A Buell Cruiser? Hey! It could Happen, if I had my way.

Re: A Buell Crusier? Hey! It could Happen, if I had my way.

As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I want. I think a Buell-framed, V-Rod powered, Sportster-type bike would be a really good idea.

Wait! Before I go any further, let me say, right from the Get-Go that I already know this is a pipe dream. Now, that’s been said, I’ll continue to put the noose around my neck, so you guys can kick the chair out from under me…No need to thank me; after all, what are friends for. Now, here’s the deal…

Harley is reluctant to innovate because of its fear of alienating their customer base. Buell, on the other hand, as a separate division of Harley, isn’t nearly as hide-bound to tradition, and is much freer to try new ideas. Now, let’s face it, the Harley gravy-train isn’t going to last forever. The way I see it, Harley will probably getting pretty close to market-saturation, in the not too distant future. Once that happens, Harley’s going to need to innovate. And, I think, the only way Harley will be able to innovate, without alienating their existing customers, would be to create more advanced designs at Buell. Then, having established those designs at Buell, Harley could adopt those designs, and rightfully claim them as their own. Hence, a Buell cruiser.

Now, here’s where it gets good. Once Buell becomes an integral part of Harley’s design strategy, Erik Buell would be given more autonomy, and possibly be able to create a REAL sportbike.

Longride and serusawa's Points well taken...

Though, you’re points are valid, and understood, I am considering several things.

In the future, Harley’s popularity may begin to plateau, along with sales and profits. While a certain market-segment will always continue to remain loyal, growth will be hard to maintain, as the motorcycle landscape diversifies and younger people move up into the Harley-demographic. And, It’s going to take a balancing act to keep both of these groups happy. Positioning Buell, as Harley’s innovative R&D subsidiary, would allow forward thinking designs to be brought into play for, younger customers, while not pi$$ing off the older ones.

As for Buell, while I don’t see them as ever building a Dresser, I do think, that if they mellowed out the geomitry and added some aminities, they could they could create a very nice sport-touring package, using their frame, and pave the way for Harley to introduce, said, frame into its line up.

As for me, I'm not much of a cruiser guy but, from a visual point of view, I think a Harley cruiser would look very cool...