Builder: Erik Buell

By

L1005297

I had a chance to sit down with Erik Buell some time ago at Pro Italia’s annual Cafe Desmo event, where not only was Erik showing the incredibly exotic carbon 1190RS, but a client had brought their own freshly delivered 1190RS as well. Several of EBR’s first machines had just gone out and Erik’s enthusiasm was boundless, regardless of the Great Recession. Maybe a future of fast and beautiful American motorcycles isn’t so dim, after all. Click below for the feature.

Builder: Erik Buell

  • ak

    Passion with persistence will prevail…look at KTM, they still have yet to win an AMA supercross or national.

    (They do have world titles but lets not kid ourselves where the fastest dirtbikers in the world race.)

  • moshaholic2

    Geoff May set new track records in Dec. at Homestead on his 1190RS. I think they will really have this thing dialed in come next season.

    I’ve met/spoken to Erik before. Incredibly humble and approachable guy who is just stoked be building cool bikes.

    Can’t wait for an “affordable” EBR bike to launch.

    • noone1569

      This is so true. Erik is extremely approachable and will talk your ear off. Great guy.

  • Stacey

    Dude is my hero. I wish I had a couple billion bucks to invest…

  • smoke4ndmears

    It’s impossible not to feel this guys enthusiasm. The fantastic layout of the article helps too! More like this, Grant!

  • T Diver

    I got to sit on that bike at the show in LBC. It’s the coolest bike I’ve ever touched. I don’t know shit though. Dudes a bad ass. Total bad ass.

  • 10/10ths

    Awesome.

  • Core

    I really liked the interview! I was a bit sad that it was so short. I wanted to hear more about his business and success. But a productive man has got to keep moving.

    It’s sad in a way, dude is twice as old as me if not more and by his productivity level; has like 10x the amount of enthusiasm and energy I have. *Sigh*

    (Yeah I’ve heard its a bad habit to compare yourself to other people)

  • Ian

    Are you guys going to get a ride on that thing? I would really love to hear about how it rides instead of just dreaming about its specs.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Wes Siler

      One of these days I’m sure we will.

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      Ian, we’d love to, but we’ll need to get to Wisconsin first. Erik isn’t exactly in a position to keep a press fleet handy.

  • tbowdre

    Random (awesome) BUELL guy and amateur racer Rod Weaver bought one and he is having Shawn Higbee race it

    http://crotchrocket.tv/

    Pretty damn good results with no testing time, right outta the box

    • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

      Actually, I’m pretty sure he was the other guy that brought his own EBR 1190RS to Cafe Desmo.

      • smoke4ndmears

        He’d probably let you guys ride the bike. From his posts over at badweb he seems like a pretty amiable person -plus he is in California.

      • smoke4ndmears

        His account of the recent Fontana race is very interesting:

        “Shawn was more than 40 seconds ahead in the twins race when on the last lap when a huge gust of wind took the front end right out from under him as he made the turn on to the home straight at well over 100 mph. He literally slid onto the straight with the bike laying on top of him, but being the pro that he is, he kept the throttle on. Just as he was about to give up the ghost, the front tire caught a little pavement, so he pushed the bike up, the tires caught, and he was able to stand it up and still finish in first with more than 5 seconds to spare. Witnesses said that it was the most amazing save that they have ever seen.
        Oh, and the bike has not a scratch on it. “

        • http://twitter.com/metabomber Jesse

          Hawt.

  • muckluck

    Hey Grant don’t worry tomorrows forcast is 50 degrees and we have no snow in southern Wisconsin, come on over!

  • Doug Staab

    I like the closing quote about going racing. Reminded me of another quote from a “fiercely independent” pioneering motorcycle engineer -

    “The building of the bike is…possibly the most interesting part of it. But, I suppose, unless you’re prepared to go through with putting it against …the racing world, well, then, you’ve really proved nothing.”

    - John Britten

  • http://www.postpixel.com.au mugget

    Hell yeah! Awesome feature there guys, some good ‘ol slick layout that I’d been missing! And I’ve only just turned to the 2nd page! I’m always interested to hear what Erik Buell has to say as well.

    You guys should be proud of this feature!

  • http://www.pedalgents.com holdingfast

    that made my day and its only 10am, thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/metabomber Jesse

    Inspiring interview, luscious photos and a slick layout. Add a little Futura Condensed typography magic, and my Tuesday starts out very well. Thanks guys.

  • http://www.lgdm.fr stempere

    Congrats on this guys, great one.

    That’s exactly what im going to show next time someone asks me why i’m willing to pay my subscription (which i just renewed, just an opinion here guys, but you should email a few days in advance, i tried logging-in 3 times before realizing it was expired).

    • http://worldof2.com/ jpenney

      Had the same thing happen to me a while back. I couldn’t log in and had to trace back the time of the PayPal payments.

      • http://hellforleathermagazine.com Grant Ray

        We’re having issues getting our auto-notification passed all the super stringent spam filters. We’ll figure it out…

        • http://www.lgdm.fr stempere

          Not the issue in my case, gmail let the two mails arrive (it helps that info@hellforleathermagazine.com actually exists, some companies don’t create the “no-reply” adress they use to sent automated emails, that’s one of the reasons they often don’t arrive).

          I just wished the email would’ve arrived 2 days prior to the date OR that i could still access the site’s content for a few days to let me renew without being cut-off so abruptly.

          No big deal anyway.

  • http://www.facebook.com/beastincarnate Ben Incarnate

    All hail. Great feature and execution on here.

  • slash5alive

    Great article! Can’t wait until he starts building the AX.

  • Edward

    Great article and awesome person. Too cool.

  • super20

    Well done. Erik’s enthusiasm is contagious, and every time I see or read an interview with him I remember why I’ve owned 3 Buells over the last dozen years. Hopefully by the time I’m done flogging on the 1125R EBR will have something in a more affordable range.

  • zipp4

    Great typography. Great interview. Keep these coming!

  • http://www.cdavisdesigns.com Chris Davis

    I was surprised how long he went on about building a clean motorcycle. He’s clearly all about efficiency. It’s impressive to see that kind of holistic engineering approach to optimizing everything, wasting nothing.

    • BigRooster

      Like an Indian with a buffalo.

  • http://www.tripleclamp.net Sasha Pave

    Yet another rockin’ feature, thanks Grant & HFL!

  • smoke4ndmears

    Eslick to EBR for 2012 AMA Season!

  • Liquidogged

    Great, great feature. Also impressed by his focus on efficiency and emissions. This guy has a long-term vision for the company.