Whilst I've never been a fan of Harley-Davidson, I've always had a sneaking respect for Erik Buell and his innovative approach to designing and building motorcycles.
In many ways, he almost managed to make a 'silk purse out of a sows ear' and I think it's a great shame that he is being closed down.
I for one will certainly mourn the demise of Buell.

http://www.buell.com/en_us/

Peter

That is sad. Erik's choice of motor for the type of bike he was creating was always questionable to me, but he did manage to make high-performance bikes using engines that were way too heavy, poorly balanced, and low in HP-to-weight ratio. H-D learned more about how to improve their motors from Buell than they ever did from their own high-priced R&D.

Their current bikes are solid performers, and quite reliable now. They weren't always that way though. That reworked Sportster motor had such bad inherent balance that it broke motor mounts on a regular basis and was cause for a big recall. That recall didn't get to a friend of mine in time. We were riding up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont a couple years back, he was on his S3. Just over the top of Jay Peak, his motor mount snapped, at speed. He was one of the lucky ones and got it stopped without getting spit off the high side, but his riding weekend was toast.

Erik Buell developed unique designs, some of which do make for a great bike. The oil-in-swingarm and fuel-in-frame design of the family of bikes that started with the XB9 was ground-breaking. The single-rotor perimeter brake is still controversial, but it works in street applications quite well. (A friend of mine raced factory XB9's that had been converted to conventional brakes though.)

I imagine we haven't heard the last of Erik Buell, just the last of Buell being connected with H-D.

I do hope we haven't heard the last of them.

our two silk pigs.

http://www.sergisonmachine.net/images/autobahn.jpg
http://www.sergisonmachine.net/images/bike.jpg

the line of Xb bikes is really the only nice (not cheapo beginner) bike that fits my wifes size.

do you remember Calvin an Hobbes?
http://www.sergisonmachine.net/image...in-cleaner.jpg
http://www.sergisonmachine.net/image...-cleaner-2.jpg

the last calvin comic adorns my aircleaner. seems appropriate now.

Rod Tingate built an aluminum spar frame with fuel in the spars for an 851 Ducati racer in the mid 1980s and the perimeter front brake also predates Buell's use by a decade or two. Buell is a clever designer and deserves full marks for bringing those ideas to production, but they aren't "unique".

H-D may be making a sensible short-term move for a down economy but I'm not sure how wise it will be for the long term.

cheers,
Michael

Eric would be better off on his own in my opinion, he is a brilliant man, ever since he went with the Rotax motor he probably just pissed off Harley anyway.

Eric made a risky deal to get HD backing, something he really needed.
Where else would he get that kind of chance.
HD's have always been a torque machine. 35 years ago my Superglide weighed 500 lbs, low center of gravity, below the axels, and more torque than the Z-1 Kaw.
It was my first new vehicle,$3149 out the door.
I will miss the Beull, Gran Prix Bulldozers are a lot of fun.

Unfortunately "performance H/D" is really an oxymoron of the highest order.

Buell was trying to keep a foot in both camps, the tractor crowd and the sport
bike crowd. While he very nearly did a perfect job of threading the midpoint of
that contiuum, it's not a viable place to run a business from.

H/D realizes that they make most of their money from boutique crap, and there
is a small loyal following who will buy the bikes for long-haul touring. Sport bike
folks were typically amused by buells.

The performance per dollar simply is not there. You can go faster for less buying
something else. The folks who have the money to buy a harley, buy a harley, they
don't care about performance.

I'm honestly suprised the marque lasted as long as it has.

Jim

I've been a Harley booster and fan for many years now. I still own one. Although I'll be sorry to see Buell go, I'm not the least surprised that Harley made this decision. From the very beginning, the dealers didn't like the Buell and really didn't push them and certainly failed to understand them.

Many dealers who started selling Buells alongside of the regular line found that the traditional Harley customer wasn't in tune with a sport bike. Therefore, sales were not very good at most any point. As a result, some of the dealers opted out of selling them.

While there was some great engineering in the line, the performance simply wasn't there to compete in the sport bike market which these days requires something like 140 rear wheel horsepower. While they did go to the later Rotax engine, the first years with the Sportster based design weren't very appetizing to the typical Harley rider.

All of this sentiment was often reflected in the need to discount them heavily to get them out the door and later in poor resale values.

I hope that HD c an keep going long enough so that perhaps they could bring the marque back to life. They claim that they will continue to supply parts. We shall see.

I've ridden a variety of Buells and they're were all good performing machines.

I'm hoping that at some point in the near future, Erik Buell writes a tell-all book about his life, engineering ideas, and involvement with HD.

IMHO, it's very short-sighted of HD, and yet, I won't be surprised to find that they valued Buell's intellectual property enough that in 3 years, a bunch of new HDs show up with his ideas and maybe a Rotax motor.

Sport bike folks were typically amused by Buells? Probably not the folks that raced against the Buells in this years A M A Sport Bike Championship. After all they did win it this year.....

HD is run by MBAs and attorneys, and one artist, no bike people in the whole boardroom. Their products and their decisions make more sense when you take that into consideration. Erik is a bike guy first, that's why his bikes were so exceptional. Befuddles me why they bought MV Agusta and are now dumping it.

[QUOTE=Racer Al

I'm hoping that at some point in the near future, Erik Buell writes a tell-all book about his life, engineering ideas, and involvement with HD.
[/QUOTE]


25 Years of Buell, By Court Cainfield & Dave Guess

Released last winter, Whitehorse Press.

Very good read.

Yeah, amused.

Sport biker racers and sport bike riders are two different
animals. The bikes that win races are vastly different
from the bikes sold on showroom floors.

Companies do NOT make money on racing. They make money
by selling motorcycles. If buell sold bikes at a
level competitive with honda, suzuki, kawasaki, he would
still be selling them.

Yep amused. Curious. About the same effect when I show
up at locations where riders congregate driving a vintage
bike. "You ride *that* thing?"

Jim

So what sort of vintage bike do you ride? No one says that to me when I show up riding mine.

That's cos they where running an 1150 against 600's, and the rules where set up so they could not lose.

So whats the problem???

Erik Buell is a man down...for now. The world has not heard the last from him. You know when you get fired or laid off from a long term employer... you're bitter and angry for awhile. Then later, after you have risen from the ashes you realize its the best thing that happened to you...

I would hope Erik will split from HD soon and find his true calling...

I remember when Erik built the RW750 F1 bike, ridden by Alan Lane, tuned by Ken Winepinsinger, & sponsored by the Intl Assoc of Machinist & Aerospace Workers in the last year of AMA F1. I saw it at Summit Pt & Pocono several times. When it ran well it was fast! Then AMA killed F1 that year, but he recovered and went on from there...

I really hope his story picks up an continues. He's the underdog kinda guy we like to root for...

"So what sort of vintage bike do you ride?"





The 1959 earls fork bike behind the gold bike there, seems to draw the most
attention/curiosity.

(I apologize for the apparent lack of color rendition in the photos. There seems
to be some sort of blond-to-white shift occurring between the photos. Stand
by while I attempt to adjust the spectrum....)

Jim

neither I nor my wife need 140 rwhp. I certianly don't want to commute on a replica-race-rocket.

-now I AM Jealous of those high power bikes that can use the throttle as a front wheel elevator control. -But really, we've been very happy with our bikes. They handle very well, have good seating positions, and have been extremely reliable. They also inspire pride and camaraderie.

what more do you want? (I mean besides more power)

dsergison,
I have a '00 X1 and a '01 S3T.

In your first pic the X1 Race Stripe what is the build number if you don't mind me asking?