What is EBR's biggest reason for not gaining traction in US market?

There is also the fact that you are a helluva rider.

 

EB did do several things that have migrated into the "standard" for sportbikes. The underslung exhaust is what immediately comes to mind. The horizontal shock placement is now on many Ducatis and Kawis. His adventure bike is/was highly regarded. Starting out with the Harley engine was a mistake, in my opinion. A friend of mine had a beautiful Lightning in pearl blue with Marchisini wheels...BUT...watching that thing bounce up and down when we stopped at an intersection was just comical.

 

What you described is similar to what I did to mine. That said I think the bike is more than capable for club level racing and beating higher horsepower bikes because the bike handles extremely well. It just goes where you want it with no fuss. Even with my front end swap there is absolutely no front end chatter. For example (and I'm simply stating facts) I went almost an entire second faster than I ever did on my Aprilia RSV4 at a track I know pretty well after missing an entire year on an EBR with only 3 days of full riding on it. I have the bike down to 368lbs without gas with over 160hp to the rear wheel with no TC (it does have it though). With more work I think I can get this down to 340lbs and with Apex and the new ECM have it over 170hp to the wheel. I think if you rode one you'd see it's pretty damn good. The brakes though and I don't care how badly the other EBR guys will support it, is shit. And not just for performance, maintenance, ease of use for racing (front end tire swaps), pads availability and so on.

And to be honest I quite like the fuel in the frame part even though it had been done before.

You are right though, on a world level they were outmatched and should have waited or just spent the money on incentivizing local racers in the U.S. to race their bikes in the series across the country. They probably would have sold more bikes.

 

Many seem to think EBR wanted to "be competitive" with the big OEM's. I just think he wanted to build bikes his own way, being creative, without limitation. Trying to make a sustainable business out of it was really just to continually fund his hobby/dream and let other people enjoy what he built, by buying bikes. Anyone knows that you'd spend your investment/marketing dollars on something other than racing, but what fun is that? Ultimately, it didn't work in our eyes or from a business perspective, but do you think he regrets the journey? Doubt it.

Kinda like us going racing and trying to make it viable, throwing dollar bills into the air like we're Beyonce. It's ultimately a pipe dream, but it's your/my/his pipe dream ..

 

I didn't say he wasn't a legitimate OEM I said he was very bad at operating like a OEM.

The real world is a bitch but there are MFGs out there who get it, and EBR didn't get it.

 

I didn't say he wasn't a legitimate OEM, I said he was a shitty one that knowing his process he didn't execute it successfully based on his antiquated approach to assembly.

 

The other part wasn't even worth commenting on...

Erik Buell is no dummy and the obvious parts of that post were already thought of.
As for the rest...

 

I didn't call him a dummy either, you can be a hell of an Engineer and a SHITTY Ops guy or Supply chain guy.

He was both an experienced Engineer and a horrible Ops/SCM minded person and since he was the head guy at EBR, it falls on him.

 

Here lies the clusterfuck : without HD backing and them imposing their stupid engine, there would never have been a Buell to start with. So it was doomed from the beginning.

 

Excellent point and I'm sure it's pretty obvious to some that it's simply frustration by those who support EBR and are fans of his that he is in this situation.........again.

 

I have ridden them, on street and track. I've ridden the 1125R and the Cafe Racer on track. I was surprised and how quick/well they changed directions.

 

His first product was the RW750. Not a HD powered bike. For a few different reasons he explored a different path and used his connection to HD to allow him to approach the company to buy HD powerplants to put in bikes of his own design.

It wasn't until ten years later that he made the deal with the devil and then another few years after that is when HD had a controlling stake.

 

I'm trying to decide whether or not to waste any more of my life arguing a point that I feel is impossibly obvious.

 

Ryan went pretty well on it, at the first race event, FWIW.

Don't you have some world records to be chasing or something?

 

Tell that to the shareholders...

 

Yep. Exactly why I wouldn't be one ..

 

Yep, the Motor Company came to the same conclusion in 2009.

 

Thanks for asking. Had a test race last sunday at 80 lbs. Finished in 6 hrs 6 mins, about 20 minutes off the record and felt very comfortable. Didn't mention it here because you and Jim Race would bust my balls.

 

Yes the actual PnL would be interesting but we would also need to comb through the actual part of the company who dealt with the production/sale side for motorports (or the like). Companies like KHI (Kawasaki Heavy) make lots of things as does Yamaha, Honda etc.. But too widdle down to the what portion in an annual report deals with motorcycle/motorsports production/sales would be interesting.

 

Off topic but the Motus is a captivating American motorcycle. And gaining traction I think.

But again, a daunting price tag for what it is. In the same range of sport cruisers you could get two of the foreign bikes even a Harley dresser.

But damn it sounds good and that's a cool motor!