Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Erik Buell Racing, the sequel to Buell Motorcycle Co, once a Harley Davidson subsidiary, is now bankrupt and shut down

The sudden move, announced Wednesday, leaves 126 employees out of work. The company has more than $20 million in outstanding liabilities, according to its attorney, and is seeking court protection from creditors.

Erik Buell Racing is the sequel to Buell Motorcycle Co., which was owned by Harley-Davidson for more than a decade before Harley dropped the brand in 2009. Initially, the new company produced hand-built

$40,000 sport bikes for road-racing enthusiasts. More recently, it geared up to build a less expensive mass-production motorcycle with a racing pedigree. Company founder Erik Buell invested his own money into the venture, while Hero MotoCorp Ltd., the largest motorcycle manufacturer in India, had a 49% ownership stake. The company had done well on the national racing circuit, where it went head to head with much larger companies such as Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki. But it struggled to gain sales in a marketplace dominated by Japanese and European sport bike manufacturers.

Erik Buell Racing had pursued the top 100 U.S. motorcycle markets and last year opened a European office to support a race team and build brand identity. "The turn we recently took, after we thought we were moving forward, was unexpected," Erik Buell said in a statement. "We thought we had secured funding, but in the end, we were not able to get the funding in place. Therefore we need to do the best we can under the circumstances for all parties in interest."

Creating a product from scratch is something the longtime entrepreneur knows a lot about, having founded Buell Motorcycle Co. in a Mukwonago barn 31 years ago and then starting over in 2009 as a manufacturer of racing motorcycles aimed at the highest level of the sport.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/erik-buell-racing-closes-files-for-receivership-b99481936z1-299863281.html

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