| Author | Message | ||
     Skyguy |
I have decided that Buells are like Ducatis. They are not really for riders that ride every day. It is a Sunday bike at best. Someone please take mine off my hands. I no longer love it and want it out of my life. 500,000 miles ridden and the only bike to have ever left me by the side of the rode has been my 16,000 mile Buell. Four times so far. This most recent time because some idiot at the factory thought it was ok to route the speedo sensor and and stator wires right up againt an oil line and they wore through and shorted out the stator. HOW MUCH DOES A PIECE OF ••••••• PROTECTIVE INSULATION COST???? I have to admit that I am getting quite hostile about the screwing I have taken on this bike. It gets worse every day I have to look at it. At this point the factory should be very happy that I live to far away to set fire to it in the parking lot. Becasue I have gotten zero satisfaction from BMC or the dealers I am planning on taking it to the next demo day I can find and putting a giant lemon sign on it. I have tried and tried and BMC does not give a shiot about my problems. Therefore I am going to go out of my way to cost them as many sales as possible. Usually I would spend my time riding................. Time to hit up all the other bike forums. | ||
| Glitch |
Time to hit up all the other bike forums. Please do, and take your attitude with you as you go. I have well over 47,000 miles on mine now. It's parked in the parking deck here at work. I rode it here yesterday as well. Sure I've had a couple of issues, but fewer than I had with my Suzuki Bandit. Please stop trying to hi-jack a thread with your bad attitude, it's old. | ||
| Skyguy |
Glitch, It may be old but it is valid. I have tried and tried to not have a bad attitude regarding the XB. Sadly my experience has not been as good as yours. And if you take notice glitch this thread is about repetitive issues with someones Buell. Sadly the same issue as my most recent one. I wish I had known about all of the stupid issues these things had before I bought it. This board has been the only reason I have kept it so long. I keep hoping that if I fix it one more time it will be reliable and every time I do I get stranded again. This last time is the last time it will happen. I will never ride this bike again and it is up for sale. Despite you getting pissy with me I will continue to frequent this board because of all of the nice people I have met here. How would you feel if in my position? Would you not be upset? Would you just quietly go away? This was a big ticket item for me and the pain and financial strain it has caused is very near unbearable. Have you ever gone hungry because your only transportation breaks over and over again? I have not eaten for three days once becasue of the expense of getting the dammed thing home and repaired. Fortunatly my hostility towards the bike does not extend to the opinions or experiences of other people. | ||
| Freezerburn |
Gee...after reading Sky's thread I don't want my Buell any more. Bwaaaaa waaa waaah. Yeah it is frustrating when you have troubles but trolling and looking for help are totally different things. I don't like to read troll droppings. I did like how this was originally going in a more constructive direction. | ||
| Skyguy |
BTW. I really like most of the people on this board. I often contribute to threads without mention of my experience. I do think that had I run into this forum before buying the Buell I never would have taken the chance. I hope that someone getting ready to put out big money on a Buell should have ALL of the good and bad experiences readily available. I still say that without the problems the was the most fun I have ever had on two wheels was with the Buell. However if you need something reliable or are thinking of the Buell as primary transportation it is a good bike to avoid. | ||
| Skyguy |
Freezerburn, I have looked for so much help it is stupid. I am still not able to get the damm wheel bearings fixed under the free performance upgrade/recall. Been working on that alone for nearly three months. I dont troll BTW. I am aware that EB reads this board as well as several other factory people. Posting this kind of stuff here as been a last resort to see if any of my issues will get addressed. To date I have not gotten squat other than testing procedures. This has left me one very upset consumer. My only option at this point is to make a stink. I refuse to taske it in the arse and not make noise about it. | ||
| Glitch |
I refuse to taske it in the arse and not make noise about it. You have your own thread to stink in, why stink up everyone else's. I'm really really tired of your pissing on everything. Stop the hi-jack, or I will move your posts somewhere else! | ||
| Skyguy |
One mans stink is another mans perfume............. Although you avoided all of my questions you are kinda right. Consider it moved. (Message edited by skyguy on October 10, 2006) | ||
| Sub65chris |
wow i dont want a negative thread! I simply would like to get a resolution to the problem , not rain on the parade. by the way customer service was very helpful and they are going to call the dealership and offer them the support they need . so far today it seems like i've got more accomplished than in the last month , thanks for the guidance. I am now more focused on fixing the problem , i was shooting in the dark and now i have a pretty good direction . i will keep you all posted , but if you can think of anything else ..... | ||
