Buell shuts its doors.

Post by **Mick** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 11:27 am

Sad news.
HD is pulling the plug on Buell. http://www.buell.com/en_us/

I have nan 09 XB12Scg and really love it. I guess I should moth ball it now, could become a classic. photo 1 - photo 2

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:06 pm

Holy crap.I was not expecting that. I knew something was up when Buell announced the 2010 Blast motorcycle as this:

http://www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/blast/features.asp

I never realized how much Eric Buell looks like Kramer from Seinfeld.

You could really tell this announcement ripped Eric Buell. Too bad more riders did not see sport bikes through his eyes.He was truly an innovator. Such a loss. I am sure the powers at HD had a HUGE hand in this. I hope he has the drive to start his own independant company again,Harley be damned.

Beautiful bike,Mick. I have been seriously thinking about an 1125R in black. Looks like it may be time to buy one.

DanDarcy · Post by **DanDarcy** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:47 pm

Sorry Mick about your bike's company going out of business. Harley says they will support you with parts and warranty . Harley has been in trouble for a while. Their financial arm is killing them. Harley finance would finance just about anybody with a pulse and at amounts well above the retail price of the product. Now they are bleeding money, and have taken millions of dollars in government bailout funds. Harley is also disposing of MV Agusta, which they just bought last year and had owned back inthe 60s and 70s. They have shuttered several plant and laid off several thousand workers. Harley is not the only company doing this . Honda has ceased motorcycle production in the USA, they had made bike in the USA since the 70s. Many Hondas had more American content than Harleys and were therefor more American

. Eric Buell had sold most of his company to Harley many years ago, I would not be surprised to see him repeat what he did before with Buell and start building more bikes with his advanced engineering. The new Buell 1125 does not have a Harley motor but a Rotax motor made by BRP (Ski Doo) in Austria. This has similar architecture to the V twin in the Bombardier Spyder Trike. You might see Eric join up with BRP.
As far as your bike being a collector item, remember what was popular when new is always popular in the future as a collector item , example 57 Chevys were popular when new, now are popular as collectibles. Edsels were never popular and aren't now either even though they are very rare. Your Buell is fun to drive and you enjoy it but they are not very popular, so drive it, enjoy it and don't worry about the future value

eastcoastbumps · Post by **eastcoastbumps** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:09 pm

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:33 am

That's gonna hurt....

DanB · Post by **DanB** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:51 pm

Erik Buell and some other Harley guys visited us at Vectrix the week before we went out o' business. There was some hope that they might want to do a joint venture with us or maybe buy us out. But I guess they weren't in much better shape than we were!

It seemed to me that the smartest thing Harley could've done would be to buy Vectrix and make an electric motorcycle (which I had been trying to encourage development of) with us, and make it a Buell (known for eclectic and off-the-beaten-path technical solutions). By cutting off Buell, IMO they're cutting out their future. Oldsters are only going to be buying up Harley nostalgia for so long, and obviously in an economic downturn a purely luxury "fashion accessory" motorcycle is not going to do all that well, whereas small practical functional bikes like Ninja 250's have done OK this past year. Buell was the avenue for them to get back to making real, technically innovative, practical, form-follows-function MOTORCYCLES, instead of continuing to milk the Harley cache. What they gon' do now?

Anyway, since Vectrix shut it's doors, I built this electric motorcycle out of a track SV650 with a blown motor. I pretty much spent the Summer tooling in and around Providence on this and on my Vectrix scooter. Less than 2 cents per mile to operate

Actually, free for me...

Links to crappy low-res videos:

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:58 pm

Very ugly...but I do like the concept.

How far between charge ups? How fast will it go? brammo,the people who used to make the Atom, have a bike out called the Enertia,but it is quite expensive and only goes about 60 miles between charges.

rajito · Post by **rajito** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:07 pm

Now's a good time to buy one, if you can find one:

Raj

DanB · Post by **DanB** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:18 pm

breakaway500 wrote:Very ugly...but I do like the concept.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder! Actually, the hollowed-out tank shell from the SV will fit over the upper batteries no problem, and I have the race fairings which could certainly be cut to fit. Which may or may not improve on the form-follows-function look...

