| Author | Message | ||
     Dbird29 |
 More like this. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Thanks Krassh! I needed that. I couldn't find it in the line-up, but I knew I had seen it somewhere. I think I've seen it with the bee hive though. | ||
| Garyl |
For what its worth(drama aside), I've been converting my lightning to a lightbolt("R" fairing on an "S" bike) this winter since it is still down with a belt failure. I bought the plastics NEW, but opted to buy some of the hard parts used. I bought a set of "R" headlamps with all bracketry on ebay a few weeks back. Upon installing them and wiring them up, I discovered that the low beam was extremely dim. So dim that it would barely cast a spot on the garage door which was 6 feet in front of it. I swapped the bulb from the high beam, which was quite bright, but it was now also quite dim when in the low position. After taking both housings out and apart, I discovered that the inside of the low housing had lost all of the chrome coating and had melted somewhat on the bottom. An email to the guy I bought it from resulted in "you bought it AS IS" so I chalked up as a dissapointing deal. I then proceeded to buy another set of used lamps from another seller(also on ebay). When they arrived, I first dissasembled them to so the condition of the inside of the housings. The low beam on this set was even WORSE! It was totally black inside and was melted all the way around the perimeter of where the bulb was. I ended up using the two high beam housings, but it tells me that there IS a problem with the lights on those firebolts. Perhaps someone should look into this? | ||
| Aldaytona |
Garyl, Want to donate those bad low beam assemblies? I am working on different coatings to restore the insides. I have had some success (close to or as good as new) and could use more bad housings to experiment with. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
Poor sky....like a moth to the flame. | ||
| Garyl |
Want to donate those bad low beam assemblies? I am working on different coatings to restore the insides. I have had some success (close to or as good as new) and could use more bad housings to experiment with. Al, for now I'm going to hold onto them because I may need to return a set to the last guy. See, I filed a dispute with ebay/paypal and sometimes they require you to send the items back. I'm trying not to be a prick about it, but after the condition of the first set I bought, I made it a point to specifically enquire about the condition of the next set I bought. The seller of the last set assured me that the low beam housing was in perfect shape. So, I feel that I was wronged on the last set and I'm looking to get my money back. Anyway, It sounds from your post, like you've seen this problem often. Is this a widespread issue? Isn't this a bit of a safety concern? | ||
| Rsh |
I have an 2003 XB9R with 41,000 miles. The headlights have been dim for quite awhile. I will replace them over the holidays with either new factory stuff or with some aftermarket hardware I have seen. Today I disassembled the lights to see how the insides looked and as mentioned in a number of posts the coating in both low and high assemblies was gone, the low beam housing had slight melting at the base. Anyway to make along story short I prepped the inside of the housings and masked off the outsides and sprayed them with chrome in a can, the finnish came out great the insides were very shiny. I put everything back together to try them out and it was a huge improvement in light output. I am sure the paint will eventually burn/flake off but in the mean time it cost me $4.00 and for the moment it is much better than it was. | ||
| Old_man |
I wish Buell had gone with the tried and true single headlamp that they used to use. The plastic lens on my XB9S low beam melted. I am careful now to switch to the high beam off and on during the day to keep one side from heating up too much. The headlights look nice but we would be better off without the plastics. | ||
| Old_man |
See what I mean. A great looking bike by one of ours.   | ||
| Diablobrian |
I like that bike! very cafe-ish. | ||
| Krassh |
Ft_bstrd I actually found it on another site. It is not on Badweb, maybe Blake can add it? | ||
| Sgthigg |
"Please send me a stick of dynamite so that I may fix this finely engineered machine once and for all. " Hey news flash....When you start off like this ...your gonna get flamed. Then you b!tc% about getting flamed?...What do you expect? | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
Jack - That bike is absolutely GORGEOUS! | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
