Buell's humble beginnings...
Buell's humble beginnings all started in this shed. Here he stands next to the original VR-1000 prototype. Note the side-mount radiators.
Motorcyclists are an odd bunch. We can appreciate different styles, different designs and different practices of motorcycling. Just as long as we’re out there on two wheels. There is, however, one single word that can completely polarize any group of enthusiasts: Buell. Any mention of Erik Buell and his machines instantly garners a reaction—and it’s usually an enthusiastic one. In his company’s mere 25 years of existence, Buell’s outside-the-box thinking and engineering have set it apart from nearly everything else out there today. From the fuel-bearing frames, to the perimeter-mounted brake rotors, there’s definitely a method to Buell’s madness—though it takes an in-depth knowledge of the man and his company to figure it out. Here now is a look at Erik Buell and the company which bears his name. Starting from his humble beginnings, how that has shaped the company today, and what the future has in store. All from the man himself.
Erik Buell is one of us. An enthusiast for as long as he could remember, racing has always been in his blood. In fact, it was while racing his Yamaha in the AMA that the notion of building his own racebikes crossed his head. With a background in mechanical engineering, the wheels were in motion to build a better racebike for the highest class in the AMA at the time: F1. And in his little shed in Muckwonago, Wisconsin he went to work. The year was 1985, and the very first Buell—the two-stroke RW750—had just been completed. Unfortunately, he only sold one bike before the AMA killed off the class. Under normal circumstances this would be enough of a blow to pack up and go home. But Erik Buell is no ordinary man. Instead, Erik’s focus changed. While his heart still lied in racing, the harsh reality was that there was no way he could keep up with the ever-changing rules in professional racing. This then forced his hand to production motorcycles. After leveraging a second mortgage on his home, he now had capital to start anew. A gamble that he risked every last penny in his name to make successful.
The VR also incorporated Buell's...
The VR also incorporated Buell's now trademarked fuel-in-frame design. If you look carefully at the nose you can see the filler tube. The furnace in the background was used to heat the shed during the winter.
Having previously been an engineer with Harley-Davidson, Erik bought all 47 of the extra XR1000 engines his former employer had laying in a corner for use in his streetbike, the RR1000. To meet the minimum homologation number of 50 he then bought three more complete bikes from dealers and yanked the engines for himself. His philosophy, then and now, was to create a motorcycle with optimized center of gravity through mass centralization, reduce unsprung weight as much as possible, and maintain a rigid chassis. Having experienced the chassis flex from the machines he used to race, this was an important area for Buell to get right. And so began the history of Buell Motorcycles into the brand it is today.
ELVIS, or Electronic Linked...
ELVIS, or Electronic Linked Vital Information System, is Buell's proprietary software responsible for tracking every piece of every Buell made since the beginning of the decade.
Like many startup companies, the early days for Erik were rough. Early tube-frame Buells suffered from various issues that should have been caught during the production stage. This didn’t do much to charm the buying public about the brand, and before long Buell was on the brink of collapse. Enter Harley-Davidson—again—and its acquisition of the company. Now with essentially bottomless pockets, focus turned to quality assurance and the ELVIS (Electronic Linked Vital Information System) software that tracks every single piece of every single Buell. The system tracks what bike each part was installed on, who installed it, even what time it was installed. Accountability and transparency are the name of the game with ELVIS and everyone from the janitor to Buell himself has a say in ensuring every bike meets a certain standard before it ever leaves the factory.
But before a bike can ever make it to production it first has to be designed, analyzed, and tested. With a total staff of less than 200 employees (yes, less than 200) this is no easy task. Though each team wears multiple hats, functions can be broken down into those three departments.