A couple of brothers recently asked about the Buell Motorcycle Company and Erik’s new venture with electric bikes. They were concerned about the two directions and splitting the name. We dug into these efforts to find out what the hell was happening.
Buell History
In 1983, Buell Motorcycles was founded
In 1984, the first Buell Motorcycle was built. With the help of Erik, Buell created the RW750, a full-fledged grand prix motorcycle for racing only in the AMA Formula 1 race class. However, the class was eliminated, and only 2 were ever produced.
From 1985 through 1992, along with running a race parts business and doing consulting engineering for companies such as Schwinn and Yamaha, Erik built a range of street sport motorcycles using Harley-Davidson® engines. The success of this led to Harley-Davidson® purchasing in 1993 a minority interest of Buell® Motorcycle Company.
In 1987 Rockville, MD became the World’s first Buell dealership.
In 1998, after 20,000+ motorcycles had been manufactured since the start of Buell, Erik Buell sold Harley-Davidson 49% of Buell motorcycles.
In 2007, the 1125R was manufactured with a new V-Twin motor with liquid cooling, DOHC, and fuel injection.
In 2014, the EBR 1190SX (Naked Bike) was revealed. The SX also features the East Troy V-Twin Motor, as does the RS & RX.
In 2016, EBR Motorcycles was formed to continue the legacy of Erik Buell.
buell 1190hcr edit .jpg
The 2017 model Black Lightning is created and released under limited production.
In 2002, the XBR9 Firebolt was manufactured. It was the first bike with aluminum beam fuel in frame chassis, and perimeter brake rotor. The XB chassis and motor derivatives grew to a substantial business of nearly 90,000 units.
In 2009, Buell won their first championship at AMA Daytona Sportbike class with rider Danny Eslick.
Beginning in 2010, Erik Buell Racing was formed, first supplying race parts for Buell® motorcycles, then in 2011 into production with the 1190RS, a factory super premium street/race-bike.
2021 Buell is back in production with an exciting array of motorcycles in development.
2020 Buell develops their first dirt bike in collaboration with the Cipala race team and wins the AMA Hillclimb National Championship.
–from 2021 Buell Motorcycles U.S.A.
Buell Motorcycles is an American motorcycle manufacturer based in Grand Rapids, MI and was founded in 1983 by ex-Harley-Davidson engineer Erik Buell.[1] Harley-Davidson acquired 49% of Buell in 1993, and Buell became a wholly owned subsidiary of Harley-Davidson by 2003.[2] On November 17, 2006, Buell announced that it had produced and shipped its 100,000th motorcycle.[3]
On October 15, 2009, Harley-Davidson announced the discontinuation of the Buell product line as part of its strategy to focus on the Harley-Davidson brand. The last Buell motorcycle produced through Harley-Davidson was on October 30, 2009, bringing the number manufactured to 136,923.
In November 2009, Erik Buell announced the launch of Erik Buell Racing, an independent company run by Erik Buell which initially produced race-only versions of the 1125R model, then subsequently offered an updated 1190RS model for the street or the track, and produced further improved 1190RX and 1190SX models which are intended for street or track use.
In February 2021, Buell Motorcycles announced they are back in production under the new ownership of Erik Buell Racing (EBR). Buell announced they will use the superbike platforms developed from 2011 to 2020 to build out their model line up to approximately 10 models in 2024. The models will include variations for touring, dirt, adventure, and cruisers.
–Wikipedia
Erik Buell Racing (EBR) is an American motorcycle sport company which produces street and racing motorcycles, based in East Troy, Wisconsin, USA. The business entered receivership in April 2015. After two previous attempts, the business remnants were sold in January 2016 to Liquid Asset Partners (LAP), an American organization specializing in the purchase and liquidation of failed businesses.
Liquid Asset Partners kept the company intact and motorcycle production resumed on March 1, 2016, the first new model rolling out on March 17, 2016.
–Wikipedia
Then we heard from our Blog Editor:
Bikernet Blog has published three articles on Erik Buell e-bikes with two of them published in March / July 2019 and one published just a few weeks ago in Feb 2021.
There is no question of any clash for the brand name Buell – since Erik Buell is not using it and has distanced himself from the renewed company bearing his name. He is using the name Fuell for his electric endeavor.
Here are the basic summary from the three Bikernet Blog Posts:
Erik Buell is riding back to motorcycle business with Frederic Vasseur of Formula E and F1 fame and entrepreneur, Francois Terny. Buell is all set to launch an electric motorcycle brand called Fuell.
https://blog.bikernet.com/erik-buell-launches-electric-motorcycle-brand/
Fuell company with Erik Buell launched crowd-funding on indiegogo platform which has raised almost One Million Dollars from people who want to buy the first product of Fuell called Fluid which is an electric bicycle. The electric drive unit and assorted controllers and screen appear to be off-the-shelf units from a company called Bofeili, and versions of the hardware sans the battery can be bought online from sites like Alibaba of China for a few hundred dollars.
If it’s using predominantly average, off-the-shelf components, where does that money go? Design mostly. It looks a lot like a hard-tail mountain bike with extra beefy frame tubes. Nothing immediately calls out that it’s been electrified until you get up close, and we think that’s cool.
https://blog.bikernet.com/erik-buell-is-trading-motorcycles-for-e-bikes-with-the-fuell-fluid/
The revival of the Buell Motorcycles is fueled by the company holding control over it, Liquid Asset Partners (LAP). They hint at no fewer than ten models over the next three years. Those are said to range from dirt to touring bikes, and from dual-sport to cruisers. There’s possibly even an electric two-wheeler in the cards.
Erik Buell is not involved in this revival of course and made that perfectly clear in an email sent over to Road Racing World.
FUELL is a company making electric urban mobility solution for cities” where Erik Buell is a key, critical member. He says he has nothing to do with LAP’s announcement and is no longer involved with neither EBR nor Buell Motorcycles.
https://blog.bikernet.com/erik-buell-says-hes-not-involved-in-the-buell-motorcycles-revival/
Hope all this helps. Will get you more info as I find it. The Fuell Company Website is at https://www.fuell.us/ And the Buell Motorcycles Website is at https://www.buellmotorcycle.com/
–Wayfarer
Editor
Bikernet Blog
