Buell ramping up street bike production

[HipGnosis]

Buell is back: $20M in foreign capital has motorcycle firm racing to production

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/print-edition/2012/07/20/buell-is-back-20m-in-foreign-capital.html

Motorcycle-making legend Erik Buell is getting a $20 million injection of foreign capital to fuel the launch of a new line of sport bikes that will compete with the likes of Ducati...
Erik Buell Racing LLC received the investment from FirstPathway Partners LLC, Milwaukee. The investment firm, with offices in the 3rd Ward, is led by Bob Kraft and arranges funding from wealthy foreigners through the federal EB-5 program.
“This investment in a growing American company is what the EB-5 program is all about,”

Sorry, you can't see the whole article online...
But it DOES say they're ready to make their own engines and put them in $20K-$24K street bikes to compete with Ducati and Aprilia.

This was also on the Milwaukee TV news last night.
Here's their article  http://fox6now.com/2012/07/19/erik-buell-jump-starting-new-company-line-of-bikes/

[veefer800canuck]

20 million? Nowadays that might buy you a nice lemonade stand.

Don't get me wrong, I love Erik's new bikes, apart from the exhaust, but geez, how fast does Ducati burn through 20 mil??? A day and a half?

Big company, little company, apple, meet orange. I get it.

I do hope he does well, the guys got passion and talent and dreams.
After the royal boning by the motor company, he deserves a break.

Just that in today's business climate, 20 mil don't get ya far.
It's bus money.

[Bueller]

20 million? Nowadays that might buy you a nice lemonade stand.

Don't get me wrong, I love Erik's new bikes, apart from the exhaust, but geez, how fast does Ducati burn through 20 mil??? A day and a half?

Big company, little company, apple, meet orange. I get it.

I do hope he does well, the guys got passion and talent and dreams.
After the royal boning by the motor company, he deserves a break.

Just that in today's business climate, 20 mil don't get ya far.
It's bus money.

Erik has had a talent for stretching a budget and keeping materials and parts prices down.  This is part of the innovation.

Ducati has to latte test every bike they sell.  EB skips this and saves big bucks.

[Roadscum]

Erik has had a talent for stretching a budget and keeping materials and parts prices down.  This is part of the innovation.

Ducati has to latte test every bike they sell.  EB skips this and saves big bucks.

Skips testing and introduces bikes to the market that are dog pu. '01 stopped shipping till all recalls were done, 1125 intro was just a tad premature,no?

..... now let's all run to our local Buell dealer to buy one, oh and don't forget service, recalls and warranty work, from where was that place???  

Regards, Paul

[Kootenanny]

Oh, some of you guys are soooo negative.

Personally, I think EB's shown in the past he's pretty business savvy.  Yeah, HD shut down BMC--after a new CEO came in with a desire to make his mark by cutting everything to the bone.  But, EBR seems to be doing pretty damn well since...and this should really help.  He has the design, he just has to cut production costs to get the bike to a saleable retail price.

What I find sad is that he has to depend on offshore money to make this happen.  Speaks to how much confidence Americans have in their own industry, for all the talk...

[Playinthestreet]

Oh, some of you guys are soooo negative.

Personally, I think EB's shown in the past he's pretty business savvy.  Yeah, HD shut down BMC--after a new CEO came in with a desire to make his mark by cutting everything to the bone.  But, EBR seems to be doing pretty damn well since...and this should really help.  He has the design, he just has to cut production costs to get the bike to a saleable retail price.

What I find sad is that he has to depend on offshore money to make this happen.  Speaks to how much confidence Americans have in their own industry, for all the talk...

Put down the crack pipe.  On his own, Eric Buell has failed at everything he's done.

[Kootenanny]

Put down the crack pipe.  On his own, Eric Buell has failed at everything he's done.

Jealous, are we?  

[Roadscum]

Put down the crack pipe.  On his own, Eric Buell has failed at everything he's done.

That sounds about right....

H-D turned him off because Buelll was a drag on their bottom line. They did what anywell run business would do... protect the bottom line and shed those products that aren't bringing in the $$$.

 Of course YMMV.

Regards, Paul

[Rogue]

Well run business....right.

