Buell gone....

Sounds like EB is back in business, sorta......

http://walworthcountytoday.com/weblogs/county-life/2009/nov/22/sound-buell-we-hear/

EAST TROY -- Perhaps it's not the end of the road for East Troy's Buell motorcycle company after all.

On Friday, Harley-Davidson announced that Erik Buell has left the compnay to establish an independent motorcycle race shop.

The fate of the Buell name was one of the big questions left unanswered after parent company Harley-Davidson pulled the plug on the sport bike maker the same day it announced a meager third-quarter earnings report in early October.

“I’m looking forward to helping Buell racers keep their bikes flying,” said Erik Buell. “We’ve got some exciting race development projects in the works and it will mean a lot to me personally to see Buell racers competing for wins and championships in the 2010 season and beyond.”

Apparently the new division will still receive support from Harley-Davidson.

For years, Buell has been a big sponsor on the sport-bike racing circuit, and apparently H-D brass sees enough marketing potential to keep the program afloat.

The group also will build a racing bike in East Troy based on the Buell 1125R machine, as well as producing race-only parts.

(video of the Buell 1125R is HERE.)

Last month, the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance formed a team of officials from the village of East Troy, Walworth County Board and East Troy Chamber of Commerce to see if there was a way to keep Buell alive in East Troy.

It's unknown at this point if the team of local officials had any influence in this latest development.

We'll look at that this week, as well as trying to learn more about the impact of Buell racing division on the East Troy workforce.

Harley-Davidson announced that operations would cease Oct. 30, and about 80 hourly positions and 100 salaried positions would end early December, she added.

The announcement came after news that Harley-Davidson’s third-quarter profits slid 84 percent because of fewer motorcycle shipments. The company also reported recession-related difficulties in getting

Sure, it will be a severely downsized operation, but even though they will be down, for now, Buell isn't yet out.

Here's the press release from Friday:

Erik Buell establishes Erik Buell Racing New Venture Will Build Buell 1125R-based Racing Motorcycles and Supply Parts

MILWAUKEE (November 20, 2009) - Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) announced today that following the company's recent decision to discontinue the Buell motorcycle product line, Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company, will leave the company to establish Erik Buell Racing, an independent motorcycle race shop.

Erik Buell Racing will specialize in the supply of race-use-only Buell motorcycle parts and race preparation services for engines and motorcycles, and the building and sale of Buell® 1125R-based race-use-only motorcycles under license from Harley-Davidson, as well as providing technical support to racers of Buell motorcycles.

"I'm looking forward to helping Buell racers keep their bikes flying," said Erik Buell. "We've got some exciting race development projects in the works and it will mean a lot to me personally to see Buell racers competing for wins and championships in the 2010 season and beyond."

"I'm pleased that Harley-Davidson is assisting Erik in establishing this business to continue supporting the racing efforts he has had so much passion for over the years," said Buell President and COO Jon Flickinger. "Harley-Davidson and the Buell Motorcycle Company will always be proud of their affiliation with Erik, and we wish him well in this new endeavor to support Buell racers."

Erik Buell Racing will be based in East Troy, Wisconsin and will be staffed by Erik Buell and a veteran team of personnel. For more information, after December 1, 2009, contact:

Erik Buell Racing, LLC 2799 Buell Drive, Unit C East Troy, WI 53120 www.erikbuellracing.com info@erikbuellracing.com

Go get 'em, Erik.

Just use something other than a Harley Davidson for your next bike's engine, 'k?

Yeah, go get 'em, Boss!

stroker wrote: Go get 'em, Erik. Just use something other than a Harley Davidson for your next bike's engine, 'k?

You do know that the latest bike out of Buell, the one he's supporting the racing efforts with, the 1125R (and 1125CR) don't use a H-D engine....don't you? Buell struggled to get a high performance, water cooled engine into their stables for a LONG time and finally got what he wanted with the 1125.

Bryce

You mean the race bike that is only available as a off road use race bike, not a street legal bike, racing against production machines??

Rusnak_322 wrote: You mean the race bike that is only available as a off road use race bike, not a street legal bike, racing against production machines??

Are you guys taking crazy pills? This bike, which has been on the market for quite a while now, uses a Rotax engine:

http://www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/sport/1125R/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buell_1125R

These are production bikes (that were) available at every Buell dealership and are part of the regular offering of road bikes.

Bryce

The Buell 1125RR is based on a production bike, but it is not legal to the published rule book. Nascar, I mean AMA, allowed them to race to race-only $40k bike against the very restricted Japanese and Italian bikes. If someone were to try and convert a 1125R to the 1125RR specs, it would be illegal according to the rule book. Just to make things even clearer, the 1125R which the 1125RR is based upon is raced against near stock 600cc bikes. Buells suck for racing unless you have the rule makers in your pocket.

Compared to this mess the FIM in F1 looks un-biased against Ferrari

Read This

Rusnak_322 wrote: Buells suck for racing unless you have the rule makers in your pocket.

I guess I'm confused, as I thought you were responding to my comment about Buell using H-D engines; it looks like you were trying to take a stab at Buell in AMA and it had nothing to do with the comments on the engine.

Bryce

uh oh...dont mess with bryce. He built a fiero with two propulsion systems...

=trumps all