| Author | Message | ||
     Bruce_belfer |
GP Holdings did this before both previous auctions as well. He's attempting to raise capital. It's the same GP that issued the $3.1 Million bid last time. He wasn't at the auction. Nothing new. | ||
| Submax |
Whoever ends up showing at the auction....best of luck, Bruce! You've certainly given Buellers hope!  | ||
| Oddball |
The close timing has me wondering if the court just wants this over with and will approve whatever happens the following day. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
@Bruce_Belfer "It has been 8 weeks since the AMG acquired the assets of EBR" How does one acquire the assets of EBR if it never went through. I mean, if this part were correct then why would there have been a second or, now, third auction of EBR? Im sorry, but this is all just sounding...off. He acquired the assets and went to work getting the site up, payroll checks ordered etc etc etc...but he never owned the company or the assets. None of it. So how does one do all of this without owning the company? | ||
| Thumper1203 |
^^^I believe it was mentioned that some assets ended-up in question and/or unsecured by the court right up until the closure date. | ||
| Jaimec |
Don't worry, when my Powerball numbers come in tonight, *I'LL* make a bid on the company. | ||
| Court |
I'll posit this ....... If you won the Powerball ....... How much $$ do you think it would take to start a motorcycle company.....get all the necessary commercial registrations to do business .....develop, test, homologate and certify a product, establish a dealer network and parts supply protocol, market the product and get to the point in time where you make your first sale? I think I have a pretty good idea. But then..... I have the excel sheets with all the EBR budgets and some detailed product development documents and schedule. I'll give you a hint .....it's >$3M. | ||
| Malott442 |
If I won the powerball, I would buy and turn over EBR to the right hands. I would get my hands on a tax attorney, a few consultants, and a few great guys from the dark side. I would plan and plant seeds, and responsibly secure 5 years of production. My only demand would be to expand the motor vision past the v twin. I am a firm believer that a V4 belongs in my 1190. 2018 EBR 999RS? Yes!!!!! I'd relaunch Buell, and start putting out belt drive 100 hp bikes. I would buy Highland motorcycles, and Gas Gas, and Hodaka. All purpose built, all hand built, all sexy bikes And I'd pop wheelies and drink beer and smile. | ||
| Malott442 |
@ Court. Right now the cash payout is >400m. I would put aside 3m for myself in a trust. 10m to the Gary Sinise Foundation 50M to EBR 100 M to Buell The other 230M to taxes, the other brands, buying Corey and Danny back, beer, women, and booze. Half joke, half serious, lol. I'd imagine it would take 50m to push EBR to 2020, and staying relevant. 100m to relaunch Buell in a compliant, relevant state. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
"50M to EBR 100 M to Buell" ....so you would give Harley 100M dollars? | ||
| Malott442 |
@ hybrid. Buy out any remaining rights to the name, or we could always use the names I've seen on Craigslist: Eddie Buell Eric Buell Or Kenneth Buell The rest of the money will be actually getting the company started and moving. Trellis frames and a new motor would be pretty expensive to get from dream to reality. | ||
| Court |
Malot: I'd have you on my Board of Directors, you've got the vision. The first step would be to put BUSINESS people in the right places. As you say. . . "in the right hands". I know who the right tax, legal and operations people are. The first step would be rounding up the posse. Key here is understanding that unbridled enthusiasm for a sport or for a marque is no qualifier for success. To make this thing work you need the top professional, not friends of friends. I'd also call in a couple of those guys from the "Dark Side". I know who they are and where they are. Getting them would be challenging, but it's possible. The catchy slogan "Never Give Up" (you may recall the EBR t-shirts I made with that on them) needs to extend to not just the dog catching the car . . .but knowing what to do with it once it's caught. There needs to be a cogent, realistic and achievable 1 year, 3 year and 5 year plan. There are some challenges. First, you must make a market. That doesn't happen on a Moto GP track or making $44,000 180hp racing bikes. Those, like the whipped cream on strawberry shortcake, are a great thing to have . . .IF the other ingredients are in place and good. To that end, and consistent with your vision to buy EBR and Buell . . . . I'd go to Matt Levatich (who I like, admire and get along with) and make a deal to acquire any and all interest that Harley-Davidson still has in Buell. A key element of this would be to take the document I have sitting here in the drawer . . . the one HD laughed at . . . entitled TEAM BUELL and put it in place. There would be 15 regional "Buell=bassadors" each with a regional of dealers decided into 2 tiers. The Team would be flown to the factory for 5 days annually during which time they'd spend a day reviewing current status os their efforts, a day being briefed on product and market direction, a day riding competitive brands and being briefed on "Why Buell" talking points and a day sitting in a chair next to each assembly station to know precisely what a Buell is. They'd be sent a package with 500 t-shirts and 1,0000 keychains and a basic Guerrilla marketing package to support the dealer. I wrote the program in 1995 and was thrilled when Porsche, just last year pretty much