| Author | Message | ||
     Buelliedan |
Chris Rivas is a great guy that we race with at Bonneville so I hope they really do buy a bike from him!! (Message edited by buelliedan on April 14, 2016) | ||
| Buellerxt |
Your suggestions, Dan, and those that Rsh proposed, are good but I doubt they will be listened to, based on the way EBR handled marketing and dealer support the first time and seem to be doing this time. I just don't get it. Look at the note to the California guy that Hugh posted! Poor grammar and from the Sales Manager-Liquid Asset Partners! Why not Sales Manager-EBR? I wouldn't buy a bike, at retail, from a manufacturer that is a liquidator and I doubt there are many that would. They completely miss the big stuff and don't seem sensitive to the importance of the small stuff either. As much as I'd like to see success here, I believe we'll be seeing another shutdown, probably this year, unless they wake up. | ||
| Sprintst |
Well I'll go back and re-iterate - my single biggest concern is long term viability. Long term viability of EBR, and my ability to get parts to support my purchase. Maybe I'm one of the few concerned with this, but I find that hard to imagine I'm not sure what they could do to address that. Warranty, lack of dealers, etc... I can deal with. I don't have that with my 1125R now, and I'm fine (Message edited by sprintst on April 14, 2016) | ||
| Theshinenz |
Hmmmm, yeah Im on the verge of considering buying an SX, but here in Australia support is even worse... I emailed the Australian importer a couple of weeks ago asking about parts and have no replies... I am a buell fan at heart but lack of support is making me have second thoughts... I'm still not convinced that EBR will stay in business long enough to meet parts supply demands.... hell Id buy them from the US direct if need be but am yet to see any reason to have trust in the Brand. I keep thinking, if Im having doubts and am a big Buell fan, just imagine how the general public view the brand... | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
"I keep thinking, if Im having doubts and am a big Buell fan, just imagine how the general public view the brand..." you said it brother. We are enthusiasts, owners of the brand (or at least its former version) and we see that this looks bad. Maybe we're wrong though, maybe it'll all turn around. | ||
| Harrisonwithers |
It's pretty steep curve for people to get there, and very related to price. Everyone has a price level where they can get over there concerns. As good as the new pricing is compared to motorcycles of the same class, people are going to take a wait and see approach. Myself, I've owned a bunch of vintage bikes that parts are hard to get for, I figure and can deal regardless. | ||
| Johndd |
New pics showing rx's coming off production line: https://m.facebook.com/ErikBuellRacing | ||
| Johndd |
Two new positions listed on the EBR home page: Development Sourcing Engineer Electrical Systems Engineer The Mechanical Engineer one listed earlier is now gone (filled?). Hiring new people is a positive sign. | ||
| Buelliedan |
On another posts it was said there are at least 3 dealers in place now so some good things appear to be happening.  (Message edited by buelliedan on April 15, 2016) | ||
| D_adams |
Both of those positions have been listed since January anyway, if not even earlier. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Here's an excerpt from the Facebook update linked above that may be of interest:
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| Ebrfan |
All this speculation and conjecture; wtf. LAP paid pennies on the dollar for all of EBR. LAP is making that initial return on investment back rather quickly, and therefore can afford to bring the brand back at the public's pace. By the public's pace I mean the pace people are willing to BUY the current inventory. Production and sales are slowly ramping back up, as is seen by the amount of new/old bike sales since LAP acquired EBR at auction. Once a profitable business model has been worked out by the new management then new models will no doubt be released. Until then get out here and help this American brand survive by purchasing a new bike, buy some parts, or at the very least advertise it around the net that EBR is alive and well. I'll be at Gratten Raceway this weekend showing off my customized SX, and buying parts for it, what will you be doing to help pay it forward on EBR and LAP's behalf? | ||
| Theshinenz |
Love to see some pics of a customized SX Ebrfan... If I pull the trigger ill be doing q few mods to mine... biggest would be whether the headlight can be changed... we'll see. | ||
| Sprintst |
If Rotax stepped up and committed to long term support, that would help | ||
| Snacktoast |
