COBRA

Our first meeting of the new year and new decade will be on Thursday, January 21 @ 6pm. We’ll be meeting at the Barley’s Smokehouse & Brewpub located near downtown Columbus on Dublin Road.

Barley’s Smokehouse & Brewpub
Ale House No. 2
1130 Dublin Road
Col.OH 43215

Hope to see you all there!

“Erik Buell, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company, will leave the company to establish Erik Buell Racing, an independent motorcycle race shop.” (full press release)

Woohoo!!!!

Erik Buell Racing

MORE INFORMATION: Here are the details on where we’re meeting Sunday morning (October 25).
Pilot Station/Wendy’s at 3600 Interchange Road, at the corner of I-70 and Wilson Rd.

Kickstands up at 9:00, so show up early for food/gas

IMPORTANT UPDATE: This ride is turning out to be a pretty significant event.  The BadWeb forum now has a heavy thread on the QuickBoard with riders across the country showing their support and desire to ride.  A few of those “in the know” have made contact with the factory and there is a green light for us all to show up mid-day on Monday, October 26.

If you arrived at our humble website from outside of central Ohio, please see the BadWeb thread for details and hopefully riders in your area.

ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:

Shocked…stunned…at a loss for words.

Buell Motorcycle Company is closing their doors. For good.

Buell has a very emotional video from Erik on their website. Here are a couple of New York Times links with some additional information.

New York Times AP Article

New York Times blog report

In a last ditch effort to see the business (in it’s current state) as well as attempt to extend condolences as well as appreciation, Mike F. is riding to East Troy and has generously offered to lead a group of any and all who want to come.

The rough plan at the moment is:

• Leave Columbus the morning of Sunday, Oct. 25th
• Arrive in East Troy Sunday evening
• Stay in a hotel/motel
• Spend as much time as possible at Buell Monday morning
• Ride back Monday afternoon/evening

That means we’re looking at about 500 miles a day, two days in a row. It may be a bit uncomfortable, and a bit emotional.  But it will be well worth it to pay respect to a motorcycle company and the visionary man who built it.

It’s a very sad day for Buell owners. Buell has always been one of the most distinctive bikes on the market. With the factory doors now closing for good, these awesome machines have just become even more rare.

If you’re interested in the ride, you can email us at contact@cobrabuell.com or post into our BadWeb forum.  More details will follow.

We have a great ride being organized by Mike F. on Sunday, October 4 (rain date Sunday, October 11). Come one come all!!

I (Bruce / thump4fun) am planning a trip down to the Dragon in June with a couple of non-Buell friends.  We’re leaving the afternoon of Friday, June 26 and plan to ride the Dragon on Saturday.  We’re then riding the Blue Ridge Parkway for as far as we feel like, until heading back to Columbus on Monday.

We’re not making any reservations in advance for lodging, but don’t plan on making this a very expensive trip.  $50 motels for 3 nights, fast-food during the day, maybe a steak one night, and gas is about all it takes.

If anyone else would like to join a Buell(er), a Honda Interceptor, and a Honda CBR on a nice long weekend for a ride on the Dragon followed by some beautiful scenery on the Parkway, we’d be happy to have you along.  Just give me a shout and let me know.

Just be sure to have your AMA membership up to date for any breakdowns!  LOL

We’ve missed the past two Wednesday bike night meets due to weather, but rather then holding off until next month we’d like to get together to get things going with the club.  The weather looks like it will hold this coming week, but even if you show up in a cage, that’s fine.

We’re meeting on Wednesday, May 20 @ 6:30pm at Barley’s Smokehouse near downtown - the site of our very first meeting.

Be sure to come out so you can lend your voice to what we’re going to do with the club!

UPDATE April 28, 2009
So far we have 4 riders from COBRA heading up to Mentor, OH for the event.

The plan is to meet at Flying J across from AD Farrow at Northstar. We will be leaving promptly at 6:30am on Saturday, May 9 from Flying J. Be sure to arrive AT LEAST 10 minutes before we leave so you can gas up. We want everyone on a full tank and empty bladder so we have only one stop on the way for fuel and a fast bio break.

As Mark said, “Kickstands up at 0630…don’t mess around…the event starts at 0900 and [we] don’t want to be fashionably late.”

Original Post
Western Reserve HD/Buell in Mentor, OH (a few miles east of Cleveland) is holding a day-long event on Saturday, May 9, from 9am-5pm.

They are planning a lot of activity for the day, such as:

a. Adjusting suspensions for performance street riding (lecture/demo) 30 min
b. Basic maintenance (lecture/demo) 30 min
c. Advanced street riding skills lecture/demo) 30 min
d. Mapping and performance tuning (lecture) 30 min
e. Getting ready for the track (lecture/demo) 30 min
f. Dyno demonstrations (lecture/demo) 30 min

All this, and it’s *FREE*!!  Lunch and snacks are even provided, although there’s a small charge for lunch ($7).

See this post on BadWeb for more information.

Sounds like something we might want to get a group together to ride up to. Look for discussion on the forum about possibly arranging a group ride there and back again.

From the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

Tiny Buell Motorcycle Co. has made some noise on the national sport bike racing circuit, and the company hopes to leverage the success into sales.

Sunday, for the third time in two weeks, a Wisconsin-made Buell sport bike won a national road race. The victory came against Japanese and European competitors that have dominated the field for decades.

Read the full article here…

Not from the race in the article, but another recent one.

Welcome to the brand-new COBRA website!  We’re excited to get the club going!

We’ve put this site together to help coordinate and disseminate information among our members, as well as provide information to other Buell riders.  Are you looking to join a fun, dedicated, knowledgeable group of riders in Central Ohio?  Look no further!

See the Join the Club page for information on joining.  And thanks for stopping by!