Polaris Might Very Well Buy EBR

The author admits this is pure speculation, but it's an interesting read:

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/po...ing-95718.html

I agree and I think it all depends on Polaris' goals.

When I look at the "Project 156" bike it reminds me of a XR1200 or maybe Buell. It looks to me like they're modifying an Indian Scout engine to make it higher performance and putting it in a sportier frame.

As we know from the Buell and XR1200, you can make a very fun bike around something like that . . . but you're not going to compete in WSBK.

Does Polaris want to take baby steps and introduce a higher performance bike that is much more fun than any Harley or Polaris or Indian, or do they want to jump in at the top level with a truly world-class sport-bike?

I suspect by now Polaris recognizes how difficult it will be to get to where EBR is, and if that is their ultimate goal, I suspect the price of EBR may be lower than what it would cost to build to that point in-house.

But they may be content with higher performance bikes that never get to that upper echelon - and that might be a very wise choice. People bought Buells without worrying if they could win WSBK and there was a nice niche there for a fun, sporty bike that didn't pretend to be competitive with Ducati. Now that Harley has abandoned that niche by discontinuing the XR1200, I see a market for Polaris there.

As I've said on other threads, I would love to see Polaris buy EBR, but whether or not they will seriously consider it I think depends on how ambitious they really are when it comes to sport bikes and how soon they want to have a top-performance model.

I imagine whether there's anything to this or not, at least some former EBR employees will wind up (or have already wound up) at Polaris.

The top photo is the Project 156 engine. The bottom photo is the Scout engine. Am I wrong in thinking they look fairly similar and probably share some components, or is the appearance misleading and they're very different engines?


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I'm not seeing your top photo, but I'm almost certain it's the same basic engine. Cams in the same place, heads/cylinders are same proportions, whatever the four rotating assemblies are on the right side of the engine match in position. I'd guess the Victory version is significantly lighter; it seems to have a good bit less "cosmetic" metal on it.

Here's a screen cap from the latest video showing the engine:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ps582z56eo.png

I love my SX
I love my Firebolt.
I love the RS bike from Indian. RS is an interesting
I think there could be a good marriage there.
I don't like what HD has become .