The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Erik Buell Racing to Provide 1125R Racing Motorcycles and Racing Parts

By

Erik Buell announcing Erik Buell Racing
Erik Buell announcing Erik Buell Racing

For those of you wondering what Erik Buell will be doing in the near future, it looks like he’s going racing. I guess he won’t be sitting around at Harley Davidson after all.

Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company, will leave the company to establish Erik Buell Racing, an independent motorcycle race shop.

Press release follows:

Milwaukee, Wis. — (Friday, November 20, 2009) Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) announced today that following the company’s recent decision to discontinue the Buell motorcycle product line, Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company, will leave the company to establish Erik Buell Racing, an independent motorcycle race shop.

Erik Buell Racing will specialize in the supply of race-use-only Buell motorcycle parts and race preparation services for engines and motorcycles, and the building and sale of Buell® 1125R-based race-use-only motorcycles under license from Harley-Davidson, as well as providing technical support to racers of Buell motorcycles.

“I’m looking forward to helping Buell racers keep their bikes flying,” said Erik Buell. “We’ve got some exciting race development projects in the works and it will mean a lot to me personally to see Buell racers competing for wins and championships in the 2010 season and beyond.”

“I’m pleased that Harley-Davidson is assisting Erik in establishing this business to continue supporting the racing efforts he has had so much passion for over the years,” said Buell President and COO Jon Flickinger. “Harley-Davidson and the Buell Motorcycle Company will always be proud of their affiliation with Erik, and we wish him well in this new endeavor to support Buell racers.”

Erik Buell Racing will be based in East Troy, Wisconsin and will be staffed by Erik Buell and a veteran team of personnel. For more information, after December 1, 2009, contact:

Erik Buell Racing, LLC
2799 Buell Drive, Unit C
East Troy, WI 53120

UPDATE: Video below:

Link: Erik Buell Racing
Link: Buell

Comments

  1. It’s great to see Erik getting back on his feet after that deadly left hook. I’m pulling for him to make a living for himself doing what he loves, however, I just can’t imagine there being enough business building racing Buells to cover the payroll of his talented team and all the rest of the overhead. I have a feeling he may be up to something more than just that.

  2. This is an interested development – I had wondered what was going to happen to the Buell race bikes. If they can make the 1125 a consistent winner on the racetrack, then perhaps riders will clamor for a street version. I’d like to see Buell return, but without bikes like the Blast and without the air-cooled twins of Harley-Davidson. Make Rotax-powered bikes that can hang with other sportbikes and I’ll be interested.

  3. Great to see Erik going back to his roots, but I’m wondering, does this require any AMA rule changes? Don’t race bikes in the series Buell competes in need to be production machines? Please follow up when you have any info, and thanks for the great coverage.

  4. It still would be interesting to see Erik designing production bikes as he’s ideas have been nothing short if brilliant in the world of monkey see monkey do mass production.
    Maybe the new MV Agusta buyer could offer him a job.

  5. As a former team owner that raced the HD VR1000 in the 90’s, I cannot help but think that HD is setting up a skunk-works for race team development with an actual HD sportbike to come soon.

    There is absolutely NOT enough work to support Buell and the talent that he has taken with him supporting a few 1125RR’s.

    Especially with Rossmeyers et. al. changing to Suzuki. In fact, it would probably be a foolish move for ANY team to field a Buell due to sanctioning requirements etc.

    However, I would think that the excess production capacity that HD has at it’s plants, which are union, could easily take up a new product line.

    This would also make justification for ditching the Buell plant which is/was non-union as far as I recall.

    If this is a precursor to HD introducing their own sportbike, then this is probably the most brilliant marketing move they have ever made.

    If not, then the only thing I could add would be the same “why” that everyone else keeps asking.

    Mark L.

  8. @Mark L.
    Thank you for the closest thing to insider insight that we have had so far in this whole conversation. Skunk works gets my hopeful vote for the future.

  9. Mark L. Nice write up, The only thing I did not understand was the Union Worker thing. Can you clarify this idea at all? I thought most Companys were looking to shed Union Workers, You seem to be saying the reverse. Did I misunderstand? And yes this looks alot like the VR program,Maybe a way to bring a Rotax in the back door at Harley. Sounds good to me!!

