I used to work with a guy who was very talented but also completely inflexible. If he hadn't insisted on dictating rather than collaborating his overall effectiveness would have been much higher. His inability to listen to anyone and his general a-hole-ishness meant he preferred to work on projects by himself, and everyone else agreed that was best. As a result despite his talent he limited himself by not being able to learn from others or really contribute to a team effort. As it relates to Buell, building something as complex as a motorcycle requires more than the efforts of just one person dictating everything. It is simply too big a job.
I have no doubt of Buell's enthusiasm, skill, and knowledge. However, from the stories I have read he also is very inflexible where it comes to the features on his bikes. History of the past 25 years should have been a wake-up call that despite the possible advantages of innovative features, the marketplace has soundly rejected them. Buell bikes in their current and past forms will always be niche bikes with limited appeal.
I hope he can make a go of the race business for a few years. An analogous hypothetical would have been if Dr. Taglioni had opened a race shop for bevel-drive Ducatis. Who wouldn't have wanted race bits from the father of the bike? Perhaps a smaller business working on refinements that frankly should have been made before hitting showrooms, will prove to be a better environment for him.
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