Aaron, Bell International is retained as the exclusive agent for Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycles to seek a strategic relationship for the reintroduction of the brand to the marketplace. “We look forward to working with Excelsior-Henderson during this exciting time in America, with the resurgence of manufacturing pride and interest in motorsports,” states Ralph Bellizzi, founder and president of Aaron, Bell International. As one of the original “Big 3” OEM motorcycle manufacturers along with Harley-Davidson and Indian during the early decades of motorcycling, Excelsior-Henderson’s heritage includes owners Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, and a long list of ‘firsts,’ being the first motorcycle to circumnavigate the world and officially ‘clocked’ at over 100 mph, to engineering and design innovations until ceasing production by owner Ignatz Schwinn of Chicago during the Great Depression.
In the 1990s, that engineering and design legacy was painstakingly carried forward with the rebirth of the brand and the development of a proprietary, new Super X motorcycle by the Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycle Manufacturing Company. The company produced nearly 2000 motorcycles featuring dual overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, closed-loop fuel injection, integrated cassette transmissions, anti-dive suspensions, and more. Owners of the motorcycles today are just as fervent about the brand as the day they rode them off dealers’ lots.
In light of falling Heavy Cruiser sales worldwide – A potential trade war which threatens to drastically diminish American M/C sales overseas – A worldwide economy in free fall – Politics across the globe in disarray – A Make America Great Again rhetoric that is quickly revealing itself to be nothing more than Smoke & Mirrors as the so called president refills the swamp with the very worst of the worst .
In light of all that ( and more ) E-H really thinks there’s room in the market place for yet another ill conceived brand name revival ? And worse yet . They’re looking for someone else to partner in their futile efforts ?
Welcome to the post truth/fact reality distortion 2010’s .
Awesome! It would be great to see EH rise again! No one I knew in the industry thought this company would ever make it to production back in the nineties. Against all odds EH did make production and created a very unique, capable bike. I’ve owned several and still own a Deadwood Special. Dan Hanlon is a very capable businessman. While recognizing this will be an uphill battle, if anyone can pull this off he’s the man!
Yeah, I don’t know………………………………..
I hear Eric Buell is looking for something to do, along with 100’s of Victory employees. Perhaps they can all get together and burn up a big stack of other people’s money…
Remember actually seeing a couple (maybe the same one?) in the wild years ago. What ever became of the factory and offices?
Comments should be fun to watch on this one.
Cyril, your headline for this suckered me in. I though someone was going to try to relaunch EH, again! Once the video started, I realized that this was just a history lesson.
The plant in Belle Plaine, MN is now owned by Cambria countertops, its contents were sold to Swift transport for their short lived Swift motorcycle brand. Being from Minnesota, I can tell you there are still a large number of people around here that are still sour over the last attempt to revive the brand.
Chief Waldo. You were not tricked by Cyril. Excelsior is looking to relaunch.
It looks like Aaron, Bell International is anInvestment Banking entity. It appears they have been hired to find an investor to financially back the proposed reincarnation of EH MC’s. I copied the following from one of their postings which states their role. I googled “Aaron, Bell international”. You can do so for a for more info…
“SAINT PAUL, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Aaron, Bell International is retained as the exclusive agent for Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycles to seek a strategic relationship for the reintroduction of the brand to the marketplace”.
is this a spinoff from the ‘walking dead’ tv series.
A very bad idea no matter how you look at it .
Yawn…another V-twin. I may take notice if they offer a modern in-line 4.
Dan Hanlon has been trying to get Victory to buy the nameplate from him for almost 20 years.
Has one ugly frontend .
I wish Excelsior Henderson and Aaron Bell INternational all the best on their endeavor to restart the brand. Lets just hope that it doesn’t turn into another EB restart after restart debacle
I rode one at Sturgis when they launched. I thought it was a great motorcycle, different and unique. I for one, liked the front end both in looks and function. If the Hanlon Bros weren’t ego maniacs (oil painting of the founders in the foyer before a motorcycle had rolled down the line/road into the facility named Hanlon Drive) they may have got somewhere, and there’d be even more choice for riders worldwide.
Franco, I agree a modern inline 4 would be awesome, Indian probably will beat them to market first.
Had Polaris purchased the rights to the name and design of Excelsior-Henderson instead of debuting Victory, who knows whether they’d have attracted more customers over the years.
BTW, of all the relaunched famous motorcycle brands, Triumph has probably been the most successful AFAIC. The *big* difference being that Triumph is privately owned. Not impressed with lack of Triumph franchises across the USA though.
Sometimes though I just don’t get the whole reviving an extinct name. Why do it? Especially a name like EH which lets face it, is not exactly known outside of a minority of riders. Why not call it the Hanlon Brothers? And have it stand on its own?
The last EH attempt left a bad taste with a lot of riders.
And god was that front end ugly
I think I’ll start a GoFundMe page to relaunch Flying Merkels. Does anybody just buy a bike because it’s a great bike anymore?
I’ve ridden Excelsior Henderson #1229 cross country without touching an interstate. Spent years fixing the bugs. Maybe the X Twin doesn’t make the power needed to compete in the modern marketplace but I dare you to ride mine without an expletive deleted grin. The combination of speed, handling and comfort that a well dialed EH delivers is something every lover of American motorcycles should try.
I would buy a Flying Merkel just for the name!
I love Excelsior Henderson. Would love to own one of the last revival period.I rode one in Sturgis in 2000. Victory debacle has proven you can’t build a good stand alone motorcycle and make it anymore but you attach historic brand heritage to it and almost instant success, enter the new Spirit Lake built Indian.
Perfect timing and opportunity in my opinion. Blood in the water from a recently orphaned heavy weight American cruiser and disgruntled owners left out in the cold with suddenly slim pickin’s for their next American V-twin. America, on the way to being great again. I wish them success. There will eventually be an American 4 again from one company , maybe two now. Excited for the future.
Wow two themes at play here, one person cannot post without bringing politics in, rather sad. Others seem to want inline fours and I seem to recall that one can still get an inline four rather I expensively by getting a well used Honda CB750. What others want is a modern throwback, which is a anachronism as today’s Indians resemble the classics in sheet metal period, so are you anticipating some modernized product with an antique tank badge?
I hear Ray Evernham is rebooting an old California bike company in honor of his wife.
A water cooled in line 4 with classic looks but a telescopic front end and the an old marque on the tank. Kinda like what Indian did with the Chief platform. So Kelly…yeah.
ok one more time
“There’s a sucker born every minute.”
While skeptical, I test rode the old Henderson super X and fell in love with it. Didn’t have the finances until two years after it went under. I haven’t been a fan of h-d since Willie G. retired, Don’t like the overpriced Indians and Victory dug the knife deep. IF this happens, I’m all in for a Super X!
More jobs, more competition – what’s not to love? The anti-capitalists like Kafka above will bitch all the way to the state owned grocery store. Meanwhile, they can hold the beer of Americans building a new company and learn something (Ok – so they won’t – they can still hold the beer).
the inline 4 could be a great idea,Triumph with the rocket iii is so good, i am sure they can come up with something, or source one fro somewhere, or join forces with Motus, lots can happen, and it can do well.
and with the current flat track resurgence and join the fray. do what indian and harley wont do, a street legal flat tracker.
I always welcome a new comer, it can’t be worse than before, or dumber than Fisher or fischer, whatever that was.
Longitudinal in line four. I would love it.