  10. @Tin Man 2
    Harley is vested in the idea of union labor so it stands to reason. Maybe the Rotax was just and intermediate step and the real bombshell is a new motor in the finale stages of development, (wishful thinking?) or most likely a continuing development of a motor based on the Rotax beginning as you suggested.

  11. Hi Tin Man 2,

    Yes, many companies are looking to shed union workers. However the risk in that is if you do succeed in breaking the union in one facility, the union members at other company facilities usually will strike to prevent the loss of union jobs, no matter what the cost is to the company.

    I know that for a great many years Buell was non-union, and HD is union. My comment referred to the fact that If Buell was still not a union company, it makes it fairly risk free for HD to close down.

    I would STRONGLY suspect that if this turns out to be the case, that would be the biggest thing on Erik’s mind was the termination of his “family” as Erik is a very loyal person.

    Road racing and HD have long been a touchy subject at Harley, and it will take MANY years, if ever, to overcome the internal resistance from the “Harley makes cruisers” crowd, so don’t ever be mislead into thinking that a HD sportbike will happen easily or maybe even ever.

    I know that I made the mistake of publishing on the internet the actual dyno sheets on our VR1000 motors that we leased from Gemini racing, (the same Gemini that runs Jordan’s team today) and upset a LOT of key people at HD, including, and probably most importantly, M**k T****e at HD, who oversaw engineering and HD racing. He and others were against the VR program and I think did their best to sink it.

    Someday when I decide that I will never ride a motorcycle again, I will write a long and interesting story about all of this…….

    PS- At Daytona 1997 on the MMI dyno, the VR1000 was 128 hp & 77 ft lb. torque at 10,500 rpm and would sort of rev to 12,000.

    A week later on my Dyno it made 129 HP and my Ex Anthony Gobert Muzzy Kawasaki SN# RMRF9504 made 149 hp at 13,900 RPM.

    I need to shut up and get over it……….. HD makes cruiser bikes, not sport bikes

    Mark

  12. I agree with Mark L. Why else would HD not sell Buell off to recoup some of their investment, unless they want to use it for themselves. As for the Union issue, it was much easier for HD to screw non-union labor (Buell) than their own union labor.
    Never the less, I seriously believe we are going to see a new Buell production bike after all, it will just be an HD instead.

  13. we will be seeing something new from H-D, and they where probably trimming excess expense and anything that cost them money as well. Not only to keep afloat but the “excess production capacity” that Mark L. noted probably has nothing to do with a Buell clone take a look

    http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=9OuzAAAAEBAJ&dq=7493881

    fig. one and fig. two depict a new engine.
    And the patent is for a “Dual-sided air intake assembly” and it looks pretty darn free flowing. Assuming that Harley has any money to produce them it may be quite the sleeper if you will.

  15. I don’t believe H-D will going the sport bike route. Buell’s prototype for the VR1000 project in the late 1980’s was probably the best hope they had, and they abandoned it…building their racer by committee that went exactly nowhere (the H-D P.R. spun V-Rod correlation is tenuous at best. That engine shared only basic architecture). Imagine the bike it would’ve been today.

    I’ll be hopeful when Erik rids himself completely from H-D’s shackles. Establishing a dealer network seems like it’d be the toughest hurdle. I wish them the best…whatever they do.

    The Rotax engine was all Buell guys. H-D would not build it (thank goodness) so Buell commissioned Rotax to build the engine with their own funding. H-D gets too much credit. They’ve held Buell back more then help. It took Erik and company 20 years to build the street bikes they wanted, then got the axe. The last real ‘rescue’ from H-D’s hands was the voluntary tuber recalls.

    For those who are gonna say I’m full of it and a Buell fan boy…the facts are out there.

    Get real. H-D is focusing on their core products by their own admission. The closest thing they have to a sport bike is the XR1200. Focus on that.

  16. So Harley can take out a patent on split port heads? My VWs have that.

    The thought that Harley is looking for more, free flowing heads suggest they are after some RPM. Undoubtedly this will allow them to bring their horsepower up to class standards. That intake tract and air box certainly look like the results of Buell.

