Erik Buell Racing bikes back in production
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
When Erik Buell Racing locked its doors in April 2015 and went into receivership, laying off 130 workers, many people thought it was the end of the line for the motorcycle production company. It was the second time Buell had closed its doors, the first in 2009.
And while the company came back from the 2009 bankruptcy, bringing the plant back online in 2013, its success was short lived and by early 2015 the company ceased production and once again, went into receivership.
Buell Chief Executive Officer Steve Smith said the goal was always to bring the company back, but because of complications on the legal side, what they hoped would be a three to four month receivership, turned into a 10-month process.
Then, in January of this year, the company was sold to Liquid Asset Partners LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich., liquidation company.
What happened next couldn’t be predicted by anyone.
Instead of selling off the Buell assets, which is what liquidation companies do, the new owner, Bill Melvin Jr., asked how quickly could the Buell motorcycles be put back into production.
Melvin, a motorcycle enthusiast, and owner of several Buell racing bikes, didn’t want to sell the company for parts, he wanted to put the globally known bikes back on the line. And he wanted to do it now.
“Out of all the companies we see, Erik Buell Racing was one of the most viable, healthy companies with a strong team and a good, really good, product,” Melvin said. “It was ready to restart.”
Melvin said it was an easy decision to open the plant again.
“They had built a great thing here and we said go and do what you do best,” he said. “We make the greatest American sport bike in the business and it’s built right here in East Troy.”
Melvin said he’s grown to love the community and travels here frequently for the business and for the people.
“I feel right at home here,” he said. “We share the same values and sense of humor. I love visiting and going to the local restaurants on the square.”
Once the decision to reopen Buell was made, things moved quickly.
“Within two to three days of Bill buying it, we were moving,” Smith said. “The first thing we did was get parts out to people who needed them.”
Smith said Melvin was excited to be part of the rebuilding of Buell.
“I think this was like a lifelong dream for him,” Smith said. “He has a huge collection of vintage bikes and a lot of Buells. With this being the only American sports bike company, I think he gravitated toward that.”
Melvin said it was import- ant to him to produce the bikes in America.
“The first bike off the line had to have an American flag on it,” Melvin said. “We’re going to donate it to charity. Something with a military theme, but we haven’t quite decided which one yet.”
Buell’s involvement
Smith said Erik Buell is still very much involved in the day-to-day operations and they call him the “soul of the company.”
“We couldn’t do this without his knowledge of the racing industry and engineering,” Smith said. “Our bike is an American icon and it’s because of Erik. We have to hold that close to move the company forward.
“Erik is our soul when it comes to product decisions. He has such a long history in racing and with Harley Davidson, he was the head of racing for years, he’s in the motorcycle hall of fame for crying out loud. This doesn’t happen without Erik.”
What’s next?
Smith said the company is ramping up production slowly with about 25 bikes expected off the line in March and 40 to 50 in April. The goal is to put out 500 bikes this year and expand on that for 2017.
“It’s a very modest start,” Smith said. “But we need to be careful. With our history, we need to build up consumer confidence and we need to build up that confidence with our suppliers.”
The plant employs about a dozen people at the moment, but as production increases, so will the workforce.
“We will double that easily this year,” Smith said. “We need to be smart and prudent with every step we take, but we will be building up.”
Smith said he wanted the community to know the company is here to stay and committed to the community. He said many former employees volunteered their time to help get things back up and running and for the media event and open house last week. He said they couldn’t have done what they did without their help and wanted the community to know they were dedicated to giving back as much as they could.
With the financial resources of Melvin and his company, Smith said this time Buell would make its comeback stick. He said he knew how important it was to East Troy and the community that has always supported the company.
“When word started getting around that something was happening here, we had people literally knocking on our door asking what they could do to help,” Smith said.
