News

By the Numbers: The End of Buell

By Aaron Frank, Photography by Aaron Frank

May 1, 2010


1983	Erik Buell founds the Buell Motor Company. The first production model is the RW750 two-stroke roadracer. Only one is sold.
1993	Buell partners with Harley-Davidson. Buell Motorcycles, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Motor Company, is formed 10 years later in 2003.
10/30/09	Date the final Buell Motorcycle, a Lightning XB12Scg, rolls off the East Troy, Wisconsin, assembly line.
136,923	Total Buell production over the company's 26-year history.
2	Percentage share of the total sportbike market held by Buell in '08.
190	Number of Buell employees let go at the time of the factory's closure.
6	Number of employees at the newly formed Erik Buell Racing.
2	Number of motorcycles sold, at press time, by Erik Buell Racing. Both were 185-bhp 1190RR superbikes, sold to the Pegasus race team to compete in the European Sound of Thunder series.
$7995	MSRP of a brand-new, race-only Buell 1125R track bike from Erik Buell Racing.
$5000	Cash rebate H-D reportedly paid its dealers for each Buell motorcycle sold after it announced the brand would be discontinued. This led some dealers to slash prices as low as $5995 for brand-new 1125R and CR models
$125.8	Losses, in millions, resulting from costs related to Harley-Davidson's decision to discontinue operation of its Buell and MV Agusta subsidiaries.
30	Length, in days, of the Buell Motorcycle factory liquidation sale.
2-1-11	Date Erik Buell's non-compete clause with H-D expires, freeing him to potentially apply his engineering talents to another motorcycle line.