Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2014 P75 company, the success of EBR increases the value of Hero's shares. We have two Hero peo- ple on the board, and we're also the U.S. and Canadian distributor for Hero's products, beginning next summer. Look, while EBR is a very American company located in the conservative Midwest, we have a global outlook, and so we have a lot to share with Hero technologi- cally - and culturally, as well, I be- lieve. I think Pawan understands Will you be establishing a new Hero/EBR dealer network to sell Hero products in the U.S.? There will be separate net- works, but the more dealers who can take both together, the easier it'll be. Then we'll also be selling EBR models outside the USA, starting in Europe and Australia. We've set up an EBR Europe of- fice in the Netherlands, and its guys are visiting dealers to show them what we have coming. trim. We just had the time to de- velop some more sophisticated strategies from an engine man- agement perspective, and also redesign the combustion cham- ber. The goal with the RS was to build an incredibly light motor- cycle. Our goal with the RX was to make it on the light end of the series production sportbike mar- ket, while also delivering a better powerband and emissions. Both bikes use the 72-de- gree V-twin engine that came from the Buell 1125R, which was originally supplied by Ro- tax in Austria. How has that evolved, and where will the 1190RX engines be built? Let's clear up some of the con- fusion. The 1125R engine was co-designed by Buell and Rotax. We were looking for a new water- cooled engine at the time, and Harley was too busy doing new engines for themselves, so they told me to go someplace else. So we went to Rotax. We were also not funded or supported by Har- ley to have our own engine man- ufacturing facility, and they didn't want to have to make this motor even once it was co-designed, because they were at full capac- ity, and still growing fast. So we ended up having Rotax assemble the engines for us, also. But it was a unique design, not sharing any components with any other Rotax motor. After Buell was shut down, they got the engine back, and then sold it to EBR, with Harley's approval. We are now sourcing all the compo- what I'm doing, and I certainly understand what he's doing. Hero is a very interesting com- pany. They're not caught up in themselves, they're very humble, and while they know they're the biggest and the best at what they do, they also remember that they had to earn that. They're used to change, they've fought and scrambled for everything they've got without sitting back and rest- ing on their laurels. I've never en- countered a large organization like Hero saying with such real candor, "We want to totally rein- vent ourselves, how do we do it, and can you help us?" And that's what we're doing. Looking at EBR's products, the 1190RS was really a ho- mologation special to allow you to go AMA Superbike rac- ing. How many of those did you end up making in the end? About 100 the first model year, then a small batch of 30 this year. Some are left, but not many. But then you launched the 1190RX volume production model at the Orlando show in October, and this is not only a lot less expensive than the 1190RS, but also more power- ful. How did that come about? In street form it's indeed more powerful, though obviously both can be the same power in racing " FOR US AT EBR, IT'S ABOUT TAKING OUR TECHNOLOGY TO THE NEXT LEVEL, ALTHOUGH WE KNOW IT'LL BE HARD. " -ERIK BUELL

• Cover