Posted on 10/15/2009 7:10:44 AM PDT by Betis70
EAST TROY, Wis. -- (Thursday, October 15, 2009) Buell Motorcycle Company officials thanked the company’s customers, employees and dealers for an unforgettable ride, following today’s announcement by Harley-Davidson, Inc. that it will discontinue the Buell® product line as part of Harley-Davidson’s go-forward business strategy. The new long-term strategy aims to drive Company growth through a focus of efforts and resources on the Harley-Davidson® brand.
“I want to personally thank all our past and present Buell employees, dealers and suppliers for their efforts. I also want to thank Buell motorcycle owners for their support and passion for the brand,” said Buell Motorcycle Company President Jon Flickinger.
Flickinger said a limited number of new Buell motorcycles remain available for sale through authorized dealerships and production will wind down by October 30. He also stressed that Harley-Davidson will provide replacement parts and service through dealerships and that warranty coverage will continue as normal for Buell motorcycles.
“I will always be proud of what we have accomplished. It is a testimony to what a small group of passionate and inspired people can do, and with brilliant innovations, we’ve produced some of the best-handling bikes of all time,” said Buell Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Erik Buell. “I personally look forward to exploring how I can continue to work with Harley-Davidson to bring advanced product technology to riders.
“I have also had the great fortune to meet and get to know many Buell riders over the years, and they are an amazing and interesting group of free thinkers,” Buell said. “May you ride with pride into the future. And may your roads ahead be as adventuresome and rewarding as mine have been for the last 26 years.”
A wholly owned subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, Inc. since 1998, Buell Motorcycle Company was founded in 1983 by Erik Buell and produced more than 135,000 motorcycles. Over the past 26 years, Buell motorcycles won numerous design accolades and awards, and countless races and championships around the world, including the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike championship in 2009.
LOL. Yeah, the price of used Sportys has dropped a bit over the past year or so with HD's "ride for free" promotion, but I meant to say $10K, not $10.
What is that supposed to mean?
what they say about no harley ever being found in a junkyard obviously didn’t go for buells. so this is how they clunker them. sad.
By ordering one of 100,000,000 possible permutations of custom equipment!
What would you think I could sell a canary yellow 2000 XLH 883 with 15K miles for in Ill Noise or nearby. Tweety is in near factory condition except a half fingernail size paint touch up on one fender. The view from eBay is not encouraging.
He’s being sarcastic; Buells were so iconoclastic, maybe they didn’t fit in with Harley’s trademarked “lone wolf/one-percenter” biker look.
Couldn’t tell if he was trying to make fun of Harley or Buell. Or both. Poor grammar killed the joke.
Indeed. The market for used Sportys has been beaten down quite a bit over the past year or so. Might be better off waiting until the economy to turn around (might have to wait until O is out of office for that though.)
Eric Buell is amazingly innovative, and the Buell/Sportster motor puts out a streetable 104hp stock and 128 with an off the shelf race kit - who knew that was even acheiveable for that motor?
The thing was, the styling (and I'm not even referring to the Blast, which was so ugly in so many ways that their showroom was usually inbetween the parts and salvage depts) was a bit too untraditional, especially for a bike that's going to sit on the same floor as a full dresser and bare boned chopper that has a good 50% chance of spending it's nights in someone's living room.
Things like having a swingarm that doubles as an oil tank tend to end up looking like an oil tank that happens to double as a swingarm.
The muffler under the engine was touted as keeping the weight low, but it was an ugly muffler, sounded like a lawn mower, and put all that heat directly under the motor and rider, then mounted a wide gas tank to make sure the heat never leaves.
I always wondered why they didn't just put that motor in a nickle plated XR750 frame, possibly slightly lengthen that frame for stability as they did with the long version of the Buell, and put a stretched teardrop tank in place of that altered car hood.
Harley could have a sub 380lb, streetable XR1200 that would look like it belongs on a Harley showroom in no time, and with minimal outlay.
I loved my XB12X. I wish I would have kept it. Hands down the best bike I ever owned and I’ve owned everything form Harleys to Hondas.
This sucks. I had planned on owning another Buell in the future. Excellant bikes. Screw Harley.
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