| Author | Message | ||
     Johnboy777 |
""If you are doing serious arse riding - wear decent leather or armour and kevlar."" I suppose next you'll be telling us we should all wear helmets. . | ||
| Hughlysses |
Big Dave- Some of us do wear proper protective gear in the form of "mesh" gear. When it's 105 degrees F (40.5 C to you) and 99% RH outside, leather clothing is its own safety hazard by way of heat stroke. Unfortunately, what lets heat OUT also lets heat IN. Hence there is a legitimate reason, even among intelligent Ulysses riders to prevent the freaking frame rail and seat from unnecessarily reaching 120 degrees F (48.9 C to you). I'd venture to say in the conditions where I live, full Cordura gear or even full leather would not be sufficient to keep your ass and nads from being cooked on an unmodified Uly. Can we move on now, please? OK, just finished installing my kit. Took me a while to get everything back where it was supposed to go under the seat, and a couple of times I had to reverse a step or two to get something placed properly. Important safety tip- JB Welding the ECM nut to the bottom side of the seat pan is not secure. Just as soon as I inserted the bolt from the top, the nut popped right out and fell on the hugger. CRAP! The JB Weld didn't adhere to the plastic. It took me about 15 minutes, but I figured out a fairly foolproof way to get the nut back in place. First I wrapped it with a small piece of duct tape, doubled over to have sticky side inside and out. I then slid the nut over a long zip-tie, the biggest one that would just go through the nut. Then I took a piece of sewing thread and fed down through the hole. Next I punched a hole in the pointy end of the zip-tie, tied the thread through it, and pulled the end of the zip tie up through the hole. The zip tie was strong enough to let me pull the nut and tape firmly into the recess under the fender until it stuck in position. Then I popped the thread and gently fed the zip-tie back down. I re-used the old bolt with some fresh blue Loctite. Everything else went together easily; now taking a break before I go out for a test ride. Oh yea, immense thanks to Court & the factory for getting my missing inner scoop to me.  | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yeah and I understand living in a hot climate too. But 2009 there are some flow through and vented options that are wearable in the tropics. And yeah too - Helmets have been compulsory here since the seventies. | ||
| Danger_dave |
>> Can we move on now, please? << Yep - and for the record you are talking to an Aussie. I understand very hot very well. If you have to install one to ride in good gear it's a real good idea. The majority of people I'm trying to help out here don't live in a furnace. Message remains wear appropriate gear. (Message edited by danger_dave on August 14, 2009) | ||
| Ratbuell |
The only benefit I can think of to keeping the old style airflow guides (on the sides of the seat) would be helping keep the underseat area clean. Less air going in those holes means less dirt going along with it. | ||
| Jphish |
I wear gear, and the Right side is still TOO damn hot in the summer temps of 100*F +. So I'll continue to wear gear AND install the kit I picked up from Puyallup Buell. Hughlysses - I'm having difficulty in visualizing the zip tie / thread procedure. Perhaps it will clarify when I get to that step. Lars - We're about the same latitude. 9 months out of the year in NW Wa. St. it's around 16*C or colder - don't find the Uly at all uncomfortable in those conditions. However, we've had some unusual 105*F summer days here this year. So I don't know if generally you'll find the kit all that useful - but wont hurt anything either, and you'd be ready for those 3 days a year where ya hit 25*C. j | ||
| Hughlysses |
Dave- I'm totally with you on wearing proper gear. It's just you've popped in on these threads several times saying "the heat's not a problem if you wear proper gear", and I think a substantial number of us would disagree with you on that point. Jphish- If you can figure a way to keep the nut in place (glue, tape, whatever) you won't have to fool with my zip tie trick. If you get it all back together and the nut falls out right before you bolt the ECM down, then the zip tie trick is handy. I'll post a photo if you want. | ||
| Danger_dave |