H-D was over producing motorcycles for years because the demand for their motorcycles during the boom years (this includes Buells) was strong and was fueled by the Real Estate home equity market that was being inflated by greed at all levels.  When that market collapsed in late 2008, H-D ended up with a glut of inventory.  By 2009, it all came crashing down.  This was true with ALL makes including autos.  Suzuki didn't even import any motorcycles from Japan in 2011!  H-D shut down production lines, and dropped the Buell brand to survive.  It did this to survive not because it was well run.  This happened with all auto manufacturers, including Ford, GM, Chrysler, etc. when they do dropped other brands, shut down plants, and downsized in order to survive a market that had sales dropping like the Titanic!  This is currently happening in Europe with their over production of cars and low demand due to the Euro-Debt crisis.  

It had nothing to do with Buell motorcycles.  H-D was bleeding and in the red because sales dropped dramatically, and their financial division was taking massive losses from all the bum-loans they gave out to questionable buyers during the boom years, as well as buyers who simply lost their jobs and/or lost their home equity loans.  

Of course, you are a Buell hater and we know this already.  So believe what you want to believe.  

[Rogue]

Jealous, are we?  

More like clueless.  

[Aero]

That sounds about right....

H-D turned him off because Buelll was a drag on their bottom line. They did what any well run business would do... protect the bottom line and shed those products that aren't bringing in the $$$.

If H-D wanted to drop Buell with minimum financial loss they would have sold the company rather than wind it up. They did that because they didn't want to have Buell as a competitor on the showroom floor. That's not a well run company, that's a company that's afraid of competition.

[Roadscum]

Well run business....right.

H-D was over producing motorcycles for years because the demand for their motorcycles during the boom years (this includes Buells) was strong and was fueled by the Real Estate home equity market that was being inflated by greed at all levels.  When that market collapsed in late 2008, H-D ended up with a glut of inventory.  By 2009, it all came crashing down.  This was true with ALL makes including autos.  Suzuki didn't even import any motorcycles from Japan in 2011!  H-D shut down production lines, and dropped the Buell brand to survive.  It did this to survive not because it was well run.  This happened with all auto manufacturers, including Ford, GM, Chrysler, etc. when they do dropped other brands, shut down plants, and downsized in order to survive a market that had sales dropping like the Titanic!  This is currently happening in Europe with their over production of cars and low demand due to the Euro-Debt crisis.  

It had nothing to do with Buell motorcycles.  H-D was bleeding and in the red because sales dropped dramatically, and their financial division was taking massive losses from all the bum-loans they gave out to questionable buyers during the boom years, as well as buyers who simply lost their jobs and/or lost their home equity loans.  

Of course, you are a Buell hater and we know this already.  So believe what you want to believe.  

No, not a Buell hater, I've owned 2 of them, jJust telling it like it is. If you drink the kool Aid you vision will be clouded......

So tell me about Buells contribution to H-D's bottom line.

Remember, Buell joined H-D of his own free will cause he wasn't able to make it lone then he wasn't able to make it with the help of H-D.
The  Kool Aid drinkers just can't see the truth........ Take another swig and ride on!

Regards, Paul

[Kootenanny]

Remember, Buell joined H-D of his own free will cause he wasn't able to make it lone then he wasn't able to make it with the help of H-D.

Oh, puh-lease!

Buell "wasn't able to make it alone"--oh, really.  How much do you know about business?  Buell had a startup company that was doing well enough that he was able to sell a minority share of it to the sole American motorcycle producer (at the time).  Name me one other small US startup which has been able to do that in the past three decades!  (Victory don't count, they were started as a division of Polaris, itself a longstanding company).

Keep in mind that the reason H-D was interested enough to buy in wasn't just the bikes themselves, it was the fact that Buell was able to sell every bike that BMC built (about 300'year)--in itself an achievement.  

I hear all the time about how America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, where capitalism is king.  Yet, when a guy like Buell raises capital by selling shares in his company to H-D, people say he's "failed."  Why is that?  The guy started a manufacturing company, sold enough units to interest a large corporation and convinced them to buy in, used the cash to do product development and increase production, sold more shares of the company to fund even more development, developed markets worldwide, shipped thousands of bikes, and continued to develop new products the whole time.  He may not have produced the bikes you wanted, and there were hiccups, but I don't see how that could be counted as "failing."  Most of us will go steadily through our lives and never even try, never less succeed, at anything like what EB has tried and done.

[Rogue]

You are a Buell hater because most of your posts in the Buell forum show that.