did the same thing with their Porsche Brand Ambassador program. Then I'd get two people (I know them both . . one if a former Buell Distribution Corp guy another a rabid enthusiast) and they'd design my marketing and penetration program. I'd need to go get one guy, formerly of Indian, now a San Fran consultant . . to make this thing work globally. My Buell Team would then drive to Bay Shore, NY and pick up a bike and transport it to the product development center. I'd have an aggressive 18 month program to roll out my bread and butter piece that would allow me to penetrate the heart of the consumer market. It would be under $11,000, have looks to die for and come with a financing and virtually connectivity "ownership connection" package that would make folks question why they'd even think of buying anything else. I'd suggest dealers could move 75 of these units a year and I'd have a certain person insuring they could do that and had the proper tools. Having dealers who WANT the product and are enthusiastic about it . . . means having dealers who can MOVE and SUPPORT product. I'd take the dealers places they never dreamed they could go in terms of amazing service and allow them, in concert with my Buell team, to craft the ownership experience and loyalty we'd dreamed of at Buell. I agree with the $10M to Gary Sinese Foundation and I'd commit another$10M to Wounded Warriors through a system of fund raising similar to what HD did with MDA. I'd also reactivate another program I penned that HD blew off called "We'll be waiting for you . . . " where American service men and women who needed a way to pass the time could play with an online or paper form to design their own Buell. Within 90 days or returning CONUS, they'd send it in and when they got home their Buell would be waiting at their dealer. They'd get a great deal, great financing and a sincere Thank You. This can happen in a time frame that it would begin a revenue stream within 24 months. My BUELL and EBR relationship would be akin to Mercedes and Maybach or Honda and Acura. My Buell would be my bread and butter . . . my EBR would be the product that was continually honing the next technical element for Buell and, at the same time, giving racers around the world hard ons . . . . it would be to motorcycles what Apple is to tech devises. No one, unless forced to compromise, would dream of passing on the American Engineering. In the early stages of this s huge challenge would be getting the board together. So far, I've only got Malot . .but we're on the right track. I'd toss Dave Gess in immediately for his vision and experience and proven ability to bring reality to an insane process while making it move forward. One of the first challenges of the board would be corporate sustainability. I know and you know that one reason many investors (some folks have opined that enthusiasts who are billionaires don't jump in) have concerns is that you have a company ENTIRELY predicated on the physical presence of one person . . . who's next big birthday is 70. If you were . . say Polaris or Audi . . looking at EBR now . . .you were going to put in the $50 and there was ANY risk that ERIK BUELL would not be there in 14 months you'd see the massive drain your money could go down that you have ZERO control over. So . . the board would get to work building a sustainable BUELL brand that had a draw beyond a couple hundred loyal enthusiasts on an internet site. It's a doable deal . . . . but to simply but a bunch of tools, storage bins, inventory and a couple Dodge vans for $2M and hope for the best is scary and, to date, has generated pretty much no interest. We're told there were dozens of interested parties but yet no one showed up to bid. It's a neat deal and a doable deal but there has to be a BIG PLAN to make this work. | ||
| Malott442 |
I'm buying tickets today. A few quick picks, a few hand selects.... And while tomorrow may bring a stack of paper for the recycle bin, tonight I will dream of grand feelings, hard work, and what makes living this life great! | ||
| Court |
If you win. . . . I'll need you in East Troy not later than February 22nd . . so get the booze and women dealt with quickly. I'm going to have you REALLY busy. | ||
| Malott442 |
Consider it a deal. | ||
| Jaimec |
If I did win the Powerball I'm smart enough to know I DON'T know how to run a company. I'll just remain a majority stockholder and work with those who know what they're doing to get EBR and Erik up and running again. But I claim first dibs on any new models he comes up with. | ||
| Steveford |
Why was there only one bid at the last auction (from a liquidator, no less)? I thought Bruce would have placed a bid. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I'm not sure how this "auction" process works, but Bruce said he had the high bid until the afternoon of the day just before the auction. Liquid Assets apparently came in the day of the auction and out-bid him, and he had no time to secure additional funding to place a viable bid which would have had to exceed theirs by some minimum amount. | ||
| Doz |
Malott: Hodaka's were not sexy, but a ton of fun. Good luck on your lottery plan | ||
| Malott442 |
@Doz. the dirt squirt was pure dirt sex to me as a youngster. Up until I met the very first cr125 with the pro link rear. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
