| Author | Message | ||
     Vegasbueller |
03 XB9R broadsided into a car at 30mph.... around 30K on the odometer and all it needed was some plastics and a brake lever. No complaints here either! Trailer? do they make a trailer to pull BEHIND the buell like they do for the Goldwings???  | ||
| Tramp |
this is me following blake's excellent advice. | ||
| Old_man |
If you have never had a problem with your motorcycle, consider yourself LUCKY. Mine quit on a back road near nowhere. My XB9S has been in the shop for over three and a half weeks. It took a week before they even looked at it. They tell me the coil went bad, foam coming out of it. (they say they never saw this before) Waited almost 2 weeks for a new coil. Replaced the coil and found th ECU had also gone bad. Another weeks wait for a new one. They called me today said it was fixed, but that there is a nail in the rear tire (wasn't leaking any air when I had it). They can't test it until they replace the tire. They had it over three and a half weeks, wait to tell me now. The only tires they have are the crap Dunlops.(I threw the original ones away with only 500 miles on them) I have Metzler M1 on the bike. The riding season in the north is not that long and time is wasting, almost a month of prime weather gone. I asked them why they didn't call me to let me know about the tire weeks before and I could have got a tire for them to install. To make a too long story shorter, I asked them to order the Pirelli tires that come on the CityX. I'm guessing another 2 weeks down the drain. I'm not complaining that something went bad, it can happen to any motorcycle, but the total lack of communication and the apparent slow shipping of parts from Buell should not be acceptable. (I received parts from England quicker) If they had called me about the tire (they said they thought they had left me a message)(they DIDN'T) I would have been able to be out riding instead of sitting at this computer. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I'll just reiterate this point briefly, it's not Buell that sucks. It's the harley dealers that sell them. Good ones are needles in a very large haystack. | ||
| Court |
>>>and the apparent slow shipping of parts from Buell should not be acceptable. I agree. I need to know why you think the delay was "from Buell". I **think** (and will darn sure know for certain tomorrow) that Buell is clearing orders daily. i.e. - order arrives today; it ships today. Do you have specifics. In **most** these cases, I'll tell you what I find is that the dealer was waiting to actually place the order. I found one, albeit back in 1999, where the dealer wrote down Buell parts to order on a legal pad. When the pad was full, they typed it in and placed the order. Bad news if you are at the top of the sheet in a slow dealership. Buell parts used to be really slow...I mean painfully slow. The system was revamped and I think it's one of the best. I ordered parts for my BMW a while back and the dealers counter person looked at me, when I said "air cleaner filter" like a 6 week old puppy looking at an oscillating fan for the first time. | ||
| Tramp |
Court- pipe down....you're gonna wake everybody up... | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Who's doing all the hollering @ 6:00 AM on Sunday morning? I heard it while working in the yard geesh, guys, hold it down! G2  | ||
| Tramp |
sorry, BD- 0500 came quickly this morn' | ||
| Court |
By 0500 I am WELL into my day. . . I was running around NYC's Silver Lake by 0430, home sucking down coffee and reading e-mails (lots of stuff to ship and Buell e-mails to catch up on today) by 0530. Just retrieved Starbucks for the SCU and and have donned Red Wings and headed for the yard with a shovel. You have been warned.  | ||
| Jlnance |
and headed for the yard with a shovel. One of the wonderful things about living in the south is that although my grass needs mowing, it would be compleatly unacceptable to do it on a Sunday. So I can ride guilt free this afternoon.  | ||
| Ducxl |
Just retrieved Starbucks for the SCU and and have donned Red Wings and headed for the yard with a shovel Cool,and Red Wings are made in the good 'ole USA! | ||
| Bigdaddy |
That may have been my problem this AM,,,I was wearing me Herman's while moving some big rocks around the bottom of the yard. Got the rocks moved, jumped in the pool for a quick cool down and all's well for now. You fellas making those early morning Starbucks runs should look in to purchasing a Flavia coffee station (using Sumatra blend) and the the coffee freaks in your house will non longer send the early bird running -- my lovely bride is a coffee freakazoid and this was the best coffee related purchase I've ever made!!! Jlnance is up by 5:00 too,,,,just haven't seen him yet,,,,back outside to wash the dogs. G2 | ||
| Ducxl |
Oh yeah,and on topic i'd bet all my money that a bottleneck exists at the service department.Them guys' are always looking at a long backlog. So the only answer i'd advise is for dealers to add technicians.Only problem is,they'd all have to be let go come october thru january.I've never('cept tire mounting) visited a service dept.Even with a Ducati 4v,never. | ||
