Erik Buell Racing Established
- Thread starter Hellgate
- Start date
W00T!!! :rockon:
jeff in ohio
Junior Member
and....who's actually going to race them that is worth a damn? RMR/Geico/Eslick is jumping ship to Suzuki......
Eslick Will Race A GEICO Suzuki For Richie Morris Racing In 2010 News Article // RoadracingWorld.com
Eslick Will Race A GEICO Suzuki For Richie Morris Racing In 2010 News Article // RoadracingWorld.com
C
CombatPenguin
Thats great news. So does this mean I can buy 1125 race parts instead of the stocks parts when needed?:BLAA:
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Well this isn't a factory effort. My guess this is privateer support. The article start that EBR is to provide parts and service for 1125R based racers.
I suspect this is just the tip of the iceburg. Besides, Eslick was and also ran up until last year. There are lots of up and coming riders who would take a ride it they can, its not like the "only" racers in the country are the guys and gals who raced last year.
We will just need to wait and see.
jeff in ohio
Junior Member
seriously...IMHO Erik Buell Racing sounds like a black hole he is going to toss all of his remaining money into. They will be providing motorcycles and support for machines that are only elegible in AMA racing, and even at that, elegible for how long? Yeah yeah, I know is can run in CCS, WERA, etc, but those are minor series. Its design is now locked in place for Daytona Sportbike class - that is no further enhancements can be made since it is no longer sold as a road going machine, thus any meaningfull development for it in that class now ceases (much like Kawasaki in MotoGP). They can continue to soup it up for AMA Superbike, but good luck with that considering new R1's, GSXRs, CBRs, and ZXs come out every 2-3 years. Couple that with the fact that Yoshimura now sells EVERYTHING to the direct buying public to build Mladin's GSXR at equal or often lesser price than Buell previously sold its race parts for, one has to ask themsevles "Why should I spend my money on a dead motorcycle model?" I know its Erik's passion and everything, but still, at the end of the day, you gotta make money to keep the doors open and pay the bills. Just how much revenue do they figure they can bring in catering to a very small privateer contingent racing Buell motorcycles. If you are sponsor, are you seriuosly going to put your name on the side of a dead motorcycle? You might as well bring back and sponsor a Pontiac or Oldsmobile in NASCAR while you are at it....
You're right Jeff I think Erik should have just sat on his ass for the rest of his life and done nothing.
Here's the deal, Yosh and Co. don't make a penny running a racing team in the AMA, no one does. They make their money selling parts and servcies to the guys in the bush leagues, WERA, CMRA, etc and the street riders.
It hasn't even been 24 hours yet let's wait and see what happens. Between now and Daytona we'll know much more.
Geez Mr. Negative give the guy a chance.
Fred
M em b er e d
I'm glad that Eric Buell isn't giving up. I want to see a good American sportbike. I really do. And he was so close.
I am sorry to see that he's retaining any association at all with Harley Davidson.
The Sportster motor that was forced on Buell was the thing that kept more people from buying their bikes. Even with all the work that was put into it, it carried the stigma of being the engine from the "Girl's Harley", the slowest of the slow.
He should have taken this opportunity to break all ties with the company that tried to ruin his dream. "Fark you, Harley. Me and Rotax are going to take what we learned from you, and go build real bikes with proper engines in them."
Maybe that will still happen. I hope so.
I am sorry to see that he's retaining any association at all with Harley Davidson.
The Sportster motor that was forced on Buell was the thing that kept more people from buying their bikes. Even with all the work that was put into it, it carried the stigma of being the engine from the "Girl's Harley", the slowest of the slow.
He should have taken this opportunity to break all ties with the company that tried to ruin his dream. "Fark you, Harley. Me and Rotax are going to take what we learned from you, and go build real bikes with proper engines in them."
Maybe that will still happen. I hope so.
C
CombatPenguin
you can already do that
I was thinking more about the parts that went into the 1125rr I read about in the latest roadracing world mag. It claims to make 171.2 bhp at 11,500 rpm.
jeff in ohio
Junior Member
Thats right, Yoshimura is one of the largest aftermarket exhaust companies in the world...selling parts for Ducati, Triumph, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Hond, even FREAKIN Kymco....and ATV's....and dirt bikes....to the general public, and to all forms of racing including all the little guys, AMA (not much of a step above the little guy anymore), WSBK and MotoGP. Their customer base is much much larger than the 1125 market.
Erik Buell Racing will support 1125 based motorcycles - as he states. So, figure a staff of 5 with an average salary of $45k per year...add on 20% for benefits..thats $270,000 in salary expense...add on lease expense for building, license fees to Harley, utility bills, travel costs to get your staff back and forth to races that you will support, depreciation costs on capital equiment, etc etc, and you are probably looking at needing at least $500,000 in revenue to cover your Salary and Administrative costs. So, how much revenue can EBR make on their parts and race only motorcycles? If they can make 50% (that would be amazing) on the parts and motorcycles they sell, that means they would have to sell (retail cost) around $1,000,000 worth of parts to cover their S&A
Now, convince me there is a retail market for that quantity of 1125R parts and 1125RR race only bikes....
as I said...IMHO its a money pit...but hey, some people just need to live their dreams, and he's one of them.
its not negativity, it's simple math. A race only company that supports ONE product (that is now stuck in time) has a very slim chance of actually making it in the current economy (which isn't improving by leaps and bounds at the moment). Simple math shows the huge obstacle. It is a very risky investment to say the least......
My motorcycle passion is a money pit too... Erik and I just don't have the same size bank account, so he can go big
Who cares about whether or not Erik is making a sound financial decision? All I care about is to see what happens and watch the racing.
Who cares about whether or not Erik is making a sound financial decision? All I care about is to see what happens and watch the racing.
