Erik Buell is back

JO EBRMC said:
The 1190 is going to be hand-assembled in very small quantities and the price tag is going to eliminate any potential buyer who isn't wealthy - the same people who haven't been hit by the recession and are buying bikes like the VYRUS and Bimota DB7
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Except the average wealthy guy who's attracted to an exotic like a VYRUS or a Bimota isn't likely to be interested in a Buell, regardless of whether its hand made or not. My guess though is that EBR will sell all 11 of them they make.
 
louemc said:
What makes it a SV650?

As far as that goes...(this is a question for anyone) What Makes it American?
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From what I gather, as far as components goes, the engine. In which case your typical new Buell is Austrian lol. Imagine that.

What makes it American? Because the company is owned by an Amercian dude?
 
Karbon said:
From what I gather, as far as components goes, the engine. In which case your typical new Buell is Austrian lol. Imagine that.

What makes it American? Because the company is owned by an Amercian dude?
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Uhh, SV650..Fisher? That wasn't a Buell question.

I only get snippets of Fisher...but the last ones I did get, was..the Engine came from Housong (or however that Chinese name is spelled) and nothing on that bike is made in America..so...the question is...what makes this an American bike?
 
louemc said:
Uhh, SV650..Fisher? That wasn't a Buell question.

I only get snippets of Fisher...but the last ones I did get, was..the Engine came from Housong (or however that Chinese name is spelled) and nothing on that bike is made in America..so...the question is...what makes this an American bike?
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louemc said:
Uhh, SV650..Fisher? That wasn't a Buell question.

I only get snippets of Fisher...but the last ones I did get, was..the Engine came fro Housong (or however that Chinese name is spelled) and nothing on that bike is made in America..so...the question is...what makes this an American bike?
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As far as what makes a bike 'Merican, I've posed questions.

according to Gabe the hyosung/suzuki engine origins are a tiny bit of a mystery.

http://www.motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/hyosung-gt650-vs-suzuki-sv650-14284.html

Their components are used in many other major brands, and they build motorcycles for one or more Japanese manufacturers that are exported worldwide. Is it the SV? Hyosung and Suzuki won't say.
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LOL
xgambit said:
but have you SEEN his birth certificate?
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bigpoppa said:
So...do you have a problem with Harley-Davidsons, Hondas, and Suzukis?

Just curious. :p
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Nope because they are last names only. I would have a problem riding a Yokohama Suzuki or a Jim Davidson. :twofinger I wouldn't have had a problem with a Buell. But an Erik Buell sounds more like the designer shoes my girlfriend wants to wear than a bike I want to ride.

Karbon said:
AHHH.

Not this shit again...

I mean seriously, a lot of people would like to see Buell as the The American sportbike company. Myself included, because you know...America, Fuck yeah!

But alternately, I wish that company would get their shit together, because rooting for the underdog sure gets old. At one point one might just opt out and call the company for what it is...a mass market failure.
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I would agree. It would be awesome to have an American sportbike company. Unfortunately EB will never be it at this point. His name has been dragged through the mud entirely too much IMHO

Ray said:
Hmm... An American sportbike with Italian brakes and an Italian chain, Swedish suspension, a Japanese carb and Japanese tires. Wait, what the hell part of this bike is American exactly??? :rofl
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You forgot the German Rotax engine :x EDIT:Oopps, Austrian... and Karbon had beat me to it anyway
 
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Archimedes said:
Except the average wealthy guy who's attracted to an exotic like a VYRUS or a Bimota isn't likely to be interested in a Buell, regardless of whether its hand made or not. My guess though is that EBR will sell all 11 of them they make.
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I'm not sure. When you get into that market, it is about being unique. The 1190 may not seem so unique to many but in Europe, the brand has a different standing.

Here in the States, the support for Buell is pretty strong and will almost certainly attract buyers.

Beyond that though, building to order without the need to hold inventory puts them in a position where any sales are profit. The development work is done by the race team and they already have a pretty good starting platform to work from.
 