| Glitch |
Good deal! Extra good! wow i dont want a negative thread! No sweat, I'll see to that. | ||
| CJXB |
Roadside asst sucks. First time I waited over 5 hours for a tow. Second time it took them 18 hours to get a truck. I call asst at 10:33pm. I gave up waiting on them at 3:30 am. Got a ride home. I called them back at 8:00am in the morning and it took them till 1:30pm to get a truck. I'm about to give up on Buell. I have roadside assistance, although I've never had to use it. If I'm ever stranded and it sucks that bad I might have to reconsider my situation, scary about the limited number of dealers to assist and get to when you're traveling !!! | ||
| Rocketsprink |
Why does everyone give people that have problems with their bikes shit? Believe it or not, all manufacturers put out a lemon now and then. Yes, even Buell. These bikes are not the be all end all of bikes. And yes, from what I have seen, read, heard and even experienced, some times, whether it's the Dealer or Buell themselves, help is no where to be found. There are issues that most of you don't even know about. And probably never will. If you have a good bike I want to hear about it. But along with the good comes the bad. | ||
| Docktor |
Sorry to hear about ya issues mate, Seems to be a quality issue about the parts to me.I have heard the belts are junk on 03 as well. I have an 04 and have 23000 klms on mine,Belt is perfect and the rest of the bike is tops, I have replaced a blinker globe (suspect coz it vibrates like hell) and adjusted primary drive and I am poking nearly 150 HP thru it. I seriously cant ask for a better bike. I bought it for a purpose and it turns out the goods time after time. Doc | ||
| Glitch |
Sprink, attitude is everything. | ||
| Tunes |
Sub65Chris, I recently posted the following in the Old School Buell (Tubers) section, responding to a thread. Although it's not an XB, the electrical problems are similiar... and I have an '04 XB also. I've been dealing with an electrical gremlin on my '99 S3 since last year. It all started with my bike engine cutting out but nothing else, all electrics still on. I would stop, turn the key off, then on, bike would fire and off I go. Wound up changing the Angle Bank Sensor.... then later the Speedo Sensor... then the Voltage Regulator, then the Stator went while taking the battery with it. I even spent the $ and purchased the replacement ignition key set. This all took place from mid-summer '05 to this past weekend. After replacing all of these items, I was STILL having intermittent ECM lamp on's and off's. It would not fail for weeks at a time... but sometimes, the bike would run on the hot side. Ya, I changed the Temp Sensor too. There is a circuit breaker immediately under the rear gas tank mount area/frame. The star washer under the nut that secures and grounds this circuit breaker was loose and intermittently touching. This was causing a floating ground through the entire charging system which slowly cooked everything over time. I was getting 17V spikes back at the Stator! Circuit breaker checked out good, as did all the components... since they're all new now!! So, make sure that circuit breaker is grounded!! ...and I'd like to add that it's probably a bad or intermittent ground somewhere on your bike that is causing all of your problems. Yes, a component can be the problem but most eventually fail and reveal themselves as dead! Do not worry about the harness getting changed... My XB's wiring harness was changed looking for an intermittent IGN Fuse blowing issue. The harness was replaced under warranty. It didn't fix the problem, but it was a better harness AND it eliminated many other scenarios... Turned out to be the gray wire coming out of the fuel pump rubbing and shorting on the frame. My XB had less than 1K miles when this happened. Bike was at the dealership for 3 weeks, almost 4 weeks before they found the problem. I now have almost 9K miles with no problems. Stick at it. I think these bikes are worth it. I love my 2 Buells! | ||
| Skyguy |
I spent the first 14,000 miles with a good attitude. ................ (Message edited by skyguy on October 10, 2006) | ||
| Sub65chris |
Turned out to be the gray wire coming out of the fuel pump rubbing and shorting on the frame. Funny i had the same thing happen at about 5000 miles . then on of our fellow badwebbers sugestions i did the de-wigglefication of the wiring harness .(zip ties). no problems yet with that . | ||
| Court |
>>>>I am planning on taking it to the next demo day I can find and putting a giant lemon sign on it. Been done. San Francisco - 1997. Sold a ton of Buells as a result of it. In fact, being a balloon guy, you could emulate the greatest Buell protest of all time, dangling one from a helicopter with lemons hanging from it. The first rule of advertising.... Frankly, you are right about one thing, there are Buells that have problems. Your ranting only serves to make the hard work Buell Customer Service provides shine all that much brighter. I'm pretty sure a perfect vehicle doesn't exist. I just coughed a boat load of bucks for a new Mercedes-Benz that had a steering box fail with less than 500 miles. I'm wondering how it'd washed if I'd written Ray Catena and told them their cars sucked? Humans, creatures that they are, tend to exhibit fairly predictable behavior. Poop on them they avoid you. You'll have to count me out too. Like you, I have finite tolerance. You sent me all the facts detailing a fiddled and faddled with bike that was not part of the wheel bearing deal, you did the bearings yourself, with perhaps the wrong ones, the bike was a total conflagraation by the time a dealer, regardless of how capable, got their paws on it. I think you had some credible concerns that you pretty much pissed away your chances of garnering much support for. Of course....that's just my PERSONAL OPINION. If I worked for Buell, I'd really be pissed off. Court I suppose this totally screws the free beer, for the "great job" I did for you, next time I'm in California | ||
