Rip, Ebr?

RIP, EBR?

UP FRONT

EDITOR’S LETTER

ERIK BUELL RACING SHUTS DOWN BUT LOOKS AHEAD

Unfathomably, Erik Buell had to gather his 120-plus workers this past April and tell them to go home. “It was the second time I was at an all-company meeting that ended in tears,” a former employee said.

And so closed the doors at Erik Buell Racing’s East Troy, Wisconsin, factory.

The reborn American sportbike manufacturer had clawed back after Harley-Davidson’s 2009 closure of Buell Motorcycles in the same facility EBR occupies today. Initial funding for the founding of EBR was procured domestically, alongside Erik Buell’s own investment, but the biggest boost came when India’s Hero MotoCorp bought 49.2 percent of the company for $25 million in July 2013.

With Hero’s funding, EBR made exceptional progress on the 119oRX superbike with limited time, resources, and personnel, speeding the bike into production for the 2014 model year. It was followed by the 119oSX naked bike. Forthcoming machines included the AX adventure bike and much more, Erik Buell said by phone after the shutdown. “We’ve been working on the mainstream stuff,” he said. “I can’t talk about what was coming, but I will say some of it is much different than anybody would have expected. Stuff that is 18 months away from full-volume production that people would go, ‘Holy s—t! EBR did that?!’ It was all much higher volume and lower price.” The RX superbike entered a lowvolume, highly competitive market.

Sales numbers are not known, but the RX was subject to factory incentives of at least $2,000, indicating volume fell short of expectations. An insider said the SX was “doing much better.” Nonetheless, the initial investment in manufacturing and parts was unable to be recouped by sales.

Buell said he had less than 24 hours’ notice from his legal team that EBR had to cease operation. He said all were shocked that a second funding deal from Hero did not come through.

EBR entered Chapter 128 protection, a Wisconsin form of bankruptcy protection similar to federal bankruptcy protection. It is described by the Wisconsin Bar Association as being “for clients who have more debt than they can handle, wish to repay, and need the help of a structured plan to get back on their feet.”

Indicating, as ever, Buell the man is pushing ahead.

“The people we had here, what we were doing, it was stunning,” Buell said. “I’m really proud of the engineers and technicians. We were producing incredible stuff in an incredibly short time, with nothing. All the projects we did for Hero, it was just really cool. And at the same time, we designed the RX, the SX, and all the prototypes. Plus producing the bikes, plus running the World Superbike team. Our entire company is much smaller than just Ducati’s racing department.”

As we discovered in our 119oRX vs. Panigale comparison test last year (July 2014), while the RX wasn’t as refined as the Ducati, the base package was fast and great handling, the EBR turning similar lap times at the track and making competitive horsepower.

Where does EBR go from here? Buell said there was quite a bit of interest, and those people were in touch with the law firm in charge of the sale. Unlike the straight liquidation when HarleyDavidson shut down Buell Motorcycles, the Chapter 128 work focused on selling EBR as a functional unit.

“Where the business is at this time is infinitely better than where it was with the closing of Buell,” he said. “Then, I really had nothing except a dream to go forward. Now I have a production line, several models, more in the hopper, prototype models, and a lot of stuff preparing for the next five years. We could start production again in a day.”

It’s hard to lay odds against Erik Buell.

MARK HOYER

THIS MONTH'S STATS

167/77 HORSEPOWER/ TORQUE PRODUCED BY THE ALL-NEW YAMAHA YZF-R1

161/87 HORSEPOWER/ TORQUE PRODUCED BY THE 2014 EBR 1190RX

200 CAREER PODIUM FINISHES BY VALENTINO ROSSI (AS OF MAY 3, 2015)