If Buell did not make economic sense for Harley Davidson, it's hard to believe it will make economic sense for another group.

• Wed, 10/21/2009 - 01:10
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I used to play tennis with the controller of Buell in the late 90's when I lived in the lovely city of Milwaukee. In those days Eric Buell owned 1% of the company and Harley Davidson owned 99%. I think Buell is just the beginning. Harley is an old mans bike and young people don't really aspire to become as pathetic as their Harley raiding uncle with the leather west, beer belly and phony pony tail. 

• Wed, 10/21/2009 - 14:02
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Who is going to service Buells? It was bad to go into the HD dealerships with your Buell and listen to the mechanics grumbling about working on my bike and have them always say, "that ain't a Harley." The strong Buell headed V-twin was fun, but it was also a bit of a pig on the track. I sold mine and kept the V-twin fun with a Suzuki SV-650, (which is much more "flickable.") Easy to service, too.  

• Wed, 10/21/2009 - 19:11
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Speaking as a satisfied (though also critical) Buell owner, I really do hope the company survives. In terms of rider involvement (in the Winding Road sense), Buell bikes rank near the top of the charts, as far as I'm concerned. 

I think Harley made (at least) three strategic blunders that led to this mess:

1. Insisting on selling Buells at Harley dealerships (what an impossible culture clash!).

2. Inadequate "adult supervision" of Buell in the all-important areas of styling, fit, and finish (say what you will about them, but the Italian brands almost all manage to get this stuff right).

3. Inadequate "adult supervision" of Buell in terms of addressing small but important QC issues. Examples: the horrendous fuel injection map problems suffered by early 1125R's and ongoing recall problems. 

Buell is not innocent in all this. While they made huge strides since the advent of the XB models and were on the right track with the Helicon-engined models, they still suffered from significant problems they were never fully able to address.

1. A somewhat misguided attitude: "Hey, man, we're so iconoclastic that, like, we just can't be bothered to make our cool ideas actually work." Examples: Mass centralized mufflers (good idea) that look like something that fell off an army surplus truck from WWII (bad execution). Supposedly super tough plastic body panels (good idea) that in fact get scratched if you look at 'em funny and are impossible to buff out (bad execution). Inside-out ZTL brakes (potentially good idea) that in fact don't stop as hard or offer as much "feel" as garden variety Brembos (OK execution, but not really an improvement over the status quo).

2. Failure to embrace the high quality standards and overall commitment to excellence that might have made Buell a true premium brand--a maker of motorcycles to dream about and to covet. Don't get me wrong: Buells are fun to ride, generally well-designed, sturdy and easy to maintain, but it's the little glitches, flaws, and missed opportunities for greatness, that prove disappointing over time.   

• Fri, 10/23/2009 - 12:04
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• Sat, 11/21/2009 - 08:04
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