EBR has a pretty passionate core of supporters, if they do a small production run and sell via the internet they'll do fine. I don't think they need a dealer network... the kind of people who'll buy this bike don't go to a dealer for an oil change.

I look forward to seeing them at Infineon in a couple months.
 
Ozymandias said:
Nope because they are last names only. I would have a problem riding a Yokohama Suzuki or a Jim Davidson. :twofinger I wouldn't have had a problem with a Buell. But an Erik Buell sounds more like the designer shoes my girlfriend wants to wear than a bike I want to ride.
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Nice recovery! ;)
 
Ray said:
Hmm... An American sportbike with Italian brakes and an Italian chain, Swedish suspension, a Japanese carb and Japanese tires. Wait, what the hell part of this bike is American exactly??? :rofl
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Damn. A dogpile when I'm already on my third beer. Okay, I'll give it a shot:

You're telling me that Buell is going to be casting his own carbs and calipers? Let me know when. I want to watch. :laughing

Well, at least according to Fischer:
• All- American Made Aluminum die-cast chassis components
• Injection molded parts including the multi-function central cold ram air intake ducts (assembled in the USA)
• Roto-molded (in the USA) fuel cells (R version has optional see-through fuel cell).
• Available hand -laid carbon fiber and fiberglass body components.
(Developed and fitted in the USA by former USA aerospace industry senior engineers)
• V-cast multi-function subframes (Designed and manufactured in the USA).
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So... more than Harley and maybe more, maybe less than the Buellx2. We'll know when we see it, eh?

And I do apologize on the motor. I was thinking it was an SV, not a HungSong. Hopefully a TL1000 motor will drop right in. :teeth
 
bigpoppa said:
Nice recovery! ;)
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Seriously. Would you want to drive a Henry Ford? I mean excluding the fact that it's a Fix Or Repair Daily already. :x Using a last name is one thing. Using a last name and selling it out is another and then coming BACK and using your FULL name?! It sounds more like fashion than anything else. :dunno

But that aside, I really didn't care for several things with Buell designs but I almost bought an 1125r. I got to test ride one at the Buell track day back in 2008, I think. It was fun and had plenty of things going for it as a good starter but there were things that REALLY needed to be fixed. I completely changed my mind when they were racing the 600s and couldn't win every single race when they had almost double the displacement.

I'm not going to even talk about the XB12R that I test road and spent most of the time looking down at the front wheel from directly above. :laughing
 
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He won't have the Harley marketing machine behind him this time. It's nice when your sugar daddy can throw a wad of money at an organization to get your 1125cc included in a 600cc class. At least with BSB, Harley had the common sense do a partner series with the XR1200.
 
What I don't understand is why is he allowed to compete? These aren't street bikes. These are hand built race bikes. Do the homologation rules not apply to him? Does that mean Graves or Yoshimura can start creating proper superbikes?
 
squidworth said:
What I don't understand is why is he allowed to compete? These aren't street bikes. These are hand built race bikes. Do the homologation rules not apply to him? Does that mean Graves or Yoshimura can start creating proper superbikes?
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He's still using the parts homologated in 2009 and 2010
 
/dev/null said:
He won't have the Harley marketing machine behind him this time. It's nice when your sugar daddy can throw a wad of money at an organization to get your 1125cc included in a 600cc class. At least with BSB, Harley had the common sense do a partner series with the XR1200.
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I think Buell would argue the value they derived from H-D.

And the DMG decision regarding classes had nothing to do with H-D throwing money or even influence at them. No more than it did Aprilia throwing money at them to allow the RSV. H-D wanted and got an XR1200 class and by the time the classes were being drawn up, H-D no longer wanted Buell.
 
re: company name

to be fair he WAS using only his last name until he sold it. :laughing

it's fair to assume that he would STILL be using only his last name if it weren't illegal.

kinda hard to shit on him for a business decision forced upon him by circumstances.....
 
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