| Author | Message | ||
     Buelliedan |
Has anybody seen an updated dealer list yet? | ||
| Hughlysses |
Dan- The press release says you should e-mail them with your contact info and they will put you in touch with the closest dealer. | ||
| Buelliedan |
that's an odd way to do business. Seems like it would be very easy to just post the current dealers on the EBR website instead of leaving the old dealers up there. I know it takes me less than 15 minutes to do something like that on my website. (Message edited by buelliedan on March 18, 2016) | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ Agreed. Maybe they signed up fewer dealers than they'd hoped and they don't want to "show their cards" on that yet. I'll bet they're still hoping people will call the old dealers trying to buy the new bikes and thereby persuade some of them to "re-enlist". | ||
| Buelliedan |
I actually had a call today asking me if I was still a dealer and had to turn them away unfortunately. Hated to do it but it is so expensive for me to stay a dealer here in Colorado (over $3,000 a year just in liscensing and insurance costs) that I just could not justify doing it at this time. I would need to sell 2 bikes before I even earned enough to cover my dealership costs. Just not sure I can do that at the new MSRPs. | ||
| Mustang0 |
I talked to a guy who works for Action Power sports in Waukesha, Wisconsin and they have some SX models for $10,999 no warranty though. | ||
| Bob_thompson |
"I would be on one of these two models in a heartbeat" I said that and will clarify. Dan, I understand your plight as a dealer but I would buy one to ride for what you get out of the box, not about a warranty, a close dealer or any other so called "needs". Your needs as a dealer give you a very valid reason for not jumping aboard now and I would probably do the same after getting let down possibly twice. I was in a similar situation when I bought my 1125R in early 2008 #296. The four HD dealers here did not have a clue about my bike and did not even want to do warranty work but did the clutch jet and filled the oil up incorrectly. If I had not checked it when leaving I would have lost an engine for sure. No reflection intended. I had a complete manual within days. I never went back to HD. The one good thing I had then and would be concerned about now would be spare parts availability. But my own #296 has been rock solid with very little maintenance "needed". Change oil, feed it a few tires and do a few upgrades. Best bike I ever owned which has been considerable. Now not all riders can do their own maintenance so I understand that but most sport bike shops can handle most things "needed". And I know from this site your shop is one of the best. Thanks for that. Now I believe there are probably many here and some who have already purchased one when they were high but not many complaints yet and many ARE capable of wrenching on their own. Some sound very happy even after spending much more to get one. Most sport bikes are not for occasional riders but true enthusiasts and I believe those will help EBR be viable again. I hope so. Thank you for what you have done to put many smiles on the faces of all your customers. You have my respect. Bob | ||
| Lake_bueller |
I think the price is fair for the amount of bike you get. But there isn't anything in those two bikes that make my heart beat faster. I can barely ride my S1W with race bars any longer. Even my S3T is starting to get less comfortable as each year passes. I still love the performance and handling of a sportbike. But I need something with a more "upright" riding position. Let's face it, I live in northeastern Wisconsin. There are very few hills and twisty roads. | ||
| Sprintst |
Buelliedan I do not. I think even at these lower prices they are going to have a lot of difficulty selling bikes. My reason for this,is their reputation was absolutely destroyed by last years fiasco. I honestly have to agree with this. I've already stated several times that I can get arguably more bike for $11k (new 2015 stock) from a company that isn't back from the dead for another time. I'm still of a wait and see, the cynic in me wonders how much of this is to clear existing work in process and recover the purchase cost and how much is really about restarting the company for the long term. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Interesting- Dean Adams posted a bunch of pics from the factory open house. Among those in attendance was former Cycle World writer Peter Egan. He's talking to Erik in a couple of the pics. Egan bought a 2009 Uly during the fire sale and as far as I know, he still owns it. | ||
| Crusty |
Which Dean Adams? Stuporbike Planet? | ||
| D_adams |
Good God, NO. That jackass and I are NOT the same. Funny you mention that now, I found out that many people at the factory thought it really _was_ me posting that crap on stuporbikeplanet. I did post a few pics from yesterday though. I did manage to capture a couple of those shots. Peter Egan & Erik Buell Edited to turn great photo into hyperlink to save page readability on the iPad.  (Message edited by Blake on March 21, 2016) | ||
| Froggy |
Maybe you would get less grief if you changed your name to Saddam Hussein or Micheal Bolton. | ||
| Davegess |
