They named it properly....Be Last.

 

Has anyone found or heard a price for the cube?

 

My thought exactly !

 

Actually saw it on the Buell website. Check it out for yourself. Crazy! www.buell.com

 

I love it!! I like the fact that they have enough guts to say they are a performance company, and build performance bikes only.

Buell gets a thumbs up from me!

 

At first I thought the ad was totally stupid.. after reading some of the comments here.. I'll say I can see the point of it, I guess. But, I still think there are much better ways to communicate your intent to concentrate on building high performance motorcycles. First and foremost would be to just go do it.. No doubt Buell motorcycles rock.. there could even possibly be a Uly in my future.. but the reality is, so far, they have yet to come up with a bike that can openly compete across the board with the current crop of high performance bikes. Ya know, maybe it's me, but I fail to see how selling bikes crushed into a cube proves you to be any more seriously committed than you've been previously..

Anyway..

As to the blast itself.. obviously, it's not a sportbike. The blast is a very basic 500cc thumper, and it runs like one. It vibrates, its rough, and it tops out at 70 miles an hour. What the blast actually is, is a great starter bike. It's relatively light, it has GREAT brakes, decent handling, and most importantly, it's very easy to ride. I know because we have one. After having issues on her sportster my wife didn't want to give up learning to ride, but she was hesitant about continuing to "learn" on the sporty. So we went looking for a smaller bike and the short story is after test riding several different small bikes, including a Suzy S40.. she test rode and then bought a used '04 blast. So, despite all the negativity directed at the blast, it's great first bike and so far, we have absolutely no regrets about buying it.

Maybe we are in the minority.. so be it. My wife is having a great time on her blast. She's comfortable on the blast, and she really enjoys riding it, which equates to her riding more, which, equates to her learning more and gaining valuable road time...

Bottom line for me is, I'd have much rather seen Buell just let the blast go, instead of doing what they did..

mavrick

 

I think they're trying... check out the Book of Buell.

http://www.buell.com/en_us/book-of-buell/

Also, I think the Buell 1125R and 1125RR would be Buell's answer to your "just go do it".

 

Lucky, I'm not bashing Buell.. As I said, I may very well buy a XT12X in the next year or so..

And thanks for the link, even though I've already checked out the "Book of Buell".

I think possibly you missed my point.. that if you want to build world class sport bikes, then go build them and skip the hey, no one liked the blast so we'll sell you a crushed one that's signed by Erik Buell stunt.. No doubt the 1125's are high performance bikes.. but I don't believe for a minute that they in the same class as say.... the YZF R1, CBR1000RR, or any of the 1098 Ducati's. And as far as racing goes, I can't wait to see Buell as a regular winner in superbike.. just like I love seeing HD win in flat track.. For now though, that just isn't the case so I'll stand by what I said.

Anyway, didn't intend to offend you.. rather, I'm just voicing an opinion.

mavrick

 

The 1125's race in the AMA Daytona Sportbike class. Check out the wins column. Buell is doing very well. But... it cannot compete with an inline 4 superbike at all... totally different beast. You will be waiting a looooong time to see a win against a superbike. Daytona Sportbike class... yeah, they're winning.

 

Hmm. I own a Blast. I bought it for my sons to learn on and kept it because it's a cool little bike. It made me think well of Buell and they were on my list to check out next time I'm buying a bike. Not now. If they wanted to drop the model, they should just drop the model. They don't have to be arrogant ****** about it.