| James996 |
sub65chris-I have the same problem you have and found that there seems to be alot of info on this v/r stator issue in the knowledge vault. I hope we can get this resolved. I need my bike to be reliable. My commute to and from week is 150 miles each way. I'm going to call cust svc as soon as i hear from the dealer. Does anyone have a good roadside svc company like aaa they can reccomend? Skyguy I understand you where u r coming from. Thanks all | ||
| Davo |
Court, Your "any advertising is good advertising" might be true but If they were to stop one of us and ask us about our bike I guarantee that they don't go running to the dealership. I have tons of folks ask me about my bike. I have a 06 Uly and I tell them I love it but I wouldn't buy it again. I know that there are more people out there without problems and I tell folks that as well but I wouldn’t chance it again. | ||
| Court |
Davo: Right you are (and by the way it's not "my" saying....see Cutlips Effective Public Relations
Within any population, including manufactured vehicles, there is an "expected distribution" representing the best to worst continuum. Manufacturers seek to "tighten" the curve. The curve is developed using a normal risk analysis matrix. I work in an industry that falls in a different "consequence" band and we do projects known as "five nines" (look it up) for folks who demand ABSOLUTE RELIABILITY. Can you say a $834,000,000 back-up power system for Banc of America (currently under construction - NYC - 42nd and Broadway). But...their consequences are HIGH. If their trading ops go down they loose something like $7,000,000/second. You do the math and see what you'd spend to have 99.999% system reliability. Vehicles fall below that line. There will be some that are problems...you're talking to a guy who's fist NEW car was a Chevrolet Veag....trust me, I know problems! The trick is how you solve them. Court | ||
| Skyguy |
Court, WTF are you talking about? with the following statement? "You sent me all the facts detailing a fiddled and faddled with bike that was not part of the wheel bearing deal, you did the bearings yourself, with perhaps the wrong ones, the bike was a total conflagraation by the time a dealer, regardless of how capable, got their paws on it". The wheel bearings were never fiddle faddled by me at all. I took them to Quaid first. They did not have a bearing tool so it went to Fordyce. I never "did them myself" at all. Nor have I fiddle faddled anything else!!!!!!! It has ZERO mods of anykind other than freaking paint. so again WTF are you talking about. Is making false public statements and attempting to discredit the person with the beef how you handle problems? I only say this becasue the statement you made is false as hell. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Poop on them they avoid you. Some people pay to have people poop on them. Just sayin'. | ||
| Skyguy |
When somone can get ZERO satisfaction as the result of a business deal they either blow it off or sue. I am not a lawyer kind of guy. I am a bit old fashioned in how I handle getting screwed. I tried to play nice and get things taken care of. I got nowhere. I also realize that by posting here I am still going to get nowhere. Becasue I got ZERO effort from BMC or the freaking local dealers. Becasue MANY other riders have gotten zero satisfaction regarding their problems I do not know what to do other than go to war. Kind of funny but for some reason I think the reason for getting tore up on this bike is becasue HD is the parent company and vetos EB's efforts at making things right with their customers. I have been the dealer for a couple of companys that sold some gliders with bad fabric. Most fabric is supposed to last 300+ hours. This companys only lasted 100 hours. THEY MADE GOOD WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS!!! Well one did, the other went out of business the following season. I see ZERO difference between Buells and gliders. When you produce something with a serious flaw you either make it good with your customers or alienate them. Consider me alienated. | ||
| M2nc |
