Buell Dealers . . . Lack of

[JohnT]

All the local H-D dealers stopped selling Buells last year, refuse to service them, and won't even order parts for them (some Harley rule, apparently). Closest dealer to me now is over 150 miles away. If something happens to my wife's Blast—still under warranty—I'll have to trailer the thing over to them. I'd dump my Sportster 1200 for a Uly in a heartbeat, but not with the current dealership situation. Is Harley missing the boat or what? Why have an arrangement with Buell if you're not going to sell/service the bikes? Maybe overseas sales are enough for H-D. Doesn't make sense to me.

[jasilva]

That has to be something that your local dealer decided to do. I have 5 HD/Buell dealers within 30 miles of me in Norcal.

Joe

[dynarider96]

Originally Posted by jasilva

That has to be something that your local dealer decided to do. I have 5 HD/Buell dealers within 30 miles of me in Norcal.

Joe

Nope, the mothership decided to shut down certain Buell dealerships.

[tkdoff]

The dealerships are individually owned franchises. A Harley franchisee can make a choice to invest in selling and servicing the Buell line of products. Of course, if they don't follow H-D's guidelines/rules/stipulations/whatever they can lose their franchise.

Blanket statements like "Nope, the mothership decided to shut down certain Buell dealerships" doesn't tell the whole story. Most of the time, like jasilva said, it is the dealership that decides to drop the Buell line.

[dynarider96]

Within the last 18 months HD took the inititive & pulled underperforming Buell dealerships or those where perhaps market saturation was too great.

It's true that a dealership can decide on their own to drop the line, but the vast majority in the last 18 months were shuttered by HD itself.

[Rockbiter]

In my personal case, I directly blame my local dealership (and its satellite store) for lack of Buell support. They (my dealer) have never supported Buell to the level I would have concidered sufficient (did not stock even the simplist fall-over parts, flakey service, talking down the product...why buy a little Buell, buy a Softail instead!) and then they wonder why they didn't sell bikes.

Sickening.

[plasterhead]

friend works at boston harley buell....stop selling buell a year ago...was told the buell warranty work was a pain in the ass dealing with buell...so it was good buy

[Old_Mil]

Originally Posted by JohnT

All the local H-D dealers stopped selling Buells last year, refuse to service them, and won't even order parts for them (some Harley rule, apparently). Closest dealer to me now is over 150 miles away. If something happens to my wife's Blast—still under warranty—I'll have to trailer the thing over to them. I'd dump my Sportster 1200 for a Uly in a heartbeat, but not with the current dealership situation. Is Harley missing the boat or what? Why have an arrangement with Buell if you're not going to sell/service the bikes? Maybe overseas sales are enough for H-D. Doesn't make sense to me.

There have been some Harley shops that dropped the Buell line, but if you look at the Buell website, there are still a whole lot more Buell dealers in the US than dealers of almost anything else (Ducati, BMW, Triumph, etc...).

I'd agree though - the 150 miles to the nearest shop is tough. Owned a BMW once that put me in that situation.

[route66paul]

Do they refuse to work on them or do they refuse to order parts for you? I would think that any parts shop that could sell you parts would, maybe they can't get specfic Buell parts.

I would think that any good indy shop would service that bike.

[HD-DEMON]

I guess this explains why there was only one Buell at the dealer last time I was there... ( bought it)

I have a few HD dealers here in Houston so I hope they all don't stop selling buells... Is sad when a great product gets kick to the curb for lack if support from its manufaturer...

[extech]

We sold only 9 Buells last year, have over 20 in stock, aren't ordering any 2008's

[newultraclassic]

Personally I like Buells very much. I think they have a lot going from the design standpoint. They are fast and handle well I understand. Unfortunately, even though I'd like to have one for a second machine, they don't fit my geezer ergonomics and probably there are a lot of other people who don't like ( or can't deal with) the way they sit.

I think that they sit a lot like the Big Four sportbikes and that may be part of the problem in selling to the Harley crowd.

Also on the price versus speed comparison, Buells are behind the sportbike crowd. For the same or less you can get a sportbike that will do another 40-50 mph and handle almost if not as well.

So, these are some of the reasons I see that may slow Buell sales down. Whether I'm right or wrong, the bare fact is that Buells simply don't sell as well as other similar bikes and they don't really fit in at a Harley dealer. As most of you know, the motorcycle business, especially at the Harley level, has now become a high volume, high cost of overhead business. This makes it extremely difficult to hold inventory that doesn't turn over quickly. For these and other reasons I may have missed, that's why, at least in my opinion, many HD dealers don't sell them anymore.

In my area, Sacramento, there are five or six dealers within riding distance and I don't think there are more than one or two that haven't stopped selling Buells.

So don't get mad at me, this is just what I've observed in the past ten years since HD got involved in the Buell area.

%potstir@

[wheelybueller]

I believe most of the Buell issue is at the dealership level,not the MoCo.
They need to be knowledgeable and proud of the product to sell it
The dealerships you are mentioning only deliver bikes because because as we know most of these guys cant "sell".
I have had incredible dealings and miserable dealings across this country,in regards to Buells.

[xsive2x]

As in most 1% shops they don't want to change there cages becsue of the devoted following clientel that they already have. I see it as not wanting to expand there finacial goals. After all, comfort is in the things you know!

And WHEELY ----BEULLER !!!!!!!!!! Stuck in there head rut..... er vibration ruts!

[Maxim30cal]

HD is more concerned about the doctors and lawyers buying their $900 leather wannabe jackets than getting younger riders into the brand.

And the dealers that carry Buell are just as bad, stuffing the Buells into the far back corner and not even rolling them out in front of the shop.


As far as Buells performance, while they may look like a typical crotch rocket, they are not even close. I bought my Buell knowing I was getting a back road bike that had more torque, not more top speed, than a typical rice rocket.

I think the 1125R will eventually bring Buell into the scope of the regular rice rider crowd, as soon as they get rid of the Jurassic Park reptile wing looking air scoops.