looks like one of those gunpoint ''confessions'' third worlds are so fond of

Seems retarded to me. HD drops the only things that made them interesting to the sportbike/youngish crowd. Now they're going to focus on making more slow, overweight, over-accessorized, oil cooled bikes? :td:

you forgot overpriced. Maybe now victory will consider doing a sportsbike. I seriously doubt indian would

I got a feeling this is just the beginning; look for slashed Fim and Ama factory teams shortly. These are expenses few can continue to have in the face of plummeting sales and profits.

If you want to see what happens in worldwide economic downturn, look back to the late 70's and early 80's which heralded the demise of the British motorcycle industry and the pullback of the Europeans; Ducati stopped importing to the US, Laverda staggered on for a couple of years and many marques disappeared altogether.

Buell is just a first-rounder, Mv may find a daddy warbucks, but my bet is that Moto Guzzi will go, at least from the US; Benelli will likely get shucked off by it's Indonesian benefactor and won't likely find a buyer;look for CanAm (the folks that brought us the Spyder) to go away.....

anybody else think this is just the start or things?

Honda still has a lot of new 07s on the floor.

They just happen to have a big parent company to eat the losses.

Erik Buell just needs to plead to the government like Harley Davidson did in the 80's to save their asses from backrupcy by taxing the shit out of all imported bikes. Funny how Harley can't remember their roots on this one just as Buell starts to show real promise for the future with their new line up.

If you aren't familar with how the government saved Harley ass you can read more about it here. Funny how over priced HDs are now compared to Jap bikes...wonder if that tarriff is still in place?

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa032.html

From the article: "The decision to drop Buell comes only a month after a Buell 1125R bike beat Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki motorcycles to win the coveted American Motorcycle Association's sport bike championship Sept. 8 in New Jersey. It was the first pro championship for an American motorcycle manufacturer since 1986 and the first for Buell."

Is there anything Harley Davidson on the 1125R? What does Buell need from Harley Davidson? Dealerships for sales and service.

Too bad Eric doesn't know that this is the best thing to happen to him. He should distance himself from Harley Davidson, which caters to aging baby-boomers (but not me).

Maybe he should become the first American motorcycle company to sell motorcycles and parts directly off the internet. Or at least join with dealerships from a smaller company with a similar sporty engine, like Aprilia or Ducati.

Buell is embedded too tightly with HD to be worth selling. Believe me, HD would sell it if they thought they could.

People have been saying "The latest Buell bikes show real potential" for years now. Potential doesn't pay the bills. Sales matter and apparently they weren't selling.

It's sadly hilarious that DMG rigged the DSB rules to favor the Buells, they win the championship and now they are done. Maybe they'll create a stock class for Electro-glides?

probably wipe out the whole dsb class for a xr1200 one make series

I suspect what Buell needs from H-D is cash. I doubt they are making a profit. What are the odds of them successfully setting up their own manufacturing and dealership network when they can't make money without having to do those things?

Additionally, with the state the motorcycle business is in right now, how many people are lining up to spend the cash necessary to start carrying Buell when H-D can't manage to sell the bikes?

Most manufacturers wouldn't want to go to direct internet sales. Dealers are great for a number of reasons, but the ability for a customer to touch and sit on a bike is lost over the internet. Also lost is dealers paying for inventory to exist. When inventory sits on a manufacturers floor nobody is paying for it. The last issue is nobody has yet figured out how to perform service and warranty work over the internet.