EBR Out Of Business

[EMS]

Erik Buell Racing filed for bankrupcy. After disappointing results in the WorldSBK championship due to technical problems, EBR has failed less than a year after the introduction of the 1190SX.
125 employees in East Troy, WI have been layed off.

[Larry Zimmer]

A pity and a shame. What a loss!

[harvey]

This was sad to see happen. Eric Buell has worked hard to develop his ideas and concepts and then to move them to actual production and to working bikes.

I guess the market just did not or was not ready for his motorcycles. Hopefully Motus will not have the same problems.

[EMS]

The United States is not a market that will sustain these kind of bikes, if you don't have anything else. The U.S. is a cruiser market. Look at Indian.
That is the main reason that Japanese manufacturers sometimes do not offer certain models in the U.S. There is not enough customer interest to support training of mechanics and stocking spare parts for models that will sell, maybe, 500 per year or less.
Motus is a different concept, but they will likely fail also.
We discussed this many times among friends, why Buell could not succeed, even when they were part of HD,(which was part of the problem to begin with)
Erik Buell knew that his bike's success would greatly depend on the performance in racing. When this did not materialize, it spelled the end for his effort.

[RJ CB650]

Reading, I just wonder if going too big too fast was a pretty big network? To me, EBR almost needed to be a sort of boutique bike for a fair while. But guess minimum production quantities or something? Tough to say. Look how long triumph took to make coin? Guy is a genius though, and the bikes for having their limited backing were still pretty kickin! If they were in Canada a couple years from now, I was seriously considering one...

[FalldownPhil]

Erik is getting a bad rap here. His number one sponsor "Zero" turned out to be just that. They would not continue the funding that they had promised.
Also for the record, Larry Pegram scored the first point for any USA made bike in WSB. Not too bad for a new bike and an old rider. A very close friend of
mine is/was part of Team EBR.
Guess Who

Best,
Phil

[RJ CB650]

While we know it is tough for him, hopefully somebody picks him up again. Gotta be somebody out there. Proven and awesome tech and patents to be had. I mean did they expect record sales in like three years? Took triumph 20 to get back in the game.

[EMS]

Erik is getting a bad rap here. His number one sponsor "Zero" turned out to be just that. They would not continue the funding that they had promised.
Also for the record, Larry Pegram scored the first point for any USA made bike in WSB.
Best,
Phil

Phil: I don't think anybody here would not acknowledge Erik Buell's talent and is blaming him for EBR not succeeding. There were definitely factors outside his control that caused the demise.

I am not so sure about Pegram scoring first points in WSB for a U.S. made bike...I am pretty sure Pascal Picotte had a couple of podium finishes on a HD VR1000 in the 90s. I think he even won a race at Mid-Ohio, although controversial....