| Author | Message | ||
     Tpoppa |
...for a thoroughly mismanaged dealer network. http://www.hennessy.id.au/quentingeorge/archives/M IDDLE%20FINGER%20CHILD.jpg I'm not picking on individual Buell dealers and there are some good ones. But overall, HD set you up to fail. Sad day.... | ||
| Zac4mac |
WTF - my boss just called and told me. it's my "Saturday". All I can say is WTF. | ||
| Thurstonbuell |
What a bunch of CRAP http://www.jsonline.com/business/64352232.html | ||
| Budo |
I don't think any of us really understand why HD treated Buell the way they did. As you say it is almost as if they were setup to fail. Outstanding Buell dealerships like Modesto (ca) were treated so badly that they gave up the franchise. I suppose that HD was unable to see what they needed to do. Haveing been given sucess on a silver platter for so long they thought that Buell would sell themselves like the HD bikes do. | ||
| Blackflash |
Its a good thing that harley shipped em.I only wish erik didnt get screwed on his designs and patents and can takem somewhere else And seperate from the giant that never put its all in em in the first place.For god sake what kind of young person is going to a hd dealership and buy a sportbike?And the hd techs new barely anything about these bikes.It just goes to show that hd was trying to put as little money in it as they could to see if it would blossom.And with the economy right now.  I think they shouldof went right after the jap bikes right off the start.With a more powerful liquid cooled engine and held off on the release date of the 1125r until they could compete with the 600s &1000s.Instead they set out a 39,000 rr that made all my friends with imports shake their heads and say you have to spend that to get a american bike to compete with my r1.The rotax engine has plenty of potential and hd/buell shouldof dropped there 2yr warranty to a 1year warranty on the rr and put the rr motor in a r bike.they shouldof waited out the rotax engine devolpment program to see what the real potential of the motor and blasted the japs right from the start.But instead they entered the 1125r into sportbike and win the title " this made me feel good about my r". Superbike from what i saw. It couldnt compete until the rr came out.But if buell and hd was aiming sales at young americans why sell a 146 hp bike for 12k and then release a 175 hp bike<<who knows 39,000 bike with revised heads different cams ,exhaust ,airbox .What to only piss people off of what they couldof got for 2k more.They could of put these parts in production also and made a 12k r & a production rr 14k bike .A new r1 is 13.5k 14 k.I shake my head but love my 1125r.In this day in age in manufacturing all i see is companys that are balls out not a maintained bussiness!!Buell/hd should of went balls out!! | ||
| Bcrawf68 |
Tpoppa, I agree with you about HD's poorly set up dealer network and lack of commitment to Buell (long term). Also, I would guess that the initial teething problems the 11r had caused some resistance among would-be buyers. I'm rather unwilling to believe that EB signed the HD agreement without some escape clause for his technology and (at least some of his) designs. In hindsight, buying MV looks like a terrible mistake on HDs part, contributing to Buell's demise. Were EB to restart this company, and I sincerely hope that he does, I hope he gets the quality message, the 'little bike maker that could' message and the 'made in America' message out more clearly. I think my Buell has way better quality than the Jap literbikes I looked at. Also, I think before today, most had started expecting Buell to act like a major manufacturer instead of the boutique bike maker that made my 11r. Perhaps this increased expectation created a sense of complacency among buyers. I wanted to own a Buell for a long time, went out on a limb for this one and would do so again if he were to go back into business. | ||
| Junkyrddog780 |
So Buell is no more? Great. Fricken great... | ||
| Codename_loki |
I just threw up in my mouth. | ||
| Dirty_john |
I hope HD now go into receivership or whatever it is called in the USA, the feeling here in UK against HD at the moment is high, we all know there is a worldwide recession in progress but I am sure HD could have absorbed the current losses, what the heck did they buy MV for? They had a sportsbike - the 1125R. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Zac, what's going on up there? | ||
| Zac4mac |
Ryan - I went in yesterday to talk to my boss about time off and to talk to Bones about "What now?". We WILL remain an "Authorized Service Center" and will continue to do service and warranty work on Buells. Not sure of what level "parts support" will take but we are committed there too. Everybody was pretty gentle with me yesterday. It's a good shop... I'll be leaving for a visit to the Factory next Saturday. You're welcome to ride with if you can. Zack | ||
| Cataract2 |
Would love to, but will be TDY till the end of the month. Hey, any word about that Rev C yet? |
