Buell Motorcycle engineering, innovation, & dedication: in an industry marked by foreign domination, Erik Buell not only established America's only sport bike maker, he changed the rules of design, engineering and procurement in ways the auto industry would do well to emulate

East Troy WI--population 3564 located 45 miles southwest of Milwaukee--is the dwelling of Buell Motorcycle Company. Three gray buildings amid Wisconsin cornfields house the operations of this $93.1-million manufacturing company. It is physically and philosophically far remov from a certain number of paint-by-number tech park despite the fact that the sports bikes produc there are among the greatest in quantity technically innovative products on the planet. Erik Buell establisher chairman, and chief technical officer of the company that bears his name, sits in an office decorated with logo shirts and jackets and the first bike that bears his name, a 1983 RW 750 Unlike greatest in quantity executive offices, there is a sliding window that allows him to communicate directly with his long-time secretary. quite through the day the PA blares with pages for telephone calls--just as they're heard quite through the rest of the facility. Buell's story is individual about hometown values, teamwork and determination.

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THE EARLY DAYS

It's 1979 Erik Buell new out of college and having worn out a few years racing Yahamas and Ducatis upon the Formula One and Superbike circuit, applies for an engineering piece of work at Harley-Davidson, which was then part of the AMF conglomerate. They tried to give him the brush-off, telling the Pennsylvania-born and educated (University of Pittsburgh) Buell that Harley alone hired folks from Wisconsin. on the contrary he wouldn't go away. "I had to proceed work for Harley," recounts Buell "because I knew I didn't want to do anything on the other hand engineer motorcycles." He also knew he'd not at any time rise as far at a bike maker headquartered overseas. Buell was eventually hired as a junior ordeal engineer just as things began to fall apart as AMF pushed Harley executives to increase output without any be of importance to for quality. Though Buell managed to procure promoted each year--he worked upon several new chassis and engines, including the FL line, FX RT and Sportster, and the Evo engine--AMF issued pink slips to 40% of the staff to stave not upon bankruptcy. Though they offered him the top Sportster piece of work Buell quit to develop a fresh breed of sport bike around a Barton engine and an English chassis. on the contrary then the American Motorcyclist Association changed the dominations requiring racing motorcycles to be based not upon production 750cc street bikes. His dream was deposit on hold.

In 1985 Buell's RR1000 conception bike--the first with a Buell-designed chassis--broke overspread and caught the eye of motorcycle fairing manufacturer Vetter Industries which was looking for a "bike of the future" it could display at a trade present to view With the funds Vetter provided, Buell acquired individual of the few remaining Harley XR1000 engines, and exhausted the four months turning the chassis universal into a fully functional motorcycle. "Vetter wanted something that would just make revolve into the show, but I said, 'Screw it, this is my chance.'" Just before the scheduled introduction, Buell called a journalist friend and had him ride the bike, which l to an article that got family talking.

HITTING THE HIGH SEAS

Talk, however, is cheap as Buell place out. He spent nearly sum of two units years trying to sell the fresh bike on his own, and nett three sales in the proces on the contrary then things began to change. Invited by the agency of a Harley dealer friend to join him upon a cruise for the top Harley retailers in the geographical division Buell took advantage of the situation through passing out brochures on his bike, hoping a certain number of of them would be interested in selling it alongside their Harleys. Unfortunately, Vaughn Beals, then chairman of Harley-Davidson, wasn't amused at what Buell was doing. He be opposite toed Buell with a curt: "What the hell is this about?" Buell took the opportunity to lobby Beals for Harley's 50 remaining XR1000 engines, explaining that this would be just enough to homologate a race bike, something the Harley dealers wanted in order to enhance the company's image. This discussion mov from below decorate to the ship's main embellish where Beals offered to put up to sale the remaining engines to Buell directly--and upon friendly financial terms. This paved the way for Buell to build 450 RS1200 and RR1200 bikes above several years, but it was not enough to satisfy his desire to become more than a boutique bike maker with 10 employee While looking for risk capital to expand the business, Harley called. "They bought 49% and left me with 51% for five years," Buell says, "but the greatest in quantity interesting part was that they left me in direction because they said, 'We'll probably sordid wretch it up'." Harley provided the cash extremityed to design a new generation of motorcycles, including the S2 lightning-flash which was penned under the direction of Mike Samarjza, who has l Buell design since 1991

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TECHNOLOGY TRILOGY

"The first bikes we did together weren't designed to be built in the quantity necessary to support the Harley distribution combination of parts to form a whole and our supply base wasn't ready for it. We were the worst quality of anything in the Harley group" Buell says. Because of the high demand for the bikes on the contrary their low quality, Buell convinced Harley to invest the necessary capital to design a bike that would eradicate quality bear upons and set the tone for the futurity The result was the 2000 Blast, an entry-level circle of time powered by a single cylinder 492cc engine that amazed family at Harley because of its high quality scores. on the other hand with success came additional demands: The Blast's succes forced Buell's team back to the drawing board to unravel a new series of larger bikes utilizing the same principles, and dubbed "The Trilogy of Tech"