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Thread: Bruce - what are the dealers hearing?

  1. #21
    EBRforum Junkie Classax's Avatar
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    The lack of timely accurate communication was a deadly sin in the old EBR that appears to be alive and well in the new company. Any reasonable person has limits to their patience and I think the honeymoon goodwill for the new ownership will have evaporated by the first of year if there is no strong communication plan to the dealers.

    If they can't communicate well enough to maintain or retain a majority of their current supporters there is simply no logical way they will gain new ones.

    In fact as I make my plans to go racing in 2016 I have a deadline in mind for whether or not #105 will gain a twin garage mate or despite my affinity for what is an excellent club racing platform as evidenced by Chas Hern, Pat Mooney, CrotcherRocket TV and others, will be parted out in favor of a machine with some sort of current parts production. That would be a very sad day, but at current its not far off.

  2. #22
    EBRforum Expert Scott's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Classax View Post
    The lack of timely accurate communication was a deadly sin in the old EBR that appears to be alive and well in the new company. Any reasonable person has limits to their patience and I think the honeymoon goodwill for the new ownership will have evaporated by the first of year if there is no strong communication plan to the dealers.

    If they can't communicate well enough to maintain or retain a majority of their current supporters there is simply no logical way they will gain new ones.

    In fact as I make my plans to go racing in 2016 I have a deadline in mind for whether or not #105 will gain a twin garage mate or despite my affinity for what is an excellent club racing platform as evidenced by Chas Hern, Pat Mooney, CrotcherRocket TV and others, will be parted out in favor of a machine with some sort of current parts production. That would be a very sad day, but at current its not far off.
    I think this is true and important, but while all of us want to know answers to key questions sooner rather than later, lack of information may not be a lack of interest in communication. It may represent a real lack of information on EBR's part.

    EBR may simply not know answers to the questions we all want to know, and they don't want to provide false information now in the interest of being timely.

    Will warranties be honored?
    How will existing inventory be handled?
    Will EBR continue working with previous dealers or will the dealer network change dramatically?
    How will new agreements with dealers differ from previous agreements?
    When will the first new bikes be available?

    These are the questions we all want to have answered, but it's quite possible that nobody at EBR knows the answers to those questions at this moment. Management, accountants, lawyers etc. may still be discussing, debating, arguing how those things should be handled as we type these comments.

    It would be nice to hear: "Hey guys, we can't provide details, but things are progressing." But Bruce has already done that more than once, and after a point such statements lose their meaning.

    I hope that the new EBR will make dealerships a priority because they are the front line and understand what customers want and expect. I'm willing to be patient for a while longer, and hope to be rewarded with some real information soon. And I'm going to try to avoid making inferences about what the future relationship between EBR and dealers will be based on an information black-out at the moment.
    Last edited by Scott; 11-12-2015 at 02:24 PM.

  3. #23
    EBRforum Junkie Classax's Avatar
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    Anyone who reviews my online presence will be hard pressed to find a more ardent defender of EBR. I put my money where my mouth was and purchased a machine and ride it hard every chance I get. I truly want these great American machines and the people who make them to excel. The reality is EBR made critical missteps that eventually all contributed to its closing. As it struggles to regain its feet, they must realize time is not on their side and the market is not of a patient nature.

  4. #24
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    I imagine Scott is right about the reason for a lack of communication: something critical in the process is tied up and there's not much to say until it's straightened out. Of course that doesn't do a thing for the dealers and customers that have been standing by for months.

    It may well turn out that the new company truly has to start from scratch, in pretty much every sense of the word. That would seem to be a significantly more difficult proposition than re-starting EBR, but maybe that's the only choice available.

  5. #25
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    Hugh

    Yes, i saw signs of a stirring, then deafening silence.
    I want to be optimistic but it's getting harder by the hour.
    I'm afraid Bruce bit off more than he can chew. Sure hope I'm wrong.

    All I can do now is hope for a miracle, it was really cool being a core member of an EBR dealership for a few months.

    Z

  6. #26
    EBRforum Expert Scott's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zac4mac View Post

    Yes, i saw signs of a stirring, then deafening silence.
    That was the sense I also got just from online "chatter", and that's what led to my previous comment that "something happened". It seems like there might have been a behind the scenes event.

    And while it seems natural to assume that event was something bad, I'd argue that it's as likely, if not more so, that the event was something good.

    Here's my thinking: There have likely been many hurdles and difficulties along the way, but those hurdles and difficulties are likely to be stumbling blocks - not walls.

    Up until now we have seen that it seems the new entity had been working slowly and steadily toward resumption of small-scale production. As they did that, inevitably, they ran into difficulties: Supplier X doesn't want to work with us anymore. Okay, find a new supplier. We need to file a bunch of unexpected paperwork to be certified in California. Okay, start creating that paperwork.

    So those things are probably a headache, but they shouldn't stop the slow, steady progress, and they shouldn't get in the way of EBR communicating with dealers.

    Now, imagine what I would consider a 'good' event. Imagine another manufacturer (such as Polaris, BRP, Yamaha etc.) got involved and said: "Hey. Now that you've extricated yourself from any connection with Hero, we'd like to talk about a partnership."

    Something like that could slam on the brakes. Now you've got a larger organization involved with their own dealer network and a say in how things are going to progress, so that would be pretty dramatic. That might make things get very quiet, very fast.

    I don't want to start any crazy rumors, but I just think something like that would be more likely to cause the seemingly dramatic shift we've seen as opposed to typical difficulties which shouldn't stand in the way of EBR getting back up and running at a reduced scale.

    Remember, they made the 1190RR from scratch, on a shoe-string, without Hero. In an absolute worst-case scenario, they could probably start with a very small staff and use existing tooling and parts to make, for example, a new, limited run of 2016 1190RR's to get things started.
    Last edited by Scott; 11-13-2015 at 08:30 AM.

  7. #27
    EBRforum Newb heagachongoose's Avatar
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    First off, I am not a dealer nor am I connected to any dealers in any way. What's posted below is probably old news to some if not all of you but I haven't seen it posted here yet.


    OCT 8th



    OCT 9th





    And that's the last I have heard. He has not been on buellxb since August and badweb since October 9th when he posted the above. Not creeping, just a bit of "creative researching" lol


    Something big is/has happened. It's just the waiting game.



    You may be able to find out something if someone can access WI public records and try to see what the new EBR is up to. According to the above they're incorporated in WI again.

  8. #28
    EBRforum Newb heagachongoose's Avatar
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    First off I am not a dealer, nor am I affiliated with one in any way. This is probably old news to most if not all of you, but I haven't seen it posted or mentioned here yet. This was posted earlier last month.

    OCT 8th



    OCT 9th



    Bruce hasn't been on Badweb since October 9th or Buellxb since August. Not creeping just some "creative research" lol


    Taking that into account, something big has happened. Things don't just stop rolling like that. Change is coming one way or another. If someone had access to WI public records we might get a little bit more insight on what's going on. According to the above EBR is incorporated in WI again.

  9. #29
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    Just saw where Rider's Hill, the EBR dealer in Dahlonega, GA is closing. More info here:

    http://ebrforum.com/showthread.php?8...=5009#post5009

  10. #30
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    Just opening direct communications with the dealers would be an awesome step... Don't have anything to tell you, but we want to let you know we are here. We support you... We are doing what we can... not through chat rooms and messages, but an actual live person on the phone... a link to the company... what are your concerns, let me write them down... call me when you have questions, I might not have answers, but how much stress could that alleviate...

    Has anything like that happened?

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