Bryan's Blog

It’s been less than a week but the rumor mill is already churning. Reports about investors looking to resurrect Buell Motorcycles are already circulating. A business group based in Wisconsin near where the Buell facilities are located, loosely identified as the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance, is reportedly contacting Erik Buell about resurrecting the company that bears his name. The alliance is made up of business leaders and Chamber of Commerce members who are looking to retain as many jobs as possible. East Troy is a small community with a population of around 4500 people, so of course local business leaders will scramble to save an outlet that employs a lot of people in its district.
 
The Buell plant’s closing means 180 people found out they were out of a job this week, and there’s no telling how many other companies that Buell did business with which were indirectly affected. So the Alliance is chivalrously trying to keep production in East Troy, Wisconsin, in order to keep a paycheck coming in for its 180 employees.

The major complication that immediately pops up is the fact that many of Buell’s designs and components are trademarked by Harley-Davidson. Now you’re getting into that ambiguous grey area. Who wants to see their trademarks in the hands of potential competitors? Then again, Harley’s hurting for revenue, and maybe the selling price could be too good to refuse for the cash-strapped company.
 
Then there’s the wording of the announcement itself. Harley is ‘discontinuing production’ of Buell motorcycles. Does this mean it’s leaving the door open to maybe one day ‘continue production?’

From what I’ve gleaned from reading numerous forums is the fact that there a bunch of Buell loyalists out there who would love to see what Erik could do without having being under the thumb of The Motor Company.

Are there any motorcycle enthusiasts out there with a billion to invest in a motorcycle company? I hear there’s a couple up for sale.