    Erik Buell will probably be happier running a race effort again even if it isn’t too successful. Maybe he can finally get back to finishing development of his square-four two stroke. That and he’ll be allowed to ride Ducatis and Yamahas again.

    -todd

  17. Beginning with this post at Moonrider Redux http://wmoon.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/how-the-harley-blew-it-10-critical-mistakes-that-will-affect-it-both-now-and-in-the-next-boom-cycle/ there is an excellent series on the trials and tribulations of HD and an interesting chestnut, that since 2006 Buell was the only product in the HD lineup that increased sales year over year, while the cruisers sales dipped in each succeeding year.

    Given that, it is hard to understand why HD dropped Buell unless HD’s overall financial situation is far more dire than is evident from a review of the financials. Given the tenuousness of HD’s financial condition and the challenges it faces in the market, its doubtful a skunk works is being set up. More likely this is the start of something entirely new for Erik Buell that may take him off in another direction.

  18. Ditto w/Rick_A comment. While Harley should be get credit for giving Erik his chance years ago by buying Buell, I dont believe they were much more than a hindrance to BMC’s vision. As for a Harley Davidson Sportbike or competitive racer, perhaps if EBR supplies them with one they will have one. They have all but stated they are dropping back to their core products.

  19. This is the most interesting quote,

    “I’m pleased that Harley-Davidson is assisting Erik in establishing this business to continue supporting the racing efforts he has had so much passion for over the years,” said Buell President and COO Jon Flickinger.

    What’s in this for HD? Why would they “assist” ($$$) Erik with opening his own business in the Buell facility that they own? I certainly don’t think it’s a severance package. My guess is that Erik Buell Racing is going to be the racing arm of HD, in charge of developing and handling all racing operations for the new Harley-Davidson Barracuda.

    One of HD’s hopes was to have a large percentage of Buell buyers eventually step up and buy a Harley, that didn’t happen. I can’t think of a better way to attract Buell buyers to a Harley than just changing the name on the tank to Harley instead of Buell.
    The other issue was all the dealers that opted out of carrying the Buell brand during the last dealer meeting. This move would now require every HD dealer to sell a new rebranded Buell.
    Any future racing success and exposure that Erik Buell Racing achieves would now benefit Harley directly, and attract younger buyers into there dealers.

    All this makes complete sense and would be a great move for HD, however I may be giving HD management way too much credit here, I just can’t imaging them being that stupid, not to move forward in this direction.

  20. hd is nothing if not a master at marketing. this is just another step in the master plan. if you could be a fly on the wall inside hd, youd prob. see exactly where this would do, because i think its all laid out already…

    erik is still w/ hd for a reason. they could prob. let him go if they wanted, just as he could leave if he wanted.

    neither happened.

    for a reason.

    …….master plan…..

  21. if Erik Buell Racing is going to work on race bikes, and race bikes need to be based on production bikes, then it can only mean that HD will produce the 1125R under their name.

    one can only hope.

  22. there could actually be a side benefit to this. my local dealer stopped being a buell dealer. if the 1125R is now to be a HD bike (just my guess) then it would be for sale at ANY HD dealer not just dealers that were BUELL also. and any/all HD dealers would service also.

    so it is a step in fixing one of the problems BUELL had (lack of overall buell dealers)

    just some thoughts

  23. Just to be clear, from someone who actually knows: Other than lending Erik his name back for a year and selling him parts that were destined for the dumpster, H-D is not supporting this effort. There is no H-D Superbike, and no on-going relationship between H-D and Erik Buell Racing. And that’s definitely for the best.

  24. For those of you speculating about HD involvement, please note the comment above by Rashomon, … he would know.

  26. Rashomon, if what you are saying is true, then HD management is as stupid and incompetent as I originally suspected. With this kind of thinking, we will certainly see the end of HD soon, and frankly, I won’t shed a tear , except for the 1000’s of workers and their families.

  27. congratulations, but stay out of the 600cc class. You don’t see other manufacturers participating in that class with their larger capacity bikes for a reason. C’mon.

