Buell's New Super Cruiser Is So Popular The Company Needs To Expand
Buell is back! After an undeserved end, the loss of its founder, a promise of return, and the reintroduction of old bikes, Buell now has something fully new coming out of its factories: The Super Cruiser, a traditionally-styled cruiser with some decidedly nontraditional engineering. The first Super Cruiser rolled off the production line back in September, and apparently the company's seen such enthusiasm for preorders that it's now taking on federal loans to scale up production.
Local outlet Michigan Live reported that Buell is borrowing $10 million from the feds, with the goal of bringing the motorcycle manufacturer's headcount from 60 to 222 people over the coming two years. Buell only has 6,000 preorders for the $26,000 Super Cruiser, according to Michigan Live, but the company seems hopeful that the bike will pay off this massive loan for its workers and tooling. Whether those hopes will pan out, though, is a question worth asking.
Will the Super Cruiser bring back Buell?
It's interesting to see Buell bet $10 million on a cruiser, when the company spent so many years as Harley-Davidson's excuse for branching out away from cruisers. Buell started out as the brainchild of motorcycle racer and engineer Erik Buell, and soon became Harley-Davidson's unofficial sportbike division — and, later, an official subsidiary of H-D. Buell allowed Harley to make things outside of its normal wheelhouse, sportier or cheaper than bikes graced with a bar and shield, but now that the company is back on its own it seems to be hewing closer to the Harley playbook than ever before.
Still, this Super Cruiser is unique in the market. It's proudly liquid-cooled, with that prominent radiator, and it rides on 17-inch wheels — a true rarity in the cruiser world, which often sacrifices handling for style by adding bigger wheels. Of course, the last time an American company tried to bring something new to the cruiser market, we got the short-lived Victory. Will Buell's new, even less traditional cruiser be better received? I hope so, I want more diversity in bike offerings, but I wouldn't put money on it.