>>I think a substantial number of us would disagree with you on that point. << Yeah well, I stand by it. Ridden one from the Tropics to near the Antarctic circle. Never had a heat issue while wearing leather jeans. Edit - wrong circle (Message edited by danger_dave on August 14, 2009) | ||
| Danger_dave |
This is the correct way to cool down.  | ||
| Froggy |
For what its worth, the only time the heat ever got me was riding in shorts while dangling my leg next to the header. In proper attire I feel nothing. | ||
| Jimmy_in_nc |
I can't wait for my comfort kit to arrive at the dealership. I'm ready to beat this NC summer heat. | ||
| Jphish |
Hugh - Thanks! That would be great. Someone posted that if you jack up the rear of the Uly you can get the ECM bolt/nut to join easier. Let me try that trick and will PM you if I can't make them unite in holy matrimony...or at least screw together. j | ||
| Danger_dave |
I feel nothing for you too Froggy :-) | ||
| Blake |
>>>This is the correct way to cool down. Nice. Looks a lot like the Texas Hill Country. I need to give that a try next time I'm there. I ride all the time in jeans, albiet loose fitting jeans. I've yet to be bothered by any heat. It's been near or over 100oF this Summer here in East Texas. Strange that some have issues and some don't. Maybe I'm just really tough. Yeah, that must be it.  | ||
| Danger_dave |
Not saying you ain't tough, Mister, Sir, he with the smite button, mate. How long are your legs - maybe. Taller = less heat I have seen theorised. | ||
| Treefrog |
Got my rider kit today with everything but the instructions. Are they posted online anywhere? Didn't find anything using the search. Could somebody scan and email them to me? I want to get this on tomorrow. Thanks for any help. Mike | ||
| Hughlysses |
Taller = less heat I have seen theorised. I'd agree with that. I'm pretty much at the lower limit of inseam measurement for riding a standard Uly (30 inches). I tend to ride up towards the front of the seat and hug the frame with my legs. I can deliberately scoot back on the seat and keep my legs out, but it's not a natural riding position. If you've got long legs so that your normal seating position is back on the seat, I'm sure you're better off. Dave, IIRC you have the 2006 tall seat, so that provides another 1.5 inches of foam between you and most of the hot air too, so I'm sure that helps. Whether the heat's an issue for you or not, it makes sense that it's better to keep the frame (and therefore fuel cool), and it's got to help the life of the ECM and battery to keep them cooler. I rode about 20 miles this afternoon after installing my kit; it was in the high 80's (F) here. I was tooling around town mostly around 45 MPH, I stopped at a couple of stoplights and stop signs, and probably rode for 30 minutes. Normally the fan would kick on after about 10 minutes of this kind of riding at this temperature. The fan didn't come on today until I shut the bike off. I couldn't tell any difference in the fan run time after I stopped the bike, but the fan noise is significantly reduced. The frame definitely stays cooler, some hot air can still be felt exiting between the seat and the frame rails, but it's greatly reduced. The kit is definitely a big improvement. | ||
| Froggy |
I disagree, I disappear behind a Uly. No heat.  Then you get people like Ft_Bstrd who can mount a Uly just by walking from behind it and then sitting.  | ||
| Danger_dave |
To me it's a motard. :-0  | ||
| Ratbuell |
Instructions are easy. Remove stock RSS. Save bolts. Install inner RSS with saved bolts. Install outer RSS with supplied buttonhead bolts. Thread hose clamps through heat shield, install on header. Remove seat. Disconnect and remove battery and battery tray. Disconnect and remove fuseblock. unbolt ECM and move out of the way. Move harness out of the way. Remove trunk pan (leaving only side rails in place). Put new duct in place. EDIT - not in the instructions but should be - find a way to securely attach the forward ECM nut to the trunk pan before reinstalling pan. Reinstall all that was removed. They have pictures for the big words...but the gist is the same  | ||
| Danger_dave |
I can buy all that hugh - not physically going to - but it makes sense. We agree one as a means to compromise on kit doesn't. Job done. | ||
| Jphish |
