I learnt this week that Harley Davidson has closed the door on the Buell Motorcycles operation they purchased some years ago. The reasons given by HD are financial – Buell has not made them any money over the last few years and they have sunk a lot of capital into the business with no real return. Sales down by around 85% is what is being reported and no company is going to keep a department going that is showing those sort of sales figures. The current CEO of HD said that they would cut off an arm to save the body, and this would appear to be what they have done.

But this journal is an emotional response to the news, not a financial one. Why? Because I own a Buell. I got mine when the XB series was released back in 2001 I think. First one delivered in Victoria and while it has had its niggles (speedo sender unit failing twice) it has been very much a trouble free ride. It’s done some long trips and I’ve used it as a daily ride for a number of years as well. It’s now pushing around 50,000 km’s on the clock and is showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

When I first read about these bikes, I knew I had to take one for a ride. It helped that I was looking for a bike at the time. My test ride was only about half an hour but in that time I found the bike I wanted – I just had to convince myself that spending the extra money on it over a VTR1000 was worth it. It has been. Erik Buell designed a bike that handles like a dream and is so much fun to ride that you never want to get off. Sure, it has its shortcomings – the cable clutch rather than a hydraulic one, the sportster motor and gearbox (god I hate that change between 1st and 2nd) but these are outweighed by the touches of design brilliance – the 17” front disk with 6 pot Nissin callipers that stops harder than anything else I know, the fuel held in the frame, the oil held in the swing arm, the exhaust slung under the engine that leaves the back of the bike so clean. Sure, the looks are not to everyone’s taste, personally, I don’t like the S series, but that’s why I didn’t buy one.

Erik Buell has been designing and building bikes that don’t “fit” for 30 years and I think the motorcycle industry will miss his ideas and passion. Maybe not in the short term with everyone so focused on the financial issues the world is facing, but in years to come. So thank you Erik, for designing and building a bike that I have enjoyed so much over the last 8 or so years. Like a lot of posts on forums around the web, I to hope that Buell rises from the ashes, and how fitting would it be if the first model was named the Phoenix.

Self Promotion:

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