When will EBR be fully operational? Questions to the Owner.

[Need4speed]

As is probably evident; most of us that own an EBR are really looking to have parts available. I assume that the hurdle to get parts available on a website for purchase is much quicker then getting production back up and running (less manning, no distributes needed, can start with current parts inventory, and I assume less legal issues). I also assume the revenue from sales of Parts would be nice to get going while working through the other hurdles required for more. Is there a timeline for parts yet?

[mrlogix]

just my .02, if they were heavy on small parts from other manufactures and contracted suppliers it may take a little bit until they have the parts available. They would have to check with a lawyer/accountant, but if they dedicated a % of the on hand parts (seen Belfer post that about enough on hand parts to assemble another 250 bikes) to help honor warranty claims (remember the faithful?) they might be able to get a tax break on part of on hand inventory while keeping current EBR owners up and running. Don't know if this seems right to anyone else, but I know if I had one and he offered to do something like this to keep the current product owners happy would be a stand up thing to do. Just sayin'....

[Hughlysses]

Man, this lack of any news is killing me. Hopefully all is proceeding well in East Troy.

The ONLY thing of remote interest I've seen in the last week is that an HX250R has been spotted being tested in India. I guess that means Hero's already been to the factory in East Troy, picked up their $2.8M worth of stuff, and gone home.

[Bruce Belfer]

HERO stuff has been segregated away from the EBR factory in a separate building. We are working hard to clear the remaining hurdles left by the HERO settlement. Good progress being made every day. Hang in there, Faithful. Good news coming soon.

Bruce

[Hughlysses]

Thanks for the update, Bruce. I appreciate the info.

[Doosh]

How do you spell HERO?


G T F O

[Scott]

Hang in there, Faithful. Good news coming soon.

Bruce

Hanging in. Waiting for the good news like a kid waiting for Christmas.

[ReadyXB]

Thank you, Bruce.

[buell-fan]

Glad to hear everything is progressing well Bruce. I can't wait to see what you guys are putting together.

[Classax]

Best of fortunes Bruce.

I would suggest that at some point in the future before you go public with your next steps that you and your team host a conference call with your key remaining dealers, particularly the sponsor of this forum AF1 racing, and some of the owners who have lived with these machines and the EBR experience for the last two years. Some critical mistakes were made by EBR early on and YOU must not repeat them nor approach the problems in the same way because the results will prove even more catastrophic for the brand and company. There is still a ton of bad information out there concerning these machines. Worse than that, was perceived lack of communication between EBR and the dealer network. While novel the service manual is NOT what your core buyer is looking for. Your market in my opinion are guys and gals who are, proud of being different, prefer v twins for their sound, narrowness, and or power delivery, value corner speed and handling over outright horsepower, and reliability over style. They tend to have grease under their fingernails. They are information addicts.

Our informal poll shows that while the average S1krr, Panigale and even fewer Nippon I4s is only likely to see a race track by less than 8% of their owners, where as in our small sample 52% of EBR owners are active participants in track days or racing, and of those 75% ride both track and street on the same machine, so it would seem getting the race support side of the business (which was sustainable prior to production) might be the first easy win. There are more and more guys starting to win at the club level but parts are scarce.

In terms of electronics I do NOT think your buyers want anti wheelie,slide, launch, skill control. The 1190 even with 20 more hp simply doesn't need it, the geometry puts the power to the ground in a way that negates its usefulness. Most of your owners don't even turn it on. What they need is an easy way to get telemetry( speed, TPS, RPMs, coolant and oil temps) to smart devices, simple unobtrusive traction control (that doesn't limit peak power when on at lower levels) and a dash and control combination that allows TC adjustment on the fly while in lap-timer mode. At a bare minimum not another should roll out of the factory without a quickshifter! The fact that EBR was not the first bike with WiFi/Blutooth telemetry was a HUGE mistake that needs to be corrected. As a gesture to your loyal first adopters improvements 1190 series should be retrofittable to previous models. Its not too late to make the EBR an heirloom type product, machines that are geometrical superior, mechanically sound, and future proof.

After 12K miles and working through all the teething problems I can honestly recommend the RX as a first literbike, because its so easy to ride and it has enough power to keep pace with all but factory prepared it will be rebuilt this weekend and we don't pay for our parts race machines down all but the very longest straights. Corey West proved it bone stock it could run out drive and hold off S1KRRs piloted by expert racers down the longest straights at COTA. I'll take more power but I don't NEED more power. Where we need to improve is brakes. Namely pads. The whole bike is Lorenzo vs Marquez. Despite being a liter bike, it should be ridden cornerspeed style to be successful instead of point and pray like an I4.

Those are just some of my thoughts as an owner who will be on the track at least 9 more times before the end of the season and ridding the bike every day I can in between. We look forward to EBR moving forward.