Learner Approved 
Factory Warranty
The first Buell motorcycle, the RW750, was built in 1983 purely for competing in the
In 1993, Harley-Davidson purchased 49% of Buell, investing $500,000 and taking Erik Buell's house as security. Erik Buell took the deal, against strong advice from his attorney. Harley-Davidson CEO Jeffrey Bleustein had bought it as a skunkworks development.
In 1998, Harley-Davidson bought a majority stake and took control of Buell, and it has been a subsidiary ever since. Since then, Buell used modified Harley-Davidson engines, primarily from the Sportster, to power its motorcycles.
Most Buell motorcycles use
The liquid-cooled Harley V-Rod motor, designed by Porsche, was originally an Erik Buell project, designed for a fully-faired
Harley-Davidson forced Buell to follow the rigid product planning and distribution process beginning in the 1990s, with the philosophy that Buell was the starter brand, and customers would eventually trade up to a Harley. By 2008, Harley's credit arm, Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS), was struggling, and the lower resale value of Buell motorcycles meant that new bike sales were significantly affected. When Harley CEO Keith Wandell was hired, he immediately questioned why Harley even owned Buell. Wandell had never been on a Harley before being hired, was heard talking about "Erik's racing hobby", and questioned "why anyone would even want to ride a sportbike".[8] He organized a team to analyze "the adrenaline market", and concluded that sportbikes would encounter high competition and low profits, while cruisers had high returns.
On October 15, 2009, Harley Davidson Inc. announced the end of production of Buell Motorcycles to focus more on the Harley Davidson brand. Selling Buell was not legitimately considered, as Harley didn't want their Harley dealerships to sell an outside brand, and Harley didn't feel Buell had much value without the dealer network. Closing the Buell brand was estimated to cost Harley approximately the same as their total investment in Buell over the past 25 years. Erik Buell immediately began looking for outside buyers, finding Bombardier (who owned Rotax) a good choice, especially since Harley would have to pay Rotax "an eight-figure sum" for the 1,125 cc engine contract.
Erik Buell later founded Erik Buell Racing to provide support for 1125 and XB privateer race efforts.
