He was going to build his own bikes come hell or high water – and that he achieved. Erik Buell threw engineering conservatism to the wind and although his fortunes fluctuated, his huge reputation endures.
Like all mavericks, Erik Buell has never walked the easiest or most sensible path. As an up-and-coming racer he once had to borrow money from rivals just to get home after a meeting – he’d gambled on prize money covering it – and lost.
In his private life, after two divorces, he married his first teenage love – Tish (who’d left him three decades earlier when he refused to quit the track).
But it’s with his left-field motorcycling creations – first in racing, then with Harley-powered street sportsters and, finally, with a homegrown American superbike – that Buell’s reputation will ultimately rest.
All, in many ways, were brilliant. And yet, particularly with the benefit of hindsight, all were also flawed. Yet together they leave a legacy of an innovative and brave ‘David’ taking on a corporate, establishment ‘Goliath’ that demands nothing but outright admiration.
Born the day after April Fool’s Day in 1950, Buell grew up on a Pennsylvania farm. In his late 20s, besotted with bikes, he worked days as a motorcycle mechanic, nights studying for an engineering degree and at weekends he raced – first on a Ducati in AMA Superbikes then, aboard a TZ750, in Formula 1. After graduating in 1979, Erik promptly flew to Milwaukee, talked himself into a job at Harley-Davidson and ended up working on both the radical but stillborn ‘Nova’ V4 and on the chassis development of the excellent FXR, with rubber-mounted engine.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2017 من Practical Sportsbikes.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2017 من Practical Sportsbikes.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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