I have often talked a lot of crap about Buell as they tried (and somehow was allowed) to race 1125cc machines against 599cc machines and the nutcases that would swear up and down that they were the best machines made. I talked a lot of smack just to shut these people up and deface their racing career. The truth is though that I found Buells to be cool bikes, just not top race machines. I thought the styling of them and things like the rim mounted brake system and fuel-in-frame ideas were pretty cool. However, today I found this:
http://www.buell.com/en_us/While I think Buells (the motorcycle, not the man) racing career was a joke, it does truely suck to see the only factory American sport company go under. The economy sucks right now and Buells have never been the biggest seller, but they are still a part of industry and a huge inspiration of design and breaking the mold.
The best of luck to you, Mr. Buell. I hope we still see some of your ideas and designs break through into various forms in the future.