So has anyone (successfully) tried the 'jacking up' method of having room to secure the ECM nut & bolt to the trunk pan?? Just wonderin. | ||
| Blake |
You may have found the answer Dave. But even if I was short, I'd still be tough and not complain about a little heat from the engine between my legs. ![: ]](http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/proud.gif) | ||
| Xb12xmike |
I went on a 200 mile ride to my dealer ordered a couple hats and comfort kit then to check out millville and home yesterday.   I'm getting new Bearings and Scorpion_Syncs installed on wednesday, then the Comfort_Kit by next week sometime. | ||
| Liv2 |
Jphish quote: "install the kit I picked up from Puyallup Buell." That's wild, I stopped in there Friday afternoon to inquire about the kit and they said that somebody had picked up the first kit that they had sold, earlier in the day.}} (Message edited by liv2 on August 16, 2009) | ||
| Jphish |
Hey Liv2 - Must have just missed you. Picked it up @ 10AM and had it installed, (I'm embarrassed to say) by 8PM that night. I'm not a highly accomplished mechanic, so double check all my work. The kit does make a difference on my 08' - took it for a 45 min test ride and when I shut down in the driveway - the fan didnt come on - that never happened before. I started back up and let it idle for 10 mins - fan did come on at shut down. Thought I might have pulled the fan wire loose or something. I've done worse... | ||
| Buelet |
After reading the initial posts about the Comfort Kit install, I have to say that I wasn't looking forward to the ECM nut that everyone kept talking about. I found a MUCH easier way. If you're following the Installation Instructions: Then on step 4 (Installation of the trunk pan), that on 4a... after installing the trunk pan (Before any other fasteners go in)- at least get the ECM nut & new screw started then. At this point the trunk pan has a lot of flex, so it's nice & easy to place the nut on either one or two fingers and slide it under the pan, down a few inches and hold it up in place while you attach the ECM & screw with the other hand. Once you get it started, then just let it be until you're ready to tighten it down. At that point, just lift the ECM up as you tighten the screw and the nut will stay up against the bottom of the pan so it doesn't turn and Voila! Part II of this post is the admission that I too had previous mis-conceptions about the severity of the heat. I mean, I have almost 30,000 miles on my 2006 Uly and yeah, the frame gets warm some times, but not that hot. I mean, heck - I could easily ride it with shorts if I wanted to. I figured that there must be more differences between the riders and fewer between the bikes.... until my wife got her 2009 XT. She never really said much until maybe 4,000 miles in or so, until one day while riding around KC. She was telling me how hot her bike was, so I volunteered to swap bikes for the rest of the ride (running errands). She hopped on my '03 XB9S that I was riding and I rode her '09 XT. ...HOLY SMOKES! I'm no pansy, but it wasn't long before it felt like someone had a rose-bud (torch) trained on the inside of my leg. It felt like a blast furnace door had been left open and the heat was just pumping out onto my leg. It was FREAKING HOT! I moved my leg around a lot to keep from doing any damage and let's just say that after that experience, I didn't have any desire to ride her XT anymore! Her XT and my X are TOTALLY different in heat output and fan run-times. The kit is installed now and it works as advertised. Much better! We'll get the flash done later this week. | ||
| Pso |
I have tried several times to get the ECM off. The nut just spins, and I cannot get anything under there to hold it in place. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. I was thinking I would need to drill it out. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I think you can just leave the ECM in place (remove rear bolt so that you can remove the battery bracket out from under the ECM) until you remove the underseat tray. Once you have the underseat tray out of the bike, you can grip the nut with Vice Grips or similar to hold it. | ||
| Budsurf |
It will come apart with the ECM still attached at the front. I had to do it this weekend when I installed my kit. Went to the local hardware store and got a regular nut and epoxied it in place. Went back together great after that. |
