3 buells. one of which is a uly. not to mention some of the other guys that work there have buells also. thanks for the heads up jesse | ||
| Cochise |
Few people are going to go out of their way to track down a Buell dealer. It's a losing proposition if they continue to shed dealerships. True, bad dealers don't help but not having any doesn't help either. I don't think you're correct sir. People will drive at least an hour to get to a good dealer. It may be a hassle, but they will. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
There are 5(?) Buell dealers left in Iowa. Could be down to 4 if Carroll bows out. (I don't think they get much activity.)What's happening at Waterloo? Not a single Buell listed in their web site????? | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Cochise, I said FEW - not ALL. By "few", I mean, the mass numbers required to make Buell more than a niche player. | ||
| Eboos |
That may be true for enthusiasts of any brand or item. The average customer who knows nothing about Buell will not travel very far and will just buy something else. This is bad for the brand, especially a brand that is still trying to grow and gain acceptance. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
Maybe Buell should start building Scooters! They are selling like crazy. My uncle owns and operates Mega Power Sport off Beach street in Daytona. Well...he did. He shut down because nobody was buying anything. He thought he was going to be "King Shit" when the economy crashed. He hasn't sold a damn thing. Neil...I think it's terrible. You know just as well as I do, the people there are great. But, they seem to always want to take the easy way out. Don't bail...advertise. I could sell every Buell on that floor tomorrow. They don't want to though. Sad... | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Buell needs brand recognition and more importantly brand respect. While we will drive for a good dealer, somebody trying to decide between an "unreliable" Buell with the dealer an hour away and a "reliable" ricer with a dealer every 4 blocks will not. Buell has a small niche they need to make bigger. | ||
| Firebolt32 |
agree 2008...you feel like a 3%er more and more everyday. Yeah, it's cool to be a minority, but you pay that price. You have to talk the brand up enough to be a solid competitor. I feel the only way Buell is really getting out is from people like us... | ||
| Us_uly |
If a dealer decides to drop Buells then so be it. Buell does not need to have uncommitted dealers. There are more Harley dealers in my area than any type of bike. And luckily a few good and one very good Buell dealer. Buells are unique bikes for unique dealers and unique riders. With the Internet making this world smaller and many of us capable of working on our Buells... Monday, November 20, 2006: 100,000th Buell bike rolls of the assembly line. Wednesday, November 12, 2008, Buell rolled out their 125,000th motorcycle. That last 25,000 came quick! | ||
| Rex |
could be some success in the 2009 racing season may help Buell more than we could imagine. rex | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
125000 sounds like alot. But I wonder, for comparisons sake, how many Hondas were made in that time. Don't get me wrong, I love being the minority. But I do worry about Buells future within todays economy. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
US Sales per Motorcycle Consumer News. 4th qtr 2008 sales projected by industry analyst DJ Brown.  | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Honda's numbers  | ||
| Diablobrian |
While Buell's share is still small, 25 years ago there were a grand total of 6(?) Buell owners on the planet. At that same time Honda was cranking out hundreds of thousand of bikes per year. Buell is ramping up production at a very rapid pace, especially for a motorcycle company started in the last 1/3 of the 20th century. Not many have survived, much less thrived and run with numbers in the black. | ||
| Irideabuell |
On a more positive note I recently moved to Viera, FL which is in Brevard county. I went to the only H-D/Buell dealer in the county on Saturday in Palm Bay (Space Coast H-D). As I walked in the front door I saw the most beautiful sight....I line of 6 Buells all front-and-center as you entered the lobby on the showroom floor. There were also other Buells around the showroom - awesome! | ||
| Brumbear |
The one good thing is maybe the mother ship will start to allow buell only dealers that would be grand buell only techs and still having the hd name behind parts avail. and such that really does make a difference I think buell parts are not nearly as expensive as some jap bikes | ||
| Teeps |
There is not enough Buell (only) business to support a stand alone shop. Look at Fresnobuell's sales chart above. They are for total U.S. sales. I wouldn't want to be the mechanic, on a commission or flat-rate hourly pay plan, at one of those stores. Talk about the "Maytag Repairman." I think Buells could be sold with just about any other brand and do just as well; maybe better. Like it or not Buell is a quirky, niche market bike that does not appeal to the masses. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And, I like it that way, therefore I deal with the idiosyncrasies of ownership. (Message edited by teeps on January 26, 2009) | ||
| Chellem |
Those charts are what was sold, not what was built. Just throwin' that out there. How did Buell build 25,000 bikes between '06 and '08, but only sell 4,800~ in '07 and '08? Am I reading that wrong? Must be a LOT of overseas sales? ->ChelleM | ||
| Diablobrian |
over half of all Buell sales are overseas | ||
| Panhead_dan |
As far as having to go way out of your way to do business with a dealer, I disagree. I think that a prospective buyer of a motorcycle will factor this in before he even looks at a model. One example is me. I bought my first Buell because the Ducati dealership was 200 miles away. I never even looked at a new model Duc but was test riding Buells every chance I got. (30 miles away). | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Thanks for the numbers guys. And on a plus note, Buell did make the chart. | ||
| Brumbear |
I know that having a buell only is not what I really meant I should have said non harley shops like a KTM/polaris/buell not realistic companies i know but for arguments sake so you would have dirt bikes /sport bikes and or snowmobiles/watercraft so you are constantly selling or offering at least and 3 times as many things to sell parts and service to. The H-D crowd has proven to be HD and thats fine I just think a dealer that needs to sell Buell would make it even better if that makes any sense |
