Following Erik Buell Racing (EBR) bankruptcy, all assets will be auctioned starting July 21st with results announced July 23rd. People will be able to bid on all tangible assets – equipment, machines, tools, parts, assembled or partially assembled motorcycles – and intangible assets – good will, brand name.
There is still a possibility that Erik Buell Racing will be bought as a whole, a bidder buying all the auctioned lots, to move forward with the relaunch of the motorcycles manufacturer.
Erik Buell Racing closed its business on April 15, 2015 and filed for protection from its creditors in Walworth County Circuit Court, Wisconsin. With outstanding bills of more than $20 million and unable to pay them Erik Buell Racing had no other choice than to close the doors of its facility in East Troy. All the EBR’s 126 employees were laid off.
Erik Buell Racing was created in 2009 when Harley-Davidson decided to drop the brand to focus on its own motorcycles and to reorganize the company. Erik Buell invested his own money and later received financing from Hero MotoCorp, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in India.
No doubt a brilliant group of people who need some business sense…
In the Real world just having a good idea isn’t enough.
(never was, never will be)
Success requires equal doses of Inspiration, Brilliance, and Pragmatism.
-nicker-
I am a bit mystified why Polaris has not picked this cherry.
They are ideally placed to produce an all-American Superbike.
If the talk of Hero in debt to EBR for $20M is true, well all the pragmatism in the world would not have saved them. What that little company did (see the head to head comparison tests) was this side of amazing. That being said the superbike market is not one for a small in size, small in capital bike maker any longer, unless they are happy selling bikes in the tens and not thousands. See Bimota (version 4.0 or so now….). The various acronyms that bikes have to feature – ABS,TCS,SCS, blah, blah, blah, blah…to be viable to the potential buyer is rediculous. And expensive to develop.
I have met Erik Buell a few times, even bought one of his bikes. Truly loved my ’07 XB9R until the big end let go (he did not build the engine) and will get another with the improved crank pin. I truly hope he gets another go at making bikes, maybe vet out the partner a bit better next time.
Erik Buell is one of a dying breed. An engineer with HIS name on the tank. Maybe the last??
$20 MIL. in the hole. He should build a bike for himself and ride off into the sunset. A real bummer for EBR. ..Z
Buell was destined as a futile exercise with HD engines from day one. Fun? Some models, but never destined to be a competitor. Why would one imagine that a 45 degree V twin engine could be competitive? Sure, it’s quick but that’s not the only equation. HD assumed that sport bike riders would migrate to a Buell, then on to cruisers.
Eric did win the Sport Bike title several years back, but he was competing against 600 cc engines.
Trying to produce a V twin that’s competitive in the premier classes today is a losing proposition. The 1190 no doubt is a great bike and has great comparisons for the street. But, Racing? It doesn’t have the legs to run with the big dogs. Ducati will attest to that — Ducati now compete with a V four engine in their Moto GP bikes. In AMA super bike the Buell was several seconds slower than the leaders
All of this is not a reflection of Eric as a person — from all that have met him, all I hear is praise and I wish him well. Again.
Eric has proven that he can build a good motorcycle. Retirement isn’t all that bad.
@NoH2oh
Yeah if the Indians couldn’t make a go of Buell then the company has some deep issues, because Indians business elite are hard nosed . Not saying though that Buell lacked in engineering acumen.
Polaris did’t buy, wouldn’t buy Buell because the assets aren’t worth the purchase price. All they would get of value is a name, and a few patents. Not much for 20 million worth of debt. If they want to build a sport bike, they already have the engineering ability to do it without buying someone else’s debt. See Project 156…
It would be great if it was sold off piecemeal and then Erik was brought onboard at Polaris. Probably won’t happen though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants to be done dealing with big corporations.
isn’t his name associated with failure now?
This if for fuji. You should go watch Cory West race a new 1190 at Barber, during the AHRMA racing. Cory beat every bike on the grid by a mile, to include Ducati Panigales, fully setup…you should get out from behind the computer keyboard a little more often. You sound like an armchair commando to me.