This whole xbr headlight thing is getting old. Obviously it is excess heat that is melting the coating. To prevent the problem from a happening you need to remove the heat. As a few of us have done why not just upgrade to HIDs? I know they are expensive, but even with a brand new xbr the headlight is too dim. HIDs run much cooler than a comparable Halogen light. I haven't heard of an xbr bike with HID's melting the housing (Samiam time to speak up if I am wrong). For about 1/2 the cost of a new pipe you could have a safer headlight. Just something to think about. | ||
| Garyl |
For about 1/2 the cost of a new pipe you could have a safer headlight. That's a great suggestion, but I wonder why it would become the responsibility of the consumer to bring the level of safety up to an acceptable level. | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Garyl I agree with you that it sucks that the consumer is stuck fixing this issue. But as the consumer you have two choices, live with you "unsafe" headlight, or fix it and be done with it... I don't think I have ever seen a motorcycle that didn't need a little help from the owner, be it new pipes, steering head dampeners. Tuned shocks, replace crappy dunlop tires, convert early belt designs to chain  , etc... | ||
| Aldaytona |
Garyl, Good luck with your e-bay/paypal issue, hope you have better luck with those folks than I did. Yes, I feel this is a widespread (to XBR owners) and a safety issue. I urge all owners of Buell XBR models to contact the NHTSA and file a complaint about their headlights. It's the only chance to get our bean counting folks at Harley-Davidson/Buell Motor Company to make amends. One shouldn't have to make a repair to be able to use this motor vehicle at night. You can easily contact our fine government employees at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ It's our only chance to get this issue resolved. I urge you to do this for the safety of all Buell XBR owners and future owners. | ||
| Jon_s |
I seldom ride at night and therefore hadn't paid much attention to my headlights. On a group ride last summer, we went out for supper and returned to the hotel after dark. I was surprised at how poor the headlights were. In fact I ended up having to follow behind the others to find my way back to the hotel. I didn't pursue the matter further believing that it was probably just a poor bulb or something similar. Clearly, from the comments being raised here, this is a much more serious issue and likely it's just a matter of time before someone gets hurt. Before raising this issue with Transport Canada (equivalent to your NHTSA), I'd like to know where the matter stands with the factory. Has it really been brought to their attention. Court, do you know if this is being looked at? jon | ||
| Isham |
Lets not skate around the issue. My headlight coating flaked off also and I had to repair it myself I really could have been in big trouble all the times I rode at night with 2 feet of illumination in front of me, but since buell wasn't going to help me I had to take care of it myself. http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Consumer.cfm | ||
| Pwnzor |
XB headlights suck. Silverstar H3's 4TW! | ||
| Liquorbox |
Or, a pair of these 4" metal & glass jobs, at $60 bucks each. http://www.jpcycles.com/catalog/2006HarleyUpdateCa talog/0309.html (Message edited by liquorbox on December 10, 2006) | ||
| Bads1 |
I'll never have the problem.... I fixed it before it happened.  | ||
| Ds_tiger |
Bad- That looks, er uh, BAD ASS!! What is your recipe? Please, inquiring minds want to know- If need be, we should take it to another thread Which I will http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/245326.html?1165801504 | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
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| Krassh |
I believe they are the LSL units from AL. About $400.00 but look awesome. | ||
| Skyguy |
Well soon enough the Buell is out of here. I spent some time this weekend at the Long Beach MC Show. After all the looking around at the new bikes I am heading for a low mileage used RC-51. Been busy doing my research and it truly seems to be the best bang for the buck even by todays standards. Ciao P.S. I will put a skyguy sticker on the back of it so you die hard Buellers know who it is that passed you in the mountains  | ||
| Hogs |
Skyguy, Well I guess you are the Best rider out there, Guess I don`t stand a chance against you, even though I blew a guy away on one of them Rc-51 last year, But I guess he did not know how to ride... I hope I never meet up with you ,you wd. make me look sick.. Hail to the Almighty SkyRIDER | ||
| Skyguy |
Hogs, You are just to easy................ I guess I should leave it at............ Equal riders, one on a Buell one on an RC-51...... Which bike is going to be quicker? The one that starts every time! With equal riders the RC-51 will run the bolt every time. They do not import them to the island though............. | ||
| Jaimec |
Does this mean you'll take your whining and complaining over to an RC51 discussion group from now on? | ||
| Buellfighter |
Uhh, Skyguy, as ALL your posts have indicated, your not going anywhere...fast. |
