| Author | Message | ||
     Cyclone8u |
Although I rarely check into this website any more (building a house is awful time consuming), I thought that I would give you guys some of my thoughts and feelings I've developed over the past few years. I have finally made my last payment on my M2. As I look back at the last 3 years of being a Bueller, I have to say that it has been a wonderful ride. The first year I rode the wheels of it, racking up nearly 13,000 miles in the all too brief Maine riding season. I was able to meet the man behind the nameplate, and even get his autograph on my bike; I mean how many companies (car or bike) can give you that? I am glad I got into Buell when I did, as Buell grows I think Erik will become less and less accessible. The days of having Erik and only seven other Buellers winding through the hair pin on the Kancamagus Highway or running down Rt. 93 in the White Mountains at 120+ are long gone, I think. I certainly feel lucky to have those memories. My worst memories all have to do with the crappie dealer network. I made the mistake of buying this bike from a Harley boutique (Big Moose H-D), and I quickly learned a hard lesson: A good dealer is hard to come by. After a lowside, which left my bike out of commission because of $20 worth of broken parts (clutch lever and shifter) I waited an entire week for them to order the stuff. After a week (eternity) of being without a ride, I went up to pick up my parts and low and behold, it was going to take possibly another week to get them in. Irate, I left and started calling around. I managed to find a dealer who had the parts in stock, it was a 75 mile trip one way, but I would be riding that afternoon. I took the ride to Manchester, and after walking up to the parts counter I was sure I had found the Promised Land! They not only had Buells on the showroom floor; they had nearly every part from Buell’s parts and accessory catalog. They even had some evil (i.e. Non H-D parts) goodies from Banke, Lockhart-Philips, and Redline (oh my god!!! Synthetic oil in a roller bearing engine...the blasphemy!). The parts guy, Dave King was the Buell king at Manchester H-D/Buell. He helped my girlfriend pick out a set of tires one year for my Christmas present and the Buell racing helmet the next year. Unfortunately, their service department did not live up to the level of the parts department. After having a set of tires changed, the moron working on my bike didn’t get the rear wheel aligned, which I noticed, about half-way home because of the smoke rolling from my rear brakes. After performing all my own service for the next couple of years (I brought my rims down off the bike to have tires mounted), I was again at the mercy of their incompetent grease monkeys due to some recall /warrantee work. I had the rear shock replaced with the fully adjustable remote reservoir unit, but a few days later riding 2 up with my girl I noticed a high pitched squeal. Upon further investigation I found that the moron had decided to “do me a favor” and adjust my belt. It was so tight with 2 people on the bike you couldn’t move it at all. So now I pray that nothing else gets recalled, and Dave I understand has gone to Meredith H-D. This is a dealership my brother and I stopped into one summer headed to the races in Loudon. We were dressed head to toe in riding gear and had the sales people making cracks at us like “You guys warm enough? Ha, Ha...Expecting a blizzard? He, he.” I felt like saying F-you and the non sportbike you rode in on, sorry Dave but Meredith has a long way to go before I would consider it a Buell dealer. My father loves them, but even he doesn’t trust their service department after they put a few hundred bucks in his Harley chasing down a noise which he ended up fixing himself (worn rocker bushing). If they can’t fix 100-year-old technology, then they certainly won’t be able to figure out modern sportbike suspension, engines and fuel management systems. But I digress.... The bike itself is in a class of it’s own, but more than that is the other people that own them. Through this website and ATC I have met some really extraordinary people. Ferris Bueller, the consummate story teller. Here’s a man that I have never met; yet he invited me out to Cali a couple of years ago asking nothing more than I bring him some of my home brew. I hope the invitation stands I still make a killer brew:-) Andy Spiegel, again someone I never met in person, gives me his home, work and cell phone number in case I get in a jam on a trip to New Jersey. The depth of knowledge that Buellers have and share with one another is amazing. I can only hope the future is bright for Buell, but the best thing that could ever happen to them would be to get a real dealer network going. The XB looks awesome, definitely the right direction for Buell to be headed in. So tonight I raise my beer in a toast to Buell and it’s followers, long live America’s hooligan bikes and the hooligans that ride them..... | ||
| Peter |
Cheers John  PPiA | ||
| Rocketman |
Yes John, come Friday I'll drink a pint of Theakstons Old Peculiar and toast you too HOOLIGAN I am  Rocket in England | ||
| FB |
Cyclone8u, i readily admit i'm getting softer as the years go by (could be my feminine side has been taking steroids...), but couldn't help getting a little misty-eyed reading your most excellent post. Buell Motor Co., i truly believe, is on the right track with the new Firebolt. time will tell, of course, but you can tell an awful lot just by looking at it. i agree, BMC's dealer network, in many (perhaps most) cases couldn't give a rip about selling or servicing Buells. not sure what the answer is, and as long as H-D controls all, it may be our little cross to bear. there ARE good dealers out there (Doyle's, Modesto, Bumpus, House of Harley, Santa Cruz come immediately to mind, and there are plenty more), however, and providing the F'Bolt is as good of platform as we all hope it is, things in this regard can only keep getting better. congrats on finally owning the title to your Cyclone, and congrats too on the new house! the offer still stands: you ever make it out here, i'll make you glad you did (hic!)  thank you, Hooligan Ferris | ||
| Henrik |
Amen John. Your story is much too common - you Buellers, not dealers makes Buell ownership worthwhile. Henrik | ||
| Blake |
Great post John! Thanks for that. | ||
| Court |
Amen. My Buell experience has ALWAYS been great. But.....I was the victim of a COMMITTED dealership from 1988 up to the present. It makes ALL the difference in the world. Court | ||
| Blake |
Same here, except from 1998. | ||
| FB |
Cyclone8u, i'm driving down the road today, thinking about your post, and i started to laugh out loud! (in a second, you'll know why :-) i'm now gonna show y'all what a grand and generous Hooligan i truly am: to ANYONE who wants to come all the way out to California with your own home-brewed beer in hand (heck, it could even be store-bought providing it's thick, dark and chewy ;-), i welcome you with open arms!!! :-) geez, what a great guy am i  ride to make friends who make their own beer, Ferris |