Buell was bought by H-D in the early 1990's because the H-D Board of Directors and its Executive Team wanted two things:  a line of motorcycles for "entry level" riders who would later graduate to owning H-D's, and a development team capable of bringing higher performance and ideas to spread across H-D's model lineup.  Faced with that much investment in capital and a large parts and distribution network, only a fool would turn this deal down.

Now explain to me why H-D, which was so incredibly profitable up to 2008, suddenly was in danger of bleeding at the seams by 2009?  Let me give you a hint:  it wasn't because of Buell.  Explain also why GM, Ford, Chrysler, had to downsize around the same period of time?  

The fact is you THINK you are telling it like it is, but you seriously don't understand what you're talking about.  

[Rogue]

If H-D wanted to drop Buell with minimum financial loss they would have sold the company rather than wind it up. They did that because they didn't want to have Buell as a competitor on the showroom floor. That's not a well run company, that's a company that's afraid of competition.

One of the reasons why Buell was NOT allowed by H-D to put full fairings on their motorcycles was that H-D did not want to create the impression of Buell selling motorcycles that competed with the Japanese sportbikes.  H-D was one of those companies who went crying loudly to the US Congress for help in creating a tarriff against Japanese motorcycles with displacements exceeding 750cc.  H-D's biggest fear is Japanese competition.  

[Rogue]

I hear all the time about how America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, where capitalism is king.  Yet, when a guy like Buell raises capital by selling shares in his company to H-D, people say he's "failed."  Why is that?  .....Most of us will go steadily through our lives and never even try, never less succeed, at anything like what EB has tried and done.

Koot, I often wonder this as well.  There are many people out there, including many on this board, who love to shoot down people who have the vision and go after their dreams.  I believe people say negative things because it's a reflection of their own fears, and we all know that one of the biggest things that cause people not to try something is due to fear of failure.  Thankfully, there are enough strong willed individuals out there like EB, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and others around the world who are able to overcome their fears and just drive and move forward to achieve something.  

Neg-head naysayers are everywhere.   I stay away from people like that.  

[Carbonero]

One of the reasons why Buell was NOT allowed by H-D to put full fairings on their motorcycles was that H-D did not want to create the impression of Buell selling motorcycles that competed with the Japanese sportbikes.  H-D was one of those companies who went crying loudly to the US Congress for help in creating a tarriff against Japanese motorcycles with displacements exceeding 750cc.  H-D's biggest fear is Japanese competition.  

And if the Blind Faithful would pull their collective head out of their ass and give Star a look, a huge number of them would jump ship. Star is making the best quality, most powerful and best-priced cruisers available at the moment (all three of those points combined, I mean).

Victory's 106 engine is very sweet. Their gearboxes suck and their handling is subpar. They have quality issues.

Harley's Dyna is a very nice package, and their touring bikes handle great. But they can't seem to generate "big bore" power without creating a China Syndrome-like heating lump.

Indian is a high-dollar, low-quality piece of crap footnote in the market.

Honda. *yawn*
Suzuki. *yawn*
Kawasaki. *yawn* (and fugly)

If I had a gun to my head and $17k in my pocket and had to buy a cruise, Star gets my money.

$.02

[Rattlehead]

I wish nothing but the best for Erik and crew.  
I've loved all the Buells I've owned but the Harley engine always left me wanting.
I sincerely hope it works out and he can work the kinks out of that 1125 Rotax engine (stator issues), if he hasn’t already. There is HUGE potential for some awesome bikes with that engine.
A Ulysses type bike with the 1125 straight from the 1125R (no de-tuning) would go straight to the top of my “wish list”.  
A “Lightning style bike with the 1190 engine would kick the crap out of the Ducati Streetfighter and be the baddest, most lust-worth naked out there.  
A torquier version of the 1190 in a Sport-touring chassis would be killer!
Oh the possibilities…….

[Rogue]

The 1125 stator issues occured in '09 after Buell increased the output, which in turn produced too much heat for the cooling circuit.  The result is overheating stators.  The fix never made it out due to Buell's closing.  However, the fix actually does exist through Erik Buell Racing, which replaces the stator with one with a larger cooling circuit.  The stator was not an issue in '08 and '10.  I don't know why they increased the stator output really.  The previous output seems fine to me.  Erik Buell Racing still supports 1125's with parts and upgrades.  So does H-D and internet retailer American Sportbike.

[steve.ski]

Good for Erik. If anyone can make good use of that kind of $, it will be he and his crew...