How far between charge ups? How fast will it go?

A healthy scooter will go as far as 55miles or more, if you go slow enough. For my commuting usage between Pawtucket and New Bedford (average speed ~40mph on backroads) I would get 42-45 miles. Top speed of my scooter, with the speed limiter bumped up a bit, is 73mph (most scooters are limited at 62mph, some of the later ones at 68mph). The motorcycle, having a rejected battery pack, motor, etc, and a worn chain/sprockets, consumes more energy and doesn't go as far, but in the lower gears acceleration is quite good

Top gear is slightly taller-geared than the scooter is.

brammo,the people who used to make the Atom, have a bike out called the Enertia,but it is quite expensive and only goes about 60 miles between charges.

I'm familiar with the Brammo Enertia. Cool bike, BUT, it costs more than the Vectrix scooter did, doesn't go as far, doesn't go as fast, doesn't have passenger seating, doesn't have cargo storage, and the styling (subjective of course) I don't see appealing to either scooter riders or motorcycle riders or new riders. Hopefully they have a follow-on model based on their TTXGP bike... Anyway, I hope they make it!

Post by **Mick** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:34 pm

rajito wrote:Now's a good time to buy one, if you can find one:

Raj

That is what pisses me off most. I paid close to $10k for my bike 5 months ago

They're now off loading them for 1/2 that

Dan, any trouble getting that beast registered and insured?

DanB · Post by **DanB** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:46 pm

No problem, it's registered and insured! Actually, I had to call Progressive while I was in line at the registry to get proof of insurance faxed over (was shocked that the registry actually had a fax machine for just such a purpose). I asked Progressive what the ramifications would be for a conversion to electric, and they said that was fine as long as the registry didn't have a problem with it being registered as an electric vehicle. So at the registry I entered the Suzuki's VIN, but checked the box for "Electric" and filled in the displacement as 0cc. They didn't give me any hassles, and the insurance company also knows it's and electric conversion, so I'm totally legit

brucesallen · Post by **brucesallen** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:13 pm

Dan,
I love it! Is it lead/acid car batteries? When will you convert the 240Z?

DanB · Post by **DanB** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:18 pm

brucesallen wrote:Dan,
I love it! Is it lead/acid car batteries? When will you convert the 240Z?

NiMH batteries, but I'm trying to get lithium for it (which would bring the weight back down to not much more than a normal SV).

I think I'll stick with fossil fuels in the Z

There is an electric Datsun 1200 out there, the White Zombie. It's fast! Mid-11's at ~115 IIRC...

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:02 pm

It will be some time before we see viable electric street cars,even longer till they show up on a road track. The battery technology really is not there..yet.Yes,there are some running around..but not any where close to gas powered performance levels in range,power and most important..cost. I once saw an electric bike at the drags...about 20 years ago.Looked like most any other drag bike..long and purposeful..big fat slick on back..but I did not recognize an engine,or carbs..or exhaust. He got up to the line..not a sound. The light drops..and all you heard was the tire scream. The guy ran a 9 second pass at 135mph. I was amazed.Went down to the pits afterwards and had a look.. lots of big batteries..It worked well,but lacked that explosiveness that most expect when they come to the drag strip.. Electric vehicles have been around from the beginning of the automobile,yet they are still not ..ready. Even if they do perfect some way to store electric energy in quantity,without the weight...I will still prefer mine to run on the solar derived black gold...

Just something about an internal combustion engine that electrics will never have..

MiataSteve · Post by **MiataSteve** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:41 am

Mick wrote:
rajito wrote:Now's a good time to buy one, if you can find one:

Raj
That is what pisses me off most. I paid close to $10k for my bike 5 months ago They're now off loading them for 1/2 that

I feel your pain....too some extent. I paid near sticker for a 07 25th Anniversary Edition Honda VFR800. Now Honda is trying to unload them for $2660 of sticker. I guess they are all hurting.

http://powersports.honda.com/total-price-massacre.aspx

COM Sports Car Club

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