Why Harley-Davidson Discontinued Buell Motorcycles (And Who Owns It Now)

Not many motorcycle fans will forget the name Buell. These were the bikes that dared to be different -– built with Harley engines but shaped for speed and agility. Buell motorcycles were loved for looking sharp, handling like a dream, and carrying a certain American boldness that riders loved. But in 2009, something went wrong, and Buell's story came to a sudden stop. Harley-Davidson, which fully owned Buell by then, shut it down completely. The decision shocked fans and left a big hole in the American sportbike scene.

But Buell lovers wanted to know — what exactly went wrong? The company wasn't failing. In fact, it had a solid fan base and some great bikes on the market. But Harley-Davidson was dealing with a financial crisis of its own. The 2008 recession had hit hard, and its new CEO, Keith Wandell, who didn't even ride motorcycles, decided it was time to refocus on Harley's core business. All you can say is that Buell just didn't fit into that new plan.

When Harley announced Buell's closure, the door on America's only sportbike company at the time was closed. As for Erik Buell, the passionate engineer behind it all, he was kept around during Harley's ownership, but after the 2009 shutdown, he went his own way. Erik launched Erik Buell Racing, this time focusing on building high-performance racing machines.

Things looked promising when India's Hero MotoCorp bought a stake in EBR and tapped them for engineering support. But by 2015, EBR was facing money trouble again and ended up in receivership. That's when Bill Melvin of Liquid Asset Partners came in, and instead of shutting things down, all he saw was huge potential. He bought what was left of EBR, revived the company, and by 2020, even managed to acquire the Buell brand name and trademarks back from Harley-Davidson. Erik Buell has since moved on to a new electric startup called Fuell, while Melvin now leads Buell, no longer linked to Harley-Davidson, into a whole new era.

Today, Buell is back, and in a big way. The company now hand-builds its bikes in Grand Rapids, Michigan, using mostly American parts. Its current lineup includes powerful models like the Hammerhead 1190RX and 1190SX, along with newer bikes like the 1190HCR dirt bike and the 1190 Super Touring. But their big star right now? The Super Cruiser, a muscle-packed bike with a 175 hp V-Twin engine.

Buell is betting hard on it, with $120 million in deposits and plans to ramp up to 28,000 bikes a year by 2028. Interestingly, the CEO, Bill Melvin, has poured $18.5 million into expanding their facilities and aims to hire more employees over the next few years. Buell is back with a banger, and it's going all-in, planning to compete with its biggest rivals like Harley-Davidson and Indian, and reclaiming its forgotten name. Melvin said that Buell has a good opportunity to get to third place in the next couple of years, as he strongly believes that Buell can realistically become the third-biggest US motorcycle brand.