Buell to Close

[Speedygonzales]

Now the windfall of this is you can buy a brand new 1125CR for $5995!!! Not a bad deal.

WTF ... that's just TO cheap.
If I lived in the US I would get one ... NOW
Alway's loved Buell, and since they got that chassis sorted with a powerfull engine. If only they used normal front brakes like all sportbikes.

But the Buell 1125's have a rotax engine, so they can still produce bike's.
They just need an investor and they are good to go :thumbup:.

 

[Hellgate]

Where can I get that cr for 6k? That might be worth trading the fz6 for.

Ocala HD in Ocala FL. That is the dealership I bought my bike from. The factory uses them to blow inventory out. Look them up on Cycle Trader. Their dealer mark ups were minimal, $600, they can handle the taxes and shipping. Shipping was about $600 from FL to TX. I had the bike in two weeks and it was perfect. Very easy transaction and very nice people. And I'm sure you can get the five year warranty too. That was $1250 and covers tires and wheels; eg: get a nail, get a new tire no questions asked. Funny how I get nails every 3,000 miles...

Also Abernathy HD in Union City, TN has '09 Rs and CRs for $6995.

$5995 for '09 CR at HD of Wausau in Rothschild WI.

So looks like the going rate is $6000, I wouldn't pay any extra. Wait a month and I bet you see $5000. According to HD press release yesterday they have allocated $60,000,000 to move Buell inventory.

Sorry found one for $4999. > PM the OP if you want to get one. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/290431/504001.html?1255696688

 

[Hellgate]

This is really bad news and it fits in with the rest of the bad news these days. I am going to a Buell demo ride this Sunday at Appleton's in TN if they still have it. I have gone every time they have had one and rode all of the Buell's except the 1125cr. I have always though the the xb12 was one of the most comfortable bikes i have ever rode and was hoping they would put a version of the 1125 engine in it and make it a real competitor and in due time i think they would have.
I am not sure this will kill this brand. Different owners yes but gone forever i am not so sure. They had a lot going for themselves but a severe recession has taken a toll on them in the middle of an evolutionary process. They made it further than GM and Chrysler in this mess and did not even get a penny from our uncle.

HD owns everything, even the brand "Buell". The man doesn't even own his own name.

 

[Hellgate]

'08 Rs with all updates, $3995!!!! That is OTD for about $4350.

 

[Wavex]

holy ****... I may pick one up for that price and make it my second track bike lol

 

[macem29]

According to HD press release yesterday they have allocated $60,000,000 to move Buell inventory.

so that's what this is all about, what a bunch of BS and a symptom of what's wrong
when you let the bean counters make business decisions...this write-down allows
them to offset losses from other operations and improve the books, once....
for one quarter and perhaps to help the year end, the Corp. will on paper
look like less of a money loser and artificially prop up the stock price...
it's all BS, everyone loses here, employees, customers, even the shareholders
who are seeing an artificial boost while the little piece of the Co. they own
just got smaller, there should be more people going to jail for this ****


end of rant, sorry

 

[Hellgate]

so that's what this is all about, what a bunch of BS and a symptom of what's wrong
when you let the bean counters make business decisions...this write-down allows
them to offset losses from other operations and improve the books, once....
for one quarter and perhaps to help the year end, the Corp. will on paper
look like less of a money loser and artificially prop up the stock price...
it's all BS, everyone loses here, employees, customers, even the shareholders
who are seeing an artificial boost while the little piece of the Co. they own
just got smaller, there should be more people going to jail for this ****


end of rant, sorry

Actually I think it is a very good idea because the bottomline is they need to more the old inventory off the sales floor. Otherwise two, three years later there will still be '07s sitting there. The cost of a squarefoot of top retail space is expensive so better to get rid of an obsolete product with no margin and replace it with a product with good margin. If they didn't do this the individual shop owner would have to compeletly absorb the loss.

The statement yesterday stated it is all about growth and getting cash flow back into the business. Honestly I don't blame HD. What I do blame them for is not fully funding and developing Buell when the XB series started. As a result the bikes never took off and sales and quality suffered.

As an old time motorcycle racer and collector told me, "The market will decide." In this case the market has spoken.

 

[Wavex]

Agreed Pete, but if you try to sell Bikes through dealerships that don't even TRY, it's not helping either...

To me, there are 2 main reasons why the Buells were not selling,
1) HD never tried
2) Most young ppl interested in sportbikes would shoot themselves in the head before buying a HD product (or any product associated with HD)...

Go on the squid forums right now and you'll see most ppl take a crap on Buell just because they are associated to HD... 99% of these ppl never rode a Buell, but they KNOW these bikes are "crap" and these "old POS engines are slower than their crotch rockets anyway"...

 

[macem29]

well perhaps I'm too cynical, but I see this as nothing but an opportunistic
write-down to serve nothing but the investment community and the appearance
of an improved profit picture, sixty million is a lot of dough, could have been
invested in the Buell brand in better marketing, free warranties, assistance to
dealers, any number of good things to help the brand survive, but they don't
get the balance sheet results that way, something has to be shut down to get it,
seriously, how long would it have taken for the Buell division to lose that much
money? it's all accounting BS, and regular people lose, again

 

[Wavex]

It's called capitalism. Corporates could care less about making ppl happy, all that matters is the $$$ at the end of the month. It's sad, but it's also the basis of the American economy

 

[macem29]

Capitalism is great. I'm a big fan. It's all about a great product or a great service
that you can charge more for than it cost. It's a great motivator and levels the
playing field. The concept is gone. Lost. All that matters now is stock price. And
the bean counters now run the show and have invented sneaky **** to artificially
make things look better. Closing the doors on a large holding so you can get the
one time balance sheet write-down is not what Capitalism was supposed to be about.
Anyway, I'm way off topic here, and it's one that I'm passionate about, can you tell?