If Rotax stepped up and committed to long term support, that would help In what way? Rotax has zero to do with the current production EBR powertrain. The RX & SX do not use a Rotax sourced or assembled engine, or any Rotax parts. | ||
| Court |
I was wondering where Rotax came from ... I could never recall a time when there was so much miss information floating around. | ||
| Davegess |
While Rotax was very involved in the original 1125 design and many of their vendors make parts for the current 1190 engine neither Rotator the parent company BRP have anything do with EBR. Would BRP be a good company to buy BRP? Maybe. Lots of minus to a deal like that and I doubt it will happen. | ||
| Sprintst |
I assumed EBR was still sourcing major engine components from Rotax, and had taken over assembly operations. I'm surprised Rotax gave up (sold) control of the whole thing and let EBR go direct to it's vendors for parts like the engine housing castings | ||
| Stevel |
There is a misunderstanding here. HD contracted Rotax to design and develop the Helicon engine. HD, now the sole owner of the design, contracted Rotax to manufacture the Helicon 1125 along with others. Then HD granted the rights to manufacture the engine to EBR. I have no idea what that arrangement was or is between HD and EBR, but Rotax was never the owner of the rights to the engine, as HD paid for its development. I believe this Rotax contract was very similar to the contract between HD and Porsche for other HD engine development efforts. | ||
| Court |
Steve: I don't think that's accurate. In fact, I think Harley-Davidson was one of the bidders on the development of the Helicon motor and Buell went with Rotax over Harley-Davidson. There were a team of Buell engineers who spent a great deal of time (we're talking over a year) in Austria working with a team from Rotax. There was enough "Buell born" proprietary design in the motor that there was a moratorium, a period of time in which Rotax could not transfer that technology to other motors or companies. We'l have to chronicle all the details one day . . .and I'm not 100% certain (I wasn't personally involved and most my information comes from several friends who were in Austria for development) of these facts but they are close. In addition, someday I am going to deal with some of the massive misunderstanding about the Porsche connection. I'd suggest there is as much Buell born design in some Porsche products as there is Porsche in HD. Buell did engineering for Porsche, years ago, just like they did for HERO more recently. | ||
| Ratbuell |
...and then HD put it on a chrome diet, resulting in a VRSC motor/transmission that weighed as much by itself, as an entire XB (dry) weighed... At least, that was my understanding. | ||
| Blackm2 |
Some people must get their information from Assfault and Rubher. | ||
| Davegess |
Court has that right. Also when HD shut down Buell they were committed to buying a substantial number of 1125 motors from Rotax or they had to pay then a major chunk of cash. Of course they had no use for the motor. Erik did however. Rotate worked out a deal where they "forgave" that money and got back most of the rights to the engine and since they were not interested in the low volume of EBR they let us source all the parts from the vendors as long as we worked to eliminate any mention of ROTAX on the parts. Some off these where on the internal surfaces of engine parts that you would only see when taking the mill apart. All those had to go to. | ||
| Stevel |
Court, Interesting perspective. I think that the design and ownership of the rights to this engine should be chronicled for historical reasons if nothing else. I don't think we have heard the last of this motor regardless of what happens to EBR. Davegess, Thanks for the info. So, do you know who today owns the right to this motor, as well as parts sources? | ||
| Mackja |
I remember reading an interview with Erik, and he stated that Rotax only made three engine parts for the Helicon engine, the rest are sourced else were. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I got a call from LAP this afternoon. It'll be a few weeks before they have a dealer near me, but they are offering free shipping from the dealer near the factory. That's a pretty cool deal. Tempting... | ||
| Ebrfan |
Hughlysses, I was thinking that with the saving in money you would have invested in this fine piece of machinery you could modify it to be an AX, with bags, a windscreen, and the like, for less than half of what you would pay if the infamous AX is ever to be produced. | ||
| Ebrfan |
Pay it forward... Pull the trigger on the purchase already and get out and ride that thing. | ||
| Dave |
Hugh, I'm 37 miles from East Troy just south of the Cheese Curtain. Some good events at Road America in June and July. Fly n Ride - get 1st service at 600 miles. DAve | ||
| Blake |
Steve, EBR/LAP own the engine. |