  28. ok, the Aprilia was allowed, but that model is being discontinued. (it was also over 50 lbs. heavier and 125cc less than the 1125R)

  29. if ‘he would know’ is true then how can we believe it? how often have companies deliberately thrown people off the track to hide what they are actually doing? OR it is someone that knows no more than anyone else, and wants to look important. both of these situations have happened so much on a Buell related web forum that i no longer go to that place for information.

    why start a company that caters to a race bike that is no longer going to be produced? i think there is more to this and we’ll just have to wait and see how things look in 2012-13.

    one thing i do know for sure, is that HD only has a short period of time before i decide i can’t wait anymore and i unload my overweight sporty and buy a Ducati instead of the Buell i was going to get.

  31. I’m curious, why are articles on Harley always like light to the moths. And why are there so many of them. flicking through the last few pages there must have been about 20 articles on Harley and their affiliated companies and each had on average 40 comments.
    Makes me wonder if it’s all just a publicity stunt.
    When can we get back to articles on interesting customs and engineering solutions etc.

  32. Kenny,
    “why are articles on Harley always like light to the moths. And why are there so many of them”

    There are a lot of articles because a lot of HD news has been happening in the last few weeks. There were several more interesting bits today about Harley that I did not report because I didn’t want to have any more HD coverage.

    Harley Davidson is pretty big in the motorcycle market, if they’re having big problems and making big changes, it’s news worth reporting.

  33. So……… Eric will get rid of the inventory for Harley and then what?? There will be a new position for him back at Harley. End of story. Harley wins, Buell loses. Eric is given a new challenge (hopefully).

  34. I’ve read all the post in the various threads on the Kneeslider. There are a few well written and thought out posts and also a lot of name calling ~ hate towards H-D and
    way to much plain BS.

    We can speculate, guess and assume ourselves to the end of time on this subject,
    but until Eric Buell or someone at H-D decides to reveal more, we are all in the dark.

    So lets concentrate on what is known, and wish Eric all the best in his new endeavour
    and success on the race track in 2010.

  35. well i’m sure this will be unpopular but lets face it ‘buell racing’ is an oxymoron, i could see if it was a 750 racing against 600’s but a litre + bike ? cmon its little more than charity and maked no more sense than the questionable engineering, oil in the swingarm and perimeter brakes anyone !

    erik buell has had a great run and made some fun bikes, along with a great deal of passion and hard work however it was simply great fortune that had him picked up by papa bear HD, otherwise the bikes and erik would have been forever consigned to the wonderfully wierd fringes of motorcyling, the glass therefore has been very much 1/2 full because it was never really meant to be in the first place

    i noticed there was something wrong at buell when their misuided ad campaign showed them crushing their own bikes disenfrachising customers and encouraging their riders NOT to acknowledge other types of bikers on the road because buell riders were getting on with the oh so important business of sunday riding !,
    Simply condescescing and retarded especially as the other bikes might be HD themselves ie biting the hand that feeds or real sportbikes from italy and japan !

    HD is shrinking to its core business for one reason, survival ! there is no master plan no consipracy theory nothing, jus survival and i hope they do because the are a fantastic american brand

    erik clearly has clearly had performance ambitions from day one that is after all his reason for bieng and the recent ads confirm that direction, unemployed he now needs and occupation and perhaps a little face saving and HD is pretty much bieng courteous and possibly managing negative gossip

    i think we all have respect for something that is done well, whether its HD as the ultimate cruise icon, clinically perfect japanese bikes, even extended busa turbo drag bikes they all do what they do really well, buell’s don’t do anything well

  36. the reason i’m sad is that i wanted to believe, i test drove thunderbolts half a dozen times before deciding to buy an xb12ss in sydney. yes they’re kooky and yes they’re nowhere near as good as the japanese, the german and the english bikes out there, but they have something.
    sadly, the dream didn’t translate into reality, no stock, no foreseeable stock, that was 2 years ago. Buell dealership issues 1, sell through 0.
    HD will survive long term with foreign new money (non USA nouveau bourgeois) looking at status symbol material possessions. After all, a 100 year US brand holds cachet in some places.
    But racing? puhlease. Erik, wake up.
    Your brand identity lies in your street innovations, those innovations do not translate to the track.
    I loved and still love your weird and wonderful machines, but racing is out of the HD league. Times are a’changin’
    Will Ben Spies or Casey Stoner run your bikes? wait, will Vale give it a shot?
    Highly unlikely.
    know your place and get it right.
    I’m just saddened that HD never really tried hard enough.
    Buell is unique, Buell is strange, Buell is exciting, Buell is tasty.
    Erik, please move on.
    There are people out there who will follow you and with the right backing you can make it happen.
    You just need to ditch the company that stands for image over substance.
    You have substance (point in case, everyone is now into the upside down forks and the underslung muffler), they don’t.
    Your ideas are way too smart for the chrome kings.

