Buell

[John Luciano]

BUELL motorcycle are gone out of business. What a shame !!!

[hitime]

It is a shame. I bought a used Buell Blast about 6 years ago. Used it to teach my wife to ride. Also used it to teach my son to ride. Between the 2 of them they put several thousand miles on it. Sold it a month ago for the same amount I bought it for. It is, in my opinion, one of the best bikes out there for learning to ride. Nimble, lightweight, enough power to get out of the way, but not enough to get into trouble, affordable, and the plastic is durable when dropped (yes, I do know that from experience). My wife cried when the buyer rode away. It was a great little bike. My question is this: what will HD use to teach beginners now in the rider's edge course? 883's?

[BlueTrinity]

I agree. My daughter has a Blast (pun intended) on hers. She is now looking for a Sporty but will keep the Blast for running around town.

Buell was good as an American performance sport bike for those who refused to buy foreign. Eric Buell succeeded as a limited production, specialty manufacturer, producing just what he sold. (Isn't that an original concept?)

When Harley took it in under the MoCo umbrella, Buell's destiny was sealed. The Company saw this as the way to steal back the foreign riders with the Asian look married to the rumbling Harley V-twin mystique. What they didn't count on was the young rider's obsession with high-speed performance.

Young riders looking for nimble sport bikes found great power, but the bikes were built for oval and flat-track racing and these yuppies wanted to hit the twisties at obscenely high speeds. Buell riders attempting to stay with their friends on the Asian bikes, found that the power would get them to the corner faster, but the Buell just wasn't built for much more than that and could get them into the guardrail or over the bank in a heartbeat.

As usual, prospective buyers voted with their pocketbooks.

Eric Buell and some investors are trying to put together a package that will entice Harley to sell to them rather than just shutting down the brand. The big question is whether his original American performance bike concept will generate enough limited sales to support the debt of buying it back. Sadly, Harley may have grown it just enough to make a scaled back operation financially impossible to sustain.

I could be wrong and hopefully, Buell will be able to pull it all off. I wish him well.

:Flag:

Dave

[John Luciano]

The 883 Sportster is no learning bike, even the custom is way to tall for most height challenged people. 5'6 or less have a hard time touching the ground.

[hitime]

There's always the sportster low. It fits my 5'2" stepsister-in-law. Don't know if they make it in the 883.

[Bubba_Richard]

Interesting point, the blast was separated off of Buell about 1 month to 2 before the announcement of the closure of the Buell segment of Harley. The factory had already unbranded the Blast. Harley was actually looking for a new location for a new factory early this year also. I think it’s all connected and probably the best selling Blast may not be dead yet.

Bubba

[ultraboy]

Yes, buyers (for the company) are lined up already.