Lights Out, The Party’s Over

After 26 years and 136,923 units motorcycle production has ceased at the Buell facility in East Troy, Wisconsin. On October 30th the current chapter in the history of the original American sportbike ended when the last Lightning XB 12 Scg, like the one in the picture, rolled off the line. The first chapter was when Erik Buell realized his dream by building a sportbike around a Harley Sportster engine. By todays standards those first bikes were crude machines but they managed to build a loyal following.

The next chapter was when Harley-Davidson took over production of the line. Sort of like Ford did to Carrol Shelby with the Mustang back in the late ’60s. The next chapters are still to be written. As I understand it Buell dealers will sell the current inventory of already built new bikes until they are depleted. Then they will continue to provide service on them for the next 7 years. After that? Well, you still see a lot of flathead Indians, BSAs and Vincents running around don’t you?

photo: Buell