A Ep 205 Erik Buell: Founder Buell Motorcycles and Erik Buell Racing | Selling to Harley-Davidson

Subscribe ‪@classicautomall‬ Hear Erik Buell's Album 'Ride Free' - https://ffm.to/ridefreealbum Erik Buell of Buell Motorcycles and Erik Buell Racing joins Stewart Howden on the weekly Classic Auto Mall Show and talks about working for Harley-Davidson, what made them great, how they went from bankruptcy in the early 1980s to incredible success and what makes them succeed and fail. He also talks about starting Buell Motorcycle Company and eventually selling to Harley-Davidson and then going back to work for them as an engineer. Then leaving Harley to start Erik Buell Racing. Visit Classic Auto Mall - https://www.classicautomall.com Get a Deal on Sports Car Market Magazine: https://sportscarmarket.com/testdrive6 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:10 Erik Buell Joins 00:03 25 Erik’s Background 00:06:04 Radnor Hunt 00:07:35 Harley Davidson 00:09:30 First Buell Bike 00:16:30 Harley Davidson 00:23:40 Erik Buell Racing 00:25:35 Turbo Bikes 00:27:25 V-Rod Engine 00:29:59 Electric Motorcycle 00:31:37 Music Career 00:41:03 Daily Driver 00:42:16 Where Cars Sold 00:43:47 ’86 Mustang SVO 00:44:19 ’16 Rubicon 00:44:43 ’65 Factory Five Cobra 00:45:01 ’86 Porsche 944 00:45:36 ’35 Ford 00:46:05 ’17 Camaro 2SS 00:46:32 Monterey Car Week 00:49:24 Casino Giveaway 00:49:43 No Reserve Auction 00:52:31 Keith Martin Blog 00:54:03 Car Tours Erik Buell, founder of Buell Motorcycle Company which was sold to Harley Davidson, joins Stewart to discuss his career on another great episode. Erik started as a musician, but soon grew tired of the lifestyle and became an engineer for Harley Davidson before starting Buell Motorcycle Company and then Erik Buell Racing after he sold to Harley Davidson. He is also a musician. Buell is a member of the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and was inducted in 2002. Erik is an honored guest this year at the 2025 Radnor Hunt Concours d’Elegance in Malvern, PA. They even have a class for Moon Motorcycles. The first Buell Motorcycles were Formula One biked with Harley Davidson engines. He talks about the difference between Yamaha and Ducati and what he liked and disliked about each bike. He discusses the powerband of the bikes and how they rode. Stewart and Erik discuss the rise and fall and ups and downs of Harley Davidson and what made them incredibly successful, as well as mistakes that hurt them and things they did that made them so popular. Harley Davidson went bankrupt in the early 1980s before rising to incredible popularity. Erik brought his racing mentality to Harley Davidson that helped their design and performance. Erik had just come off Formula One racing and really tried to put the bikes to the test. The first Buell Motorcycle he built was the RW 750 and it did 178 miles per hour at Talladega and it could have gone faster but they ran out of gearing. The bike probably could have gone 190 miles per hour and had 165 horsepower. They discuss Formula One Motorcycle Racing, Yamahas and BSAs and other bikes that raced. Harley-Davidson sold Buell brand motorcycles through their dealerships. Harley eventually purchased Buell Motorcycle Company and Erik Buell went back to work for Harley Davidson. Jeff Bleustein who was CEO or Harley-Davidson at the time Vaughn Beals who took Harley from bankruptcy to prominence in the 1980s convinced Erik to come back to work for them. Erik liked how Vaughn Beals made the company great again by listening to the customers and giving them what they wanted. Buell started a powertrain with Porsche that became the V-Rod and led to the Revolution motor, which was a 60 degree V-Twin. Harley executives wanted the engine, but they didn’t realize that their customer base didn’t want it. Erik modeled his Erik Buell Racing after the business model of Porsche. Stewart and Erik also talk about motorcycles that were turbocharged and how Harley was developing a turbo bike but wanted to build the turbos themselves. They also review why the V-Rod wasn’t successful and didn’t catch on with the customer base. Harley even had bikes built in India for a while and have also been attempting an electric motorcycle. Batteries are too big to work in a motorcycle. Stewart and Erik discuss his music career playing rock music as well as country music. His rock band was called The Thunderbolts. He now records under his name because he records with random friends who play music. Keith Martin of Sports Car Market Magazine joins the show to discuss his weekly blog. This week they discuss cut off years for collector car tours. Should all the cars be old? Is it okay to include new cars, and if so, what should the cut off date be? Should the cars have similar features so it’s easy to travel together or do you send new cars out at different times than older cars. For past tours he used 1974 as a cut off date because the cars all performed similar. The idea is to make the event as enjoyable as possible for everyone involved and older cars don’t want new supercars blowing past them.