"Why was there only one bid at the last auction (from a liquidator, no less)?" Steve - where did you find that there was only 1 bidder in the 2nd auction? Not trying to be combative, wanting to know if it was from a reliable source or not. Because if it was from a good source, then that sort of throws a wrench in what Hugh says (not saying that HUGH is wrong, but that maybe he was fed bad info by others). referencing: "I'm not sure how this "auction" process works, but Bruce said he had the high bid until the afternoon of the day just before the auction. Liquid Assets apparently came in the day of the auction and out-bid him, and he had no time to secure additional funding to place a viable bid which would have had to exceed theirs by some minimum amount." | ||
| Stevel |
Court, You have put forward a very good, well thought out business plan. Good job. I hesitate however, to put a number on that cost. I simply don't know enough, but it is safe to say that it would be very expensive and I suspect way more than the $50M bantered around. It is also safe to say that the amount of time it would take to amortize that level of investment would likely be more than a decade, even assuming there were no setbacks. As you have stated many times, this is a tough business with lots of very serious and competent competitors. It is also safe to say that insufficient investment capital with too much ambition in too short of time, was the downfall of EBR, not just HERO. HERO was simply the straw that broke the camel's back. I believe that if the successor to EBR is going to survive, ambition must be throttled back. It seems clear to me that an immediate revenue stream is required and that revenue needs to be moderately used for corporate expansion. It is the Japanese model and it is well proven and affordable. Debt must be avoided at all costs. Banks are not your friend. In that light, it is important to concentrate on the support of existing machines over the manufacture of new ones. It is a certain source of immediate revenue that would take a much lower capital investment. Just my thoughts. | ||
| Reepicheep |
This. If only Harley had seen this. | ||
| Cbi |
I love this idea. Buell/EBR = Honda/HRC | ||
| Steveford |
http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2015/12/15/judge-declines -a-new-offer-to-buy-erik-buell-racing-manufacturin g-assets/ http://www.jsonline.com/business/judge-declines-to -approve-sale-of-motorcycle-companys-assets-b99634 187z1-362120151.html | ||
| Thumper1203 |
(Demetri Melekos, interested purchaser) @Woody– it had nothing to do with a EBR as hobby business not paying bills – it had to do with (z)Hero Motors of India committing to $60 million for the endeavor, and only putting in $25 million – due to their corporate douchery and greed to take Erik’s 16 redesigns of (z)Hero’s aged products that haven’t been update since Honda did the originals over 30 years ago – (z)Hero caused EBR to go into Chapter 128 receivership by not putting in the remaining $35 million, then bought the IP to EBR Consulting Co. for $2.8 million … that is a $32.2 million discount — and in the process leaving EBR $20.8 million in debt to Vendors that will literally see pennies on the dollar of what they are owed — dig ? - See more at: http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2015/12/15/judge-declines -a-new-offer-to-buy-erik-buell-racing-manufacturin g-assets/#sthash.gWvXxkuM.dpuf From the comments, fwiw.. (in case anyone wasn't clear or needed a refresher on Hero's nefarious actions) | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
Hmmm so some sources say that only one bid on the second auction, but Bruce Belfer says he had a bid in and was beaten at the last minute, no time to re-do the bid... So who do we believe? Guys, does it not seem like things are getting more and more weird in this situation, that things aren't as BB says that they are? As I mentioned before, he never acquired EBR yet says he did. He says he was a high bidder in #2 but other documents say no. Maybe everything else is wrong. Or maybe someone is fibbing to us. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Think about buying a house... "I'm buying that house" or even "I bought the house!" could mean a few things (each stacking on the previous): 1) I discussed price and intent with the seller, and we have agreed on a price and timeframe. 2) They have accepted the offer and put the house under contract (that always has a lot of escape clauses for both parties) 3) I have put down a deposit 4) My bank has agreed to finance the house 5) The house inspection is done 6) The issues found in the house inspection are resolved and the re-inspection is done 7) The closing is scheduled 8) The closing is done 9) I have occupancy I could reasonably say "I am buying the house" or even "I bought the house" at just about any of those steps and be reasonably accurate (just not that precise). So while there could be some gamesmanship in statements being made, it could also be us reading a level of precision into a comment made on an Internet site that isn't, well, appropriate to read into a passing comment on an Internet site. Duh.  | ||
| Court |
Things have been weird in this for quite some time. You may recall . . . 3 or 4 weeks ago . . . I'd written that it was the process that would spell the end to EBR. Time and tide have continued to march on. Model, motors and methods have grown more obsolete. To "save" anything roughly emulating a manufacturing element would have required prompt action. I've watched in amazement. I don't Mr. Belfer is misrepresenting anything and is likely guilty of nothing more than runaway enthusiasm. I'm sure he'd love to jump in with both feet, grab the controls and get to work. But . . . the ship may have sailed. | ||
| Court |
And . . . part of the problem is . . . very few people know how motorcycles are REALLY made. Please keep this to yourself . . . |
