Ditto MrLogix, This reminds me of a good friend who bought the department where they worked at a Major telecommunications company. The company when selling to him agreed he can have first look at bids if he maintained a certain level of capacity that required qualified personnel, equipment, materials, etc... Which meant he had a lot of overhead for payroll, taxes, floor space, business loan, etc.... EBR reminds me of my friends situation because they had a lot of, as well highly qualified personnel, factory space, manufacturing equip, etc...overhead. I imagine Buell, who is very intelligent, may have had an agreement with Hero to provide a base to facilitate a market/manufacturing/R&D/.... launch in New Markets. This was probaby a major undertaking to hire the people, do the R&D, manufacture some stuff, then get stiffed because of the lack of sales on Buells own product line which he did not focus on marketing. My own opinion Erik put too much out there in faith. I think if he was able to focus on building his own product base on a smaller scale he would have had less risk and a better chance of building it up. I personally would have driven to the factory in Wi, to test ride and possibly purchase, set up, and learn about a bike, then if everything aligned drive or ship back to Texas. Factory warranty, support, and service is acceptable to me even if it forces me to learn how to do more work more on my own bike. I Also think Hero may have hooked EBR in to shut them down, time will tell though on what happens next? My friends business was also liquidated, as the major company no longer provided him any bids, contracts, notices, or explanations.