 

[Wolfman]

How very sad...along with people like John Britten, Fabio Tagliano, "Pops" Yoshimura, and others of the same "ilk", Erik Buell has been, and is a true visionary..daring to go outside "the square" to produce motorbikes, that were unique, innovative, and very effective!

The motorbike World is a poorer place for the loss of Buell...

And just when things were looking so bright re development of such bike's as the 2009, 2010 1125r, and 1125cr, with true "jap beating" horsepower, beautiful aesthetics, sublime handling, and decent brakes to match...

Bloody GFC!

 

[Hellgate]

Agreed Pete, but if you try to sell Bikes through dealerships that don't even TRY, it's not helping either...

To me, there are 2 main reasons why the Buells were not selling,
1) HD never tried
2) Most young ppl interested in sportbikes would shoot themselves in the head before buying a HD product (or any product associated with HD)...

Go on the squid forums right now and you'll see most ppl take a crap on Buell just because they are associated to HD... 99% of these ppl never rode a Buell, but they KNOW these bikes are "crap" and these "old POS engines are slower than their crotch rockets anyway"...

Oh I fully agree David. Most dealers were/are clueless about the brand and really don't care.

If they were with other brands, even Japanese brands I think they would have done better.

 

[Hellgate]

well perhaps I'm too cynical, but I see this as nothing but an opportunistic
write-down to serve nothing but the investment community and the appearance
of an improved profit picture, sixty million is a lot of dough, could have been
invested in the Buell brand in better marketing, free warranties, assistance to
dealers, any number of good things to help the brand survive, but they don't
get the balance sheet results that way, something has to be shut down to get it,
seriously, how long would it have taken for the Buell division to lose that much
money? it's all accounting BS, and regular people lose, again

The total estimated cost is $125,000,000 just for Buell. That is for everything, severance, inventory, facilities, etc, etc. I have a feeling that Buell has never made any money and over the last 10 years or so HD has lost much more than that.

We will never know if Buell made any money because is was simply another HD product, ala V-Rod, so the monies were totally co-mingled. Regardless HD has been hammered and as an entire company has to look at survival. They've had about an 80% revenue drop, 35% sales drop, etc. The shining light is percent of market share of the 651cc + segment is up about 8%.

What got HD in trouble was the sub-prime motorcycle loans they've written for the past 5 years or so. They increased their sales by financing people who shouldn't have gotten a loan. Now the defaults are huge. HD had been writting those down for the past year, all while sales have all but died. Pretty much no positive cash flow.

Yes people/workers get laid off but is HD folds the result is even worse. At this point they are forced to eliminate anything that does no generate a positive flow of revenue.

So really it isn't accounting BS, they really don't have a choice.

 

[copperhd5]

Capitalism is great. I'm a big fan. It's all about a great product or a great service
that you can charge more for than it cost. It's a great motivator and levels the
playing field. The concept is gone. Lost. All that matters now is stock price. And
the bean counters now run the show and have invented sneaky **** to artificially
make things look better. Closing the doors on a large holding so you can get the
one time balance sheet write-down is not what Capitalism was supposed to be about.
Anyway, I'm way off topic here, and it's one that I'm passionate about, can you tell?

You are right in as much as that is not how capitalism should be. But unfortunately, that is the way it is. There are no loyalties. The rules of the game are continuously changing. Sometimes there is a scapegoat or sacrificial lamb. In the name of profits, balance sheets, stakeholders, whatever, something had to happen at HD (as the shareholders are screaming because their profits are dwindling). Buell was expendable, now an asset that will bring some short term relief and dollars to their books and shareholders through profits, making money from losses through write-offs of Buell. Sad state of affairs, but REALITY CHECK for us all, in the end, it's all about $$$$$.

 

[08fz6]

From looking at the auction listings close to where I live HD is a good 1/2 of that list. They are mostly their owned by a bank. Therefore they are repos. This can only go on for so long..........

 

[wolfc70]

To me, there are 2 main reasons why the Buells were not selling,
1) HD never tried
2) Most young ppl interested in sportbikes would shoot themselves in the head before buying a HD product (or any product associated with HD)...

Go on the squid forums right now and you'll see most ppl take a crap on Buell just because they are associated to HD... 99% of these ppl never rode a Buell, but they KNOW these bikes are "crap" and these "old POS engines are slower than their crotch rockets anyway"...

Guilt by association. Hit hit a bulls eye with this one! Most people looking to buy a sportbike wanted a GSXR, CBR etc. They looked at Buell's reworked HD Evolution motor as a bad thing, when in fact it made over 100hp, tons of torque and got 60+ mpg. That and the bugs were worked out two decades ago. Most HD dealers had no clue about the Buell bikes, of all the HD ones in my area, only ONE dealer had a knowledgeable Buell sales/service department.

This forum is different, after all, an FZ6 buyer is not the type to get a Repli Racer as a daily commuter, we want form and function. So here Buell's were embraced with open arms, mainly because most here saw the dedication and meticulous approach of Buell engineering. I want (as do most here) a bike that can do it all, while not sending you to the chiropractor for weekly adjustments. I always wanted a Buell Ulysses, a true do it all sport/adventure bike. Maybe now is the time to start looking for deals? It still hurts that the one true American sport bike company is closing. At least Erik Buell did try, and built a very loyal fan base.