  37. I would love it that Eric is going out on his own to help all the racers. But there are very few Buell racers in the US that race with any kind of budget that would allow a race shop to sustain it self. Having been in the US engine business for 30 years, I can almost say with certainty that Eric was politely shown the door. Whenever a CEO says that he wish’s Eric well, and that he thinks it’s a great thing, remember, this is the same guy that walked into the Board Meeting and asked the Board why they had not closed down Buell sooner. This is a guy that did not know how to ride a motorcycle when he came to Harley. This is all corporate speak BS, just to smooth things over, plane & simple.

  38. it looks like Erik Buell has signed a non compete clause (spelling?). i’ll bet this is just a thing to do until those 15 months are up. a few web blogs have mentioned that he has talked with the company that makes the can-am spider (polaris?) but it is just a rumor, and probably won’t be confirmed for oh about 15 months?

    all in all i’m saddened but i’m also a bit excited to see what kind of a ‘do-er’ he will be over the next couple years.

  41. Eric , I wish you the very best of luck and good fortune in your new venture. I also .hope that someday we will see and American sport bike that can compete with the best the world has to offer in design and tech capability. I think it only fitting that you lead this undertaking at some time in the near future.

  42. If I remember correctly, the man Erik Buell himself posted a comment on the Kneeslider not too far ago … Paul, can’t you send him an email and ask for update/news, as a kind on unformal interview or sthg ? (probably not possible due to contract terms w/ HD)

  43. “RAshomon” is Erik Buell, of course! why didnt I pick it sooner! The murdered Samurai himself…..

  44. The 750cc HD KR gave HD a 250cc displacement advantage over the 500s of the day to be competitive…so now HD needs a 525cc advantage over 600cc bikes to be competitive…seems as if American engineering progress is going backwards?

  45. We will never have an American sportbike unless people buy it. More to the point, they have to buy it when it’s not perfect. No company is going to be able to compete with Honda et al or Ducati et al straight out of the gate in terms of both price and performance. A good bike is going to cost considerably more (the Roehr) or be a price competitive one with some flaws (Buell?). You just can’t whip up an inline four out of the air. A successful American sportbike is going to need someone like HD or Polaris (or some American company) behind them willing to spend money with little hope of return for a while. Buell’s bikes where perfeclty fine for most riders skill levels but they still went with Japanese or Euro bikes with power few could use. I’m not sure how anyone expects such a bike to actually emerge.

  46. To Kneeslider/Rashomon
    Left over parts is one thing, the ability to construct those same parts another.
    Where are the tools to construct those pieces, a dumpster, or collecting dust somewhere in HD, or somewhere else?

    1125R was a 2010 model, therefore eligible for competition (what is left of it). So, EB starts EBR company, grabs up his “core” group of folks to continue the on track effort – why?

    What do you think EB’s non-compete looks like?

    Would it include a racing effort, or would it only speak to street legal vehicles?
    If a non-compete would preclude chasing a streetbike now, how better to keep the “core” group together, continuing development for a time – say the length of a “non-compete” duration – in order to drop the next gen production bike sometime later?
    Of course, tools would be important for that, assuming next gen chassis works would be quite similar.

    What if that next gen powertrain (Rotax no doubt), was something quite special, something interesting? Of course, a guy would still need distribution, right? Even a sweet chassis, with a sweet motor would need an outlet, or you’re going no where. Wonder where a superbike caliber, Rotax powered, taut chassis thought might find an outlet?

    Can no one else smell Can-Am?

    I think EB was entirely frustrated with the way BMC was handled at HD. I think he would be wiser the 2nd time around, and with an outfit that takes powertrain as seriously as EB thinks on the chassis side, we could yet see a remarkable return.

    Different in every sense, so to speak……

    If so, I hope he gets happy. It’s likely been awhile.