Motorcycles

Erik Buell announces 2010 Buell Blast: a crushed cube of metal

Erik Buell announces 2010 Buell Blast: a crushed cube of metal
The 2010 Buell Blast - mass centralisation taken to the extreme.
The 2010 Buell Blast - mass centralisation taken to the extreme.
View 1 Image
The 2010 Buell Blast - mass centralisation taken to the extreme.
1/1
The 2010 Buell Blast - mass centralisation taken to the extreme.

The Buell Blast was a friendly motorcycle, a beginner's bike and a favorite of US-based rider training organizations. Its 500cc air-cooled single was reliable, simple and unintimidating, its low seat height made it great for shorties and lady riders, its unassuming looks made it a bike that you didn't have to be a rev-head to ride. But the unassuming Blast wasn't exactly a sales hit, and worse, Erik Buell was finding that it was giving young riders the wrong impression about the Buell range - so, in a commitment to balls-out sportsbiking, he canceled the bike for 2010, and stuck a few of his remaining stock into a crusher. Next year's Blast, it seems, will have an exceptionally short wheelbase and highly centralized mass.

It's quite a publicity stunt - Buell has put up a pretty humorous website for the 2010 Blast, showing video of the bikes going through the crusher with head honcho Erik Buell pushing the final button.

It might seem like a fairly extreme gesture - to literally trash your own bikes for the world to see - but the Blast wasn't the sort of bike to inspire rabid fanatics, and while it did fill a void in the entry level segment, it was a bit of a contradiction with the rest of the Buell range.

So this is Buell's way of turning a fairly flaccid product line into a PR hit, saying the Blast isn't fast enough, scary enough, innovative enough or tough enough to wear the brand's badge. As the site says, "The Buell Blast was a cute little motorcycle. It just never made much of a sportbike. But, as luck would have it, it makes a killer ottoman. Or end table. Or art piece. Through an innovative process known as crushing, we’ve turned a limited number of Blasts into colorful metal cubes, each numbered and signed by Erik Buell himself."

PR disaster or masterstroke... Probably neither, but it's certainly a notable little development in the motorcycle world!

4 comments
4 comments
Craig Jennings
destroying bikes! yikes. I think that's the first I've seen since Top Gear tried to destroy a honda cub. Meanwhile, I'm still looking for the right one to buy! Oi Eric! Give me a 1125R before you crush them too!
Matt Muecke
Sad, funny, but sad! My wife was just pissed, she had a blast and would love to have another one, only if a company had a crap load of them just to dispose of, hmm????
Mr Stiffy
Stupid Man - Stupid Agenda.
A slow revving 500cc single is about the sanest beginners bike you can get.
Adequate torque, sensible acceleration and a not very high top speed - which is kind of dumb when you consider that most 250cc bikes - especially the 2 strokes - go like bullets, and they go a long way towards learners wiping themselves out.
Buell = wanker.
Will
I just got a 2003 blast and love it. I stand as a whopping 5ft 5 and this bike is perfect. It is in fact a fun little bike that does what it is ment to do. I am actually looking for a second one for my wife now. Keep in mind I don't like Harleys do to the fact that they are to overly hyped and priced. If find a beull buy it it will be a collecters item someday