I'm starting to wonder if they're not trying to get a bigger company interested.
I'm starting to wonder if they're not trying to get a bigger company interested.
Bruce posted this link on BadWeB to a new article and it's a very enlightening read...
http://www.motorcycle.com/manufactur...r-shuffle.html
Zack
Can I pick BB with a boatload of cash? I like the idea of someone with Bruces passion running things and focusing on just making great motorcycles without all the difficulties that come from a big company. But companies like Polaris and Harley have the resources and can take some losses with the big picture in mind ( a racing program would help sell not only EBR's, but it would act as marketing for the technical skill and ambition of the larger brands as one example ).
I like Polaris more than Harley (though the current CEO at Harley is probably much different and better than the previous), so between those two, I'd take Polaris.
But ideally I'd like someone like Bruce/Erik running things but with the backing of a larger company.
That was quite the response... lol... it's the I'd like my cake... and I'll eat it too... cyclic response...
Honestly... I think Bruce is great... and I hope he makes it work... A very large reason for that, is the fact that he wants it to work as badly as it appears we want it to work... but if Polaris had that same drive... all things being equal... I'd go with Polaris...
Passion can only mean so much... it hasn't placed EBR in the best position so far...
We need the cash... but cash alone (Hero) didn't leave us in the best place either...
if we can get both... from the same entity... that's when we win...
now I'm rambling, going in circles...
The problem is, it's an impossible question for any of us to answer because we have less than 1/10 of 1% of the information we'd need. All we really know about Bruce are the few sentences we've seen here and there.
What if Polaris bought it and buried it? I think that's a real concern. I can imagine Polaris buying at 3 million with the idea that it's a small price to pay to eliminate a competitor . . . and they might also get some interesting tech in return.
Polaris could buy EBR mainly for the engine, for example. Throw everything else away and use the engine for a sport-bike we might see 5 years from now. I don't think something like that would be good for any of us.
Or Harley could say: "You know, if we stretched out this wheelbase, moved the pegs forward, maybe gave it a hard-tail . . . Maybe some ape-hangers with fringe!"
So deciding which of the three would be best would require us knowing what each planned and how equipped they are to carry out that plan . . . and we don't know those answers.
Pretty quiet leading up to this thing... any new info out there?
Last edited by Plotter; 12-04-2015 at 09:25 PM.
Speaking for myself, I'm just in "wait and see" mode.
I'm anxious to see what happens, but I have no idea what to expect. If Bruce does bid again, I think we can be confident that whoever gets it will be excited about making motorcycles. We know Bruce is excited, so for anyone else to outbid him, I'd have to expect they'd be even more excited.