Official Buell photos of the...
Official Buell photos of the "redesigned" 2010 Buell Blast fuell filler cap.
In an apparent humorous implication to the fact that the Blast model will no longer be in the Buell model lineup, the official Buell website has a section dedicated to the “2010 Buell Blast” that shows the bike in a crushed form, along with numerous photos and a couple of videos of company founder and chief technical officer Erik Buell explaining his reasoning behind the Blast’s “new look” and operating a crusher on one of the Blast motorcycles.
The Blast is apparently being discontinued because it was not what the Buell Motorcycle Company is all about. “The goal with the Blast was for someone who’d never been on a motorcycle before, to get on it and learn from ‘ground zero’,” says Buell in one of the videos, “something non-threatening. It was low, it was light, and yet it handled really well, was really reliable…basically, it’s just a solid, fundamental beginner’s bike…not innovative, not breakthrough, not a sportbike. It’s actually pulled people away from understanding what Buell was. They go ride a Blast and they say, ‘well, that’s a cute little bike, I guess that’s what Buell does.’ That’s not what we do! And so, it really doesn’t fit with the brand.”
The section is obviously very tongue-in-cheek, with a list of specs that include “Horsepower/torque: 0 HP, 0 ft. lbs.” and a “features” backdrop that lists pointers on a crushed Blast in the shape of a cube that lists “low ground clearance”, “short wheelbase”, and “centralized mass” among its virtures. Check it out at http://www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/blast/index.asp