I stopped by on Friday for a couple of hours. Great to see the whole crew. Bikes are rolling -slowly- off the line as 2016 and they look great. Several of the very best to the old group of back at work making stuff happen. I think they have a real chance to pull this off. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Good news all around. Although technically "retired", I think Egan does "special feature" pieces for Cycle World. I'd love to see him do something for this event. So far, the moto-press has been pretty quiet except for a few places posting the latest press release. Maybe we'll see some stories next week. | ||
| Buelliedan |
"I'm still of a wait and see, the cynic in me wonders how much of this is to clear existing work in process and recover the purchase cost and how much is really about restarting the company for the long term." That is my biggest worry as well. I really wanted to be a dealer for them again but I just cannot take another hit like last year as I only sold EBRs. Add to that, that the dealers are not even getting a price break on P&A which is where most dealers make about 50% of their profits and it just did not work for me. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Dan's about as hardcore of a fan of Erik's as you can get. The shop is a mini-museum with an RSS, a black and a white RS1200, S2, X1, LSR Blast, 2 1190RS Carbons(one is MINE!!) and a few others. All kinds of Buell swag on the walls too. We still have a red RX, tagged at 12.9k IIRC, please someone come buy it.... Dan says he'd sell his 1190RS for 25k but I don't believe him.  Don't ask to buy mine, I'm having too much fun running her in mile sprints. Z | ||
| Court |
>>>>>I think they have a real chance to pull this off. I do too. But ... someone has GOT to get awake at the switch. That old list of dealers, ignoring to potential legal ramifications of knowingly misrepresenting them, has got to go. Go ahead .... Someone ask why? For a hint .... Try calling the 2 closest dealers to you and telling them "I'd like to buy a "Patriotric" 1190 EBR model. " The first step to having healthy feet is not shooting yourself in the foot. Turn the current set of conditions into a shared marketing effort leveraging factory-enthusiasts-dealers. Play to win .... Not like you're making a desperation play. The last thing you need a "2014 dealer" telling a fired up enthusiast who just read a Cycle World article is " they went broke and are no longer in business". It's bad form. Then when the enthusiast discovers the "dealer" had no clue what they were talking about ..... You've pretty well pissed in your Cheerios and proven, by your own hand... Beyond a shadow of a doubt.... That the communication between company and dealer is non-existent. Propel believe what they SEE ..... not what they were told by a guy giving away hot dogs. I really want to see this fly ..... Lots of the right folks are in place. But...... | ||
| Rick_fears |
Holy shit Dean is that HArrison Ford??! +1 for Micheal Bolton. | ||
| Hughlysses |
While I'm glad they've updated the website somewhat, it sure is a disappointment. The average person clicking on it would be hard pressed to know anything is different from two weeks ago, and for all practical purposes that was no different than 1 year ago. They really need the front page to JUMP and clearly show something new is going on. The site still doesn't list MSRPs or the new colors available for the 2016 models. I'm with Court on the dealers; better to list none and say contact us for info than to list former dealers. I'd bet there are at least 20 people at Badweb who could do a bang-up job at revamping the website by 6 PM tonight, and who would gladly do so for free if they were given the chance. As Snuffy Smith used to say in the comic strip "TIME'S A WASTIN'!!!!" | ||
| Court |
>>>I'd bet there are at least 20 people at Badweb who could do a bang-up job at revamping the website by 6 PM tonight, and who would gladly do so for free if they were given the chance. Poor science. Hiring family and friends seldom yields the desired results and almost always ends up a problem. Buell and EBR have been there . . . learned that lesson . . . and will not (hopefully) repeat it. LAP has limited capital and a tight budget at present. The "customer facing" element needs some attention. IT can't all be done now but there need to be several elements addressed within the next 10 days. I'd go with the "for a dealer near you . . . text "gotta have one" to 12345" and then program the auto-response by zip codes with one of 3 detailed messages: 1) Great . . .we've got a dealer a chip shot (less than 50 miles" away from you and can put you in touch. We'll send you sales literature and advise the dealer of your interest. (do NOT make me go to the dealer to pick up my mail) 2) Good to hear about your interest . . .we've got a dealer who is 125 miles from you (this is the 5-200 option) and we know that's a hike. So, send us your mailing address and we'll get sales literature on the way quicker than a fart clears a phone booth. 3) We're working on bringing dealers on board but the closest we have, at this time is 325 miles away. So, send us your mailing address and we'll get sales literature on the way. Better yet . . give us the names of 3 dealers you think would be perfect to showcase the NEW EBR products and we'll toss a t-shirt in as a thank you". Just thinking out loud. I actually had several customer service systems outlined a couple years ago. I still like the idea of a Mini-iPad coming with each bike . . plum chucked full of info, trivia, owners manual, service and parts manuals and a "quick contact" section for factory and dealer issues. | ||
| D_adams |
