Reply With QuoteThey buy Japanese, German and Italian because they win races. Win on Sunday sell on Monday.
All I can say is to buy them low while you can.
They buy Japanese, German and Italian because they win races. Win on Sunday sell on Monday.
When I think of a Buell, I think of a bike designed and made in America, for blue collared people. Affordable and fun for nearly every budget. Sure, it doesn't have the top end speed of a Japanese sportbike, but it has enough grunt to throw you back and hold on and keep you grinning the entire ride.
I think where Erik went wrong with EBR is simple - he forgot his loyal fanbase. Not much more to it. He could've easily come up with multiple bikes that were affordable to the people who supported him, but he went above and beyond, expecting a $30k + bike to sell here in the states like a CBR, R6 and whatever other Jap bike you want to throw in there would sell.
Don't get me wrong, I love the EBR bike, but to rollout the models like he did and expect to be in business long made no sense.
without knowing what Erik's overall business plan was this is all speculation. Someone posted earlier in the thread that the deal with Hero could of been Erik was going to help Hero develop some entry level to mid range bikes and sell them as Buell's in the U.S. If that would have been the plan and it would have been leveraged earlier in the progression of development of the branding of EBR, that could have worked. I would have bought in if I was him. If they F*cked him, like H-D. Wouldn't know what to say.
A dealer near me said they were going to call EBR to see if they could sell them for cost. They have a demo that they would sell for 1k under cost if allowed. May have to pick that up. Its an RX though...
Although we may never know, I think EBR was working towards having a full range of motorcycles, including models aimed at current Buell owners. He started EBR with the rights to the Helicon V-twin, some left-over 1125 engines and not much else. He worked from that to introduce a $40k exotic bike, clearly based on the existing 1125. A couple of years later, they added a $19k (cut to ~$15k) sport bike, which was essentially the RS with a mass-produced engine (rather than one built from a disassembled 1125 engine with a bunch of exotic parts added) plus Showa rather than Ohlins suspension bits. Those two bikes were a result of the fact that the main thing Erik had on-hand at the start of EBR was a fully-designed and tested big water cooled V-twin. Any other engine would have taken a huge amount of cash and time to develop that he didn't yet have.I think where Erik went wrong with EBR is simple - he forgot his loyal fanbase. Not much more to it. He could've easily come up with multiple bikes that were affordable to the people who supported him, but he went above and beyond, expecting a $30k + bike to sell here in the states like a CBR, R6 and whatever other Jap bike you want to throw in there would sell.
EBR was working for Hero designing scooters, a nifty 250cc sport bike (HX250R), and a 650cc naked (Hastur). If the 250 and 650 had been offered in EBR-badged versions, EBR would have had a decent model range for the US.
The more I think about it the more I think Hero's going to turn out to be the culprit in this situation. When the RX was introduced at AIMExpo, they announced Hero models would start being imported to the US in 2014 and sold at EBR dealerships. That didn't happen. Last summer, when asked about the status of the AX, more than one EBR dealer said "we've been told EBR engineers are concentrating on getting the Hero bikes ready to import to the US". I checked the EPA's vehicle listings site this morning, and there are NO listings for approved Hero engines for the US for 2015 or 2016. Did Hero decide their current bikes wouldn't sell in the US (a real possibility)? Did they just decide they could make a lot more money selling their bikes in other areas of the world, and put their US import plans on the back burner? Maybe EBR was operating under the assumption they'd get a contract from Hero for more work to import the bikes to the US and Hero never came through with it.
I've been waiting a year and a half for some sort of media blitz from EBR about their bikes and it never happened. I sort of figured they were waiting on something else to be ready (maybe EBR-badged Hero bikes?) before they went full-tilt with marketing. If EBR's business plan banked on having a full range of motorcycles from Hero and EBR to sell in their dealerships and Hero reversed on that plan, that may be what brought the whole mess down.
Ditto MrLogix, This reminds me of a good friend who bought the department where they worked at a Major telecommunications company. The company when selling to him agreed he can have first look at bids if he maintained a certain level of capacity that required qualified personnel, equipment, materials, etc... Which meant he had a lot of overhead for payroll, taxes, floor space, business loan, etc.... EBR reminds me of my friends situation because they had a lot of, as well highly qualified personnel, factory space, manufacturing equip, etc...overhead. I imagine Buell, who is very intelligent, may have had an agreement with Hero to provide a base to facilitate a market/manufacturing/R&D/.... launch in New Markets. This was probaby a major undertaking to hire the people, do the R&D, manufacture some stuff, then get stiffed because of the lack of sales on Buells own product line which he did not focus on marketing. My own opinion Erik put too much out there in faith. I think if he was able to focus on building his own product base on a smaller scale he would have had less risk and a better chance of building it up. I personally would have driven to the factory in Wi, to test ride and possibly purchase, set up, and learn about a bike, then if everything aligned drive or ship back to Texas. Factory warranty, support, and service is acceptable to me even if it forces me to learn how to do more work more on my own bike. I Also think Hero may have hooked EBR in to shut them down, time will tell though on what happens next? My friends business was also liquidated, as the major company no longer provided him any bids, contracts, notices, or explanations.
I'm wondering whats going to happen to the people who purchased items from the EBR store in the day of the close-down, Ive been talking with a guy who purchased a oiling rotor the day of and hasn't heard anything yet.
I'm curious about the online store as well. I really need the front rotor hardware kit and I think ebr was the only one making it.
I did the same. I purchased the oiling rotor and the EBR ECM that day. You can still access EBRs website if you know how to correctly. you can access the store, dealers or anything along the top row of options. I got into my account on EBRs website and my order still says processing, so Friday I called paypal and they are requesting a refund via EBRS paypal account, also they said if they do not hear back by this week they will issue a refund and pull it from their account anyway.I'm wondering whats going to happen to the people who purchased items from the EBR store in the day of the close-down, Ive been talking with a guy who purchased a oiling rotor the day of and hasn't heard anythingÂ* yet.
I hope the EBR store opens some how or another to buy parts from them, i'm sure most parts on that "store" section sell and probably sell well.
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