If the Commando was $30,000.00 and was touted as the end all/be all of motorcycles THAT woud be ironic, but that is not the case!

Vince

Speaking of irony:

"Please buy American-made X-mas gifts this year!, EMPLOY AMERICANS!!

1973-1/2 BMW R75/5 (LWB)
1971 Norton Commando
1952 Triumph TRW
1936 BMW R2"

JimC wrote:This is from GTA Motorcycle.com explaining why Harley sold MV shortly after acquiring it and closed down Buell: "Harley sold Buell and MV for a single simple reason. Fast motorcycles scare HD".

I believe that harley financed individuals knowing that they couldn't meet the repayments and when they defaulted Harley would then sell the repo'd bikes and still make money. However, nobody had the money to buy them and so they lost a heap of money in a very short time. Buell were running in profit with Erik selling truly unique motorcycles. The pulling of the carpet from beneath him was a simple "f@ck you" to Erik with love from harley davidson (lower case intentional). Buell was an extremely good buy for harley as Erik and his team did all the development work on the Sportster motors for free to the point where harley now have a Sportster which is not far from where Buell were 25 years ago. That's progress for you.

BrianK wrote:Speaking of irony:

"Please buy American-made X-mas gifts this year!, EMPLOY AMERICANS!!

1973-1/2 BMW R75/5 (LWB)
1971 Norton Commando
1952 Triumph TRW
1936 BMW R2"

Apparently I am "irony-challenged", is your problem that I do not ride American-made motorcycles?, the only one I see is Motus and I don't think they are selling yet, Hardly-Fergusons are ASSEMBLED in PA. but they are NOT American-made! (and have not been for years now).

Vince

If the Commando was $30,000.00 and was touted as the end all/be all of motorcycles THAT woud be ironic, but that is not the case!

What's the price of a CNW Norton?

Fullauto wrote:Buell were running in profit with Erik selling truly unique motorcycles. The pulling of the carpet from beneath him was a simple "f@ck you" to Erik with love from harley davidson (lower case intentional). Buell was an extremely good buy for harley as Erik and his team did all the development work on the Sportster motors for free to the point where harley now have a Sportster which is not far from where Buell were 25 years ago. That's progress for you.

I think you will find that Erik Buell had eventually sold his entire share in the business to HD, in several stages, and was only a consultant/figurehead at the end. The problem was that the bikes suddenly started sitting in showrooms, and HD saw the writing on the wall (ie big losses) and pulled the plug - no point making things that aren't selling.

Not the problem that Mr Garner is having though...

Rohan wrote: The problem was that the bikes suddenly started sitting in showrooms, and HD saw the writing on the wall (ie big losses) and pulled the plug - no point making things that aren't selling.

Not the problem that Mr Garner is having though...

Nope, but selling things they aren't making is a big one.

Maybe we need to go and look in the carpark / bikepark out at Donington Park then - if its full of Ferraris and Lambos then you know where the story is at.

If its not, and they are struggling to keep going and supply bikes to customers, what does that say..

Very big difference...

A little history: http://www.industrytoday.com/article_vi ... cleID=1485

Rohan wrote:

Fullauto wrote:Buell were running in profit with Erik selling truly unique motorcycles. The pulling of the carpet from beneath him was a simple "f@ck you" to Erik with love from harley davidson (lower case intentional). Buell was an extremely good buy for harley as Erik and his team did all the development work on the Sportster motors for free to the point where harley now have a Sportster which is not far from where Buell were 25 years ago. That's progress for you.

I think you will find that Erik Buell had eventually sold his entire share in the business to HD, in several stages, and was only a consultant/figurehead at the end. The problem was that the bikes suddenly started sitting in showrooms, and HD saw the writing on the wall (ie big losses) and pulled the plug - no point making things that aren't selling.

I think you will find that you are wrong. Erik still owned 2 percent and ran the company. He was never a "figurehead". He was and still is a tireless worker and as for bikes sitting unsold in the showroom, I don't know where your local showroom is but Buells were still selling well and the company was still making a profit.
If what you say is true, why did harley not sell Buell instead of pulling the plug?

I know that you are wrong !
And if you read the link that someone provided, it said that Erik sold 49% and then 49% and then 2%. That doesn't leave much ! Link was to an article quite a while back too.
Other articles refer to "large stocks of inventory to be disposed of" after manufacturing ceased...

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but they couldn't sell Buells here at HALF RETAIL price, so they shipped them off somewhere.

As usual, my stack of play money was depleted when that sale happened...

I would like to see a Norton company run along the lines of the Ural and Royal Enfield operations in the USA. Those are both successful without having state of the art technology and super power and speed. They have a lot more sales appeal and authenticity than the new Triumphs to a significant market.

There are a lot more Urals and RE bikes seen around my town than the new Triumph twin bikes.

Norton could have done the same thing only better. If they would make the featherbed model 88 again and get it over here for the price of an 883 Harley I think it would do great. Make it as simple as possible and let the enthusiasts hot-rod it and customize it like the Enfield crowd. If they put the featherbed back in mass production they could probably make them for a couple hundred bucks a piece, sell them for $500 a piece over the parts counter to the Cafe builders and make money hand over fist.

All that would take far less money to start up than trying to make something new from scratch to compete with other modern bikes. They could mass produce Manx wheels and other parts for vintage Nortons that are hard to find and going for way too much money now.

The nostalgia and neo rocker scene is going crazy and a new Norton 88 could move right into it and take over.

beng wrote:I would like to see a Norton company run along the lines of the Ural and Royal Enfield operations in the USA. Those are both successful without having state of the art technology and super power and speed. They have a lot more sales appeal and authenticity than the new Triumphs to a significant market.

There are a lot more Urals and RE bikes seen around my town than the new Triumph twin bikes.

Norton could have done the same thing only better. If they would make the featherbed model 88 again and get it over here for the price of an 883 Harley I think it would do great. Make it as simple as possible and let the enthusiasts hot-rod it and customize it like the Enfield crowd. If they put the featherbed back in mass production they could probably make them for a couple hundred bucks a piece, sell them for $500 a piece over the parts counter to the Cafe builders and make money hand over fist.

All that would take far less money to start up than trying to make something new from scratch to compete with other modern bikes. They could mass produce Manx wheels and other parts for vintage Nortons that are hard to find and going for way too much money now.

The nostalgia and neo rocker scene is going crazy and a new Norton 88 could move right into it and take over.

I am ready with my Norton 88!!

No point in half measures,