03-22-2006, 07:29 PM
Buell isn't really a new brand... as an entity of Harley Davidson it is, but Erik Buell has been building bikes under his name since the 80's. Their quality sucked before the Harley Davidson purchase because they were lacking for capital in pretty much all areas of development and production. Largely the Harley purchase has been a great thing. Harley has financed Buell's successful and unsuccesful ideas - a lot of the unique items you seen on Buells, the perimiter brake discs, fuel in frame, oil in swingarm (which are quickly becoming very popular applications), muffler under bike, etc. probably couldn't have seen the light of day without Harley's pocketbook. A couple folks have argued, and I'm not sure if I agree with it, that the engine selection Buell has is hurting them.
Everybody knows already that Buell's bike use modified 883 and 1200 Sportster powerplants. They're heavy, air cooled, underpowered, radial twins. There's nothing special about them - but they're drop dead simple and they've been around since the dawn of time... hell when was the last time you actually saw a crank with on ONE crankpin? The high torque design of the Buell gives the riders a lot of "room" to work with (one the street most riders don't really have to change gears once they reach the roads they have fun on) and we've already seen that they can make massive power. The Harley motor is stupid reliable... 'Tona isn't really a measure of how reliable a bike is in reality, it's a measure of how much testing a team has done, like Gerald said. Look at the giant fairing the Buell used, for example. Everybody knows that frontal area is a very large factor of aerodynamics but the damn bikes looked like E cup Barbies compared to the rest of the field - and big V-twin advantage is how narrow the motor is. I bet we'll see it shrink next year... and I bet we'll see most of them finish.
Does anybody know if Buell will be racing anywhere else on the FX calendar?
As far as the Buell's owners gripes - wtf? You bought a brand name, why would you expect to have it serviced at somebody else's dealer? That, and last time I checked it's a lot easier for me to get to a Harley Davidson dealer than it is to get to a licensed "generic sportbike" dealer. I have also ALWAYS had a better experience at Fort Washington Harley Davidson than I have at any other motorcycle dealership, ever... so I think that's kind of a moot point.
Actually, story time. The last time I was at Fort Washington Harley I was riding a friend's Lightning XB9 to pick up some parts for him. The local BRAG (buell rider's group) chapter was having a meeting out front. I did the meet and greet thing, explained that the bike wasn't mine, and they invited me out for the next meeting on my VFR anyways. Moreover, after I finished my business inside I went over to the FREE cookout the dealer has every Saturday and had a hot dog and a coke. My experience has been that the Harley dealerships that were around long before the fad will treat you just like it's 1950 and you're hitchiking across the country on a couple dollars - they'll help you however they can. Don't expect the Teutels or Patriot Harley to treat you that way, though. Which brings me to my next point. Those Harley Guys who don't give two shits about Buell are the fad crowd - the rich, obnoxious, poser folk. They don't like anybody that doesn't pose the way they do, and you find that group in every hobby in existance (and there are sportbikers like that, too... posers on R6's find it not-so-funny when I can ride their wheels off on an '87 700 with bias-plys). There's been a lot of judgement passed lately on both both Buell as a company, mostly because of Daytona, and Harley, because of their relatively recent introduction to the Robb Report. A lot of that judgement is misguided - the same folks here that think things like "Harleys and Buells suck because they're Harleys" don't know the crowd that was around before the rise to fame, and really show their naievite' when it comes to riding. We would be the hypocrites if we propogated these stereotypes, just like everybody who passes on the word that MM is "just a bunch of stupid streetracers."
Everybody knows already that Buell's bike use modified 883 and 1200 Sportster powerplants. They're heavy, air cooled, underpowered, radial twins. There's nothing special about them - but they're drop dead simple and they've been around since the dawn of time... hell when was the last time you actually saw a crank with on ONE crankpin? The high torque design of the Buell gives the riders a lot of "room" to work with (one the street most riders don't really have to change gears once they reach the roads they have fun on) and we've already seen that they can make massive power. The Harley motor is stupid reliable... 'Tona isn't really a measure of how reliable a bike is in reality, it's a measure of how much testing a team has done, like Gerald said. Look at the giant fairing the Buell used, for example. Everybody knows that frontal area is a very large factor of aerodynamics but the damn bikes looked like E cup Barbies compared to the rest of the field - and big V-twin advantage is how narrow the motor is. I bet we'll see it shrink next year... and I bet we'll see most of them finish.
Does anybody know if Buell will be racing anywhere else on the FX calendar?
As far as the Buell's owners gripes - wtf? You bought a brand name, why would you expect to have it serviced at somebody else's dealer? That, and last time I checked it's a lot easier for me to get to a Harley Davidson dealer than it is to get to a licensed "generic sportbike" dealer. I have also ALWAYS had a better experience at Fort Washington Harley Davidson than I have at any other motorcycle dealership, ever... so I think that's kind of a moot point.
Actually, story time. The last time I was at Fort Washington Harley I was riding a friend's Lightning XB9 to pick up some parts for him. The local BRAG (buell rider's group) chapter was having a meeting out front. I did the meet and greet thing, explained that the bike wasn't mine, and they invited me out for the next meeting on my VFR anyways. Moreover, after I finished my business inside I went over to the FREE cookout the dealer has every Saturday and had a hot dog and a coke. My experience has been that the Harley dealerships that were around long before the fad will treat you just like it's 1950 and you're hitchiking across the country on a couple dollars - they'll help you however they can. Don't expect the Teutels or Patriot Harley to treat you that way, though. Which brings me to my next point. Those Harley Guys who don't give two shits about Buell are the fad crowd - the rich, obnoxious, poser folk. They don't like anybody that doesn't pose the way they do, and you find that group in every hobby in existance (and there are sportbikers like that, too... posers on R6's find it not-so-funny when I can ride their wheels off on an '87 700 with bias-plys). There's been a lot of judgement passed lately on both both Buell as a company, mostly because of Daytona, and Harley, because of their relatively recent introduction to the Robb Report. A lot of that judgement is misguided - the same folks here that think things like "Harleys and Buells suck because they're Harleys" don't know the crowd that was around before the rise to fame, and really show their naievite' when it comes to riding. We would be the hypocrites if we propogated these stereotypes, just like everybody who passes on the word that MM is "just a bunch of stupid streetracers."
When it comes to Ryan Jenkins, the story ends with me putting him in the wall.
2009 Speed Triple | 2006 DR-Z400SM | 1999 CBR600F4 | 1998 Jeep Cherokee
-Ginger
2009 Speed Triple | 2006 DR-Z400SM | 1999 CBR600F4 | 1998 Jeep Cherokee
-Ginger