I have read some of the BIG issues that people are having with Ulys. Sorry, but for a first production run bike, I have yet to hear of any major problems except for one that posted an engine failure on a Buell, but not a Uly. I have 15,400 miles on my Uly and other than flat tires it has always rode me home. The M2 has 44,000 miles and it has always carried me home. What I hear from most of the Uly riders with problems are basically dealer issues. My bike pinged when I got it. The dealer fixed it during its first service and it has not come back since. I was one of the first to post the problem with the breaking latches on the side case. Then Bruce at Buell called the house and next-day-aired a replacement part so I could go to Daytona. The kick stand was replaced by the dealership under warranty. The service manager told us about it before we had time to tell him. So its not like I have not had my share of problems with my Buells. My M2 has the normal leaks and the transmission does not shift as good as it once did. It's just that I keep it in perspective, machines break. I had problems with my Honda CB750. At 32,000 miles the clutch was gone, it had a valve cover leak, it was on it's second chain and sprockets and its third battery. The starter button would stick killing the headlight while riding. The bike was hard to start in comparison to the Buells and sometimes it wouldn't because it would eat the batteries. The CB750 is arguably the most reliable motorcycle from the most reliable motorcycle company. I liked my Honda and I do not think it was a lemon. The issue is how frequent the problems happen and how well service personnel are able to deal with the situation at hand right the first time. That makes the difference between a man holding a lemon sign up at a demo ride and one bragging about 100,000 miles on his bike. This is not to say that Buells can not be improved. They can. I do not believe they are the most reliable, but about average. HD and Buell are working on Auto Industry quality levels and in many ways they are close. Buell does not produce the number of units that allow them to have the kind of equipment that is necessary to Pokie Yoke the manufacturing process 100%. Though I can see they have taken the data at hand and improved their product every year. The one area that Buell really needs to work on is their dealers. My HD dealer is great and they really have earned my business, but I have seen many other dealers that just ruin it for Buell. I have questioned in the past if HD dealers are not losing more Buell sales than they make here in the US. Unlike those dealers like Sheltons, Stone Mountain, Appleton that know how to fix the problems that Buell customers are having, most HD dealers are just frustrating them and making the situation worse. Look at the post here and you can see what I am talking about. I have not heard from anyone at Shelton's ready to pitch their Buells. Nor for that matter Buellers from Stone Mountain or Appleton. Are these dealers so fortunate that they are not getting the "lemons"? Since these guys sell more Buells than most that would be statistically unlikely. No, they just know how to fix the problems so they prevent normal machinery issues from ruining the ownership experience. Okay, I am getting off the  | ||
| Skyguy |
I have ZERO doubt that some of the dealers have ruined it for Buells customers. Pretty funny but I got a spam from a guy at the very dealer that refused to take care of the bearings. He wanted me to know that Skip Fordyce was expanding their Buell area. I called and told him about the issue I had with their service dept. He promised to call back. | ||
| Davo |
My big complaint is not the quality of the bike it is that the system is not set up for folks that do their own wrenching. I paid just as much for a reliable bike. I deserve factory backing as well. As it is now if you are not dealer dependent then you are on your own. It is sad because if the factory would work with us we could fix it tomorrow for a lot less $$$$ Maybe thats the problem. Too many people not making money on my problem. Is is only my problem as long as I choose to keep it. | ||
| Sub65chris |
Ok here goes , when i started this thread i wasn't trying to open a can of worms . I was trying to get help for myself that i could hopefuly pass on to the dealer that may or may not have much buell experience . by doing many searches and refining those searches I with your help have com up with many posiblities as the problem. the dealership has been very proffesional and curtious even though they may or may not really know that much about the buell brand. I was able to in a respectful manner approach them with the information and many different view points found here and they very graciously accepted the info ( if ti helped or not ) . this post was started for that continuing pursuit !NOT FRAGGING BUELLS!i realize there may be problems bigger than me and my baby but with all due respect this post is for the well being of my and others 2005 xb9sx buell motorcycles( as well as all buells even though they aren't as mean looking  ). Positive vibes toward the betterment of buells not the lemon throwers . im out | ||
| Davo |
Sub65chris, I was one of the first to try to help you. The later posts that I made were responses to comments that appeared to make light of real problems that some of us are having. I don't like people with no problems telling people with problems that there is no problem. I was simply looking out for the little guy. That's what I do. Davo out!!! | ||
| Sub65chris |
Davo - i dont attack people on message boards , i also was not directing the post at anyone . I was refering to a general attitude that is disrepectfull and rude . from what i see you are voicing your oppinion and you are not putting spin on it thats what "grinds my gears " . i respect anyone who stants up for what is right without making others their target or putting them down. if there is a point to be made make it so people can respond positivly and not defensivly . If you cant say something nice, re-word it and say it again (hopefully to a better effect)  |
