EBR is back!?

"Nonster" (noahnic)
03/02/2016 at 15:15 • Filed to: None

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Just saw this article on RideApart. Apparently Eric Buell is a stubborn SOB cause Buell looks to be rising from the grave once again. I thought it was down for good after this latest time since it didn’t sound like the new parent company Liquid Asset Partners was interested in letting them continue building bikes, but something must have changed. We’ll see if the american sportbike company can find some success this time. I would love to see Eric Buell succeed, although admittedly I wasn’t in love with the latest EBR bikes.

Place your bets!

DISCUSSION (9)

bob and john > Nonster
03/02/2016 at 15:21

honestly, I’ve kinda stopped caring at this point. The dude is a BRILLIANT engineer, but he makes such moronic business decisions i’m amazed anyone still backs him.

he needs polaris to buy him. thats what he needs. also, a marketable bike, not a 18K superbikes with no ABS.

Spaze > bob and john
03/02/2016 at 15:24

He is now the CTO of the “new” EBR team. So I think he’ll be kept in check. The real hurtle is WTF they are going to do with the “new” bikes they are making. Their (already small) dealership network got hosed, when they closed their doors, saddling them with inventory they couldn’t move.

The Ghost of Oppo > Nonster
03/02/2016 at 15:26

You can’t keep Erik down. I just hope this new company will actually help him on the business strategy side. Erik is an engineer, not a businessman, and unfortunately he has let others take advantage of him and lead him astray.

Almost every professional review I read of the 1190s were positive. The only downsides were the price, top speed, and fears of parts availability, but I think that is pretty damn impressive all things considering.

Erik just needs some time to be able to do what he does best without non-supportive investors breathing down his neck.

The Ghost of Oppo > bob and john
03/02/2016 at 15:29

Whomever it was internally at Hero or what company they hired to do a valuation on EBR is the one who fucked up. If Erik had been on Shark Tank and told the sharks he was worth $50 million they would have laughed him out of the studio. He needs time to just be an engineer.

Nonster > bob and john
03/02/2016 at 15:32

I’m pretty much in agreement. He’s definitely is a great engineer, but I think his flaw was his single-minded focus on only superbikes in a market that is seeing a shift towards fun and affordable bikes like the Yamaha FZ-07, FZ-09, Ducatic Scrambler, etc. He seemed rather thrilled to crush (literally) the Blast, which has its flaws, but it had potential to be a great little bike in the same vein as those bikes.

That said, if I were Polaris I wouldn’t want to touch the Buell name with 10 foot pole for fear of getting cursed haha

The Ghost of Oppo > Nonster
03/02/2016 at 15:40

Buell was forced to build the Blast by HD, they were forced to use half of the Sportster 883 block, and HD sold them all of the parts at a mark up like a regular supplier would, rather than at cost like any normal company would treat a subsidiary.

Prior to filing Chapter 128, Erik said they were either working on designs or actual prototypes for electric bikes, I can’t remember which. Their plan was also to move down market with their next series of bikes.

Nonster > The Ghost of Oppo
03/02/2016 at 15:46

yeah HD really screwed Buell over in that partnership but I guess that gets back to the point that someone else should have taken over the helm for business decisions and let Eric Buell lead the engineering

bob and john > Nonster
03/02/2016 at 15:52

the blast had other issues, he got TOTALLY screwed on that deal. (H-D made him buy sportser engines and then he had to cut them down in 2 himself. harley made $, buell lost $ on each and every blast sold)

Nonster > bob and john
03/02/2016 at 16:07

No doubt about that, HD f’d him on that deal. EB wanted to build race bikes while HD wanted something that would practically be a loaner until their customers stepped up to a “real” harley. In spite of that its not a terrible bike. Maybe EBR was planning on doing some more affordable bikes before they went under last year. I respect his attempt and desire to go for the “win on sunday sell on monday” business model, but stealing sales from Ducati was an uphill battle from the start.