One thing I always hated about being an owner of a $19k bike was being told "it's in the works" and then get shuffled off to someone who didn't have the answers or just ignored for 6+ months. Don't get me wrong, I love the bike, but the CS was definitely lacking. There were quite a few warranty issues that should have been resolved in a fairly rapid manner, especially after 3 of us showed up at the HC event in 2014 with the exact same scratch marks on our rear shocks. After the tour inside, there were at least a couple more that hadn't even made it into a crate with the same scratches. I am just guessing here, but I think there may have been a rear shock parts change from development to production and someone didn't catch the clearance tolerances required for space to the subframe. Every last bike out there for the 2014 models is going to suffer the same fate unless you space out the subframe yourself. I have a like-new Showa race shock that I haven't installed because I KNOW it will do the same thing. | ||
| Snacktoast |
One thing I always hated about being an owner of a $19k bike was being told "it's in the works" and then get shuffled off to someone who didn't have the answers or just ignored for 6+ months. I'm sure there were many things that were in the works and, unfortunately, never saw the light of day due to financial struggles. Playing devil's advocate, I will ask you how often you have called Yamaha, Ducati, KTM, etc. to get insider information about fixes and actually gotten any concrete answers? My guess is never. So, we need to be realistic about how much information the manufacturer would EVER be willing to supply directly to the consumer. Those in the industry will tell you that the dealers should receive information before the consumers. If they don't have the answer, any dealer worth their salt would contact the manufacturer for clarification. This doesn't always mean that there is an immediate answer or solution, and the reality is that it takes time to make production changes and implement product campaigns to the field. Granted, dealer information wasn't always presented in a clear, concise, and timely manner. However, expecting that just because you bought their product would entitle you to answers to questions that the manufacturer didn't release to their dealer network or wasn't ready to release to the public...I'm sorry to sound crude, but in my experience it NEVER works that way. | ||
| Court |
There needs to be A plan....... A process ..... A procedure ...... The days of trolling the internet or Badweb for the factory phone number Or...... Depending on who you knew are .... Hopefully .... History. | ||
| Pmjolly |
Dean, mine does not have the shock rubbing the sub frame, but of course, I never ride mine. | ||
| 86bgn |
I think we should all stop with the over analysis, and rally behind EBR... They can do it, and I would jump on a 1190 over anything built in Japan or Europe, I am a American, and I think it's sad to see how hard it is for a American company to make it now. | ||
| Mrlogix |
^^ This. Most of us that ride Buells/EBR are an unusual breed anyway. It doesn't have to be perfect, I'll tailor it to my tastes anyway. Just make it a good foundation. Have good part support and factory tech support.  | ||
| Mnscrounger |
86: I don't disagree that over analysis and speculation is all over the web, but that's what happens absent FACTS. It's okay, I trust EBR has learned a lot about business plan missteps from the past two years. If there were no chance of success the money players would have moved on. Get behind them? I don't know if there is a louder cheering section than this forum, but actually buying a bike is the best way to ensure EBRs survival. The problem is I want a sport tourer with real 2 up capability and luggage, but with attitude. I want a riders experience that lasts all day, not just till my back hurts. I want an S3, reincarnated. Down the road a product that stirs my soul like my S3 may be in the offering, and I might be in a better position to afford one. Until then I can just keep cheering and hope the company is soon successful enough to risk a model like that. | ||
| Court |
That's a good point about how hard it is for promising American companies to obtain backing. In the early days of EBR ... I felt sorry for Erik. He had a great plan and would go in to pitch it to folks, a couple time here in NYC, only to basically see them walk away and fun ridiculous crap. The American private equity family has, it almost appears, a disdain for the words "Made in America". I'm thrilled to see the Melvin family, with the knowledge and financial poop to endure starting up, step up. I imagine Erik is moved and spurred on, in his resolve, by their confidence. The Melvin's have given us something to cheer for/about. Key .... At present .... Are folks doing more than hoping someone steps up to the plate. I'm not really, even close as I think about it, the target demographic ... But, at the announced MSRP, I'd almost be game to buy one of those Patriotic models (I'd want a USMC logo on the side) to be a part of jump starting things. EBR can't do the "string'em along with AX teasers". They've got to know their market, listen to it's heartbeat and deliver an experience that would keep us from even considering anything else. I think they can do it. | ||
| Hughlysses |
At the new prices, I'm a lot closer to saying "the heck with it", buying an SX and modifying it to suit me. The accessorized one they showed on the back of the trailer is actually very close to what I'd want. I e-mailed yesterday to ask about my nearest dealer. I'm interested to see what and when I hear back. |