| Tramp |
court- wher ein the big apple do you have a LAWN? bigdaddy-o: i came SO close to making the deal's gap run- crazy close. wpuplda been nice to finally meet you- next time | ||
| Crusty |
Bigdaddy; personally, I prefer Kenyan coffee to Sumatra. | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Court, I agree that much of the problem is dealer slothfullness in the parts and service departments. Until the Motor Company like McDonald's demands better performance from their dealers the situation will not improve. The Motor Company also needs to take a leadership role in resolving the technician shortage. There's no way MMI can train enough techs to keep up with the servicing of the 300,000+ new bikes HD is putting on the road every year, and many potential techs can't afford the tuition, travel, and housing costs at MMI. HD needs to partner with technical and community colleges all over the country to train more techs and offer tuition reimbursment to dealer employees and susbsidize tuition for new employees. As for parts ordering, every dealership needs to be electronicly tied into the HD parts database. When the counterperson sells a part, it or a replacement if in stock should automaticly be picked and on the next truck out of the parts warehouse. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Tramp, We'll catch up someday. Crusty, I don't drink any of it (I may be the only United States Army retiree on the planet that doesn't) as I prefer a cold glass of southern iced tea or diet Pepsi. When I have to purchase my wife coffee from a shop it's a double redeye -- that's a blowing rocket in these parts -- but the Sumatra blend keeps her happy. Looking at the coffee options for the Flavia I don't see a Kenyan blend,,,,if I can find it I'll test it on her. G2 PS I would apologize for the thread jacking, but I don't feel bad about it (Message edited by bigdaddy on July 09, 2006) | ||
| Blake |
Buellgrrrl, Just my lame attempt at humor. I'm confident that you'll achieve your 100K mile goal, especially if you keep at it with a positive attitude. We'll be here for any frustrating times should they occur. It's refreshing to see that you haven't been chased off by the heated discussion. That is indicative of a strong character. Old_man, It is very difficult to believe that a coil would take two weeks to obtain. That makes little sense to me. I think a scenario similar to that which Court relates is most likely; in fact I'd say that it is virtually assured. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I'm a tea drinker myself, prefer Twinings brand Earl Grey or Darjeeling. Hijack thread? what thread? | ||
| Davegess |
leadership role in resolving the technician shortage. ! let's see you become an MC tech 'cause you like bikes. Then in the summer you get to work as many hours as you can handle 'cause everyone is out riding except you. Then in th ewinter they lay you off 'cause there is no work. Sounds like a nasty job to me it is no wonder they maybe a shortage, th egood guys go to work at place taht sell a lot of sleds and 4 wheelers so they can work year round. I think there are plenty of people who would become techs if they could work year round. Buellgrrrl, you need to relax. You got what you paid for, not what you wanted. No amount of complaining will turn your bike into what it is not. The extended warrenty, which most likly cost the Motor Company nothing as a third party sold it, will cover what it covers. YOu will be unhappy 'cause you are not getting what you want but are too stubborn to give it up and move on to something that will make you happy. No amount of complaining will make the financials numbers be what you want them to be, they will be what they will be. You have little contol over this. You can put up with it or sell the bike. My dayyd always said "don't throw good monwy after bad" If this thing is too expensive torun then sell it. You made a mitake in buying it. It is not going to give you the numbers a BMW, HOnda, Benelli, Ducati will give you as it is a Buell. It will be different from one Buell to the next. | ||
| Glitch |
I prefer a cold glass of southern iced tea or diet Pepsi. PEPSI!? OMG!  | ||
| Tom_b |
Never had a problem with any parts I've had a dealer order. Forman H/d usually can have them for me in less than a week. A person can also pay extra to have them overnight or 2 day shipped. Appleton h/d has also been able to do the same thing. It is the dealer, not the factory. If your in a hurry, ask about this being an option. I agree with court and blake on the list thing and they also may be trying to scrimp on the shipping. I've even paid extra to have it shipped to my house instead of having to go pick them up. | ||
| Glitch |
Back before Cameron started running Stone Mountain HD & Buell, they would only order parts on Friday before closing. Regardless of if it was HD or Buell parts. Now they order at the end of every day. Sure am glad Cameron took over. He's the difference between SMHD&Buell and just another HD dealership. | ||
| Glitch |
P.S. - am I the only one who sees the Buell planets aligning? Anyone else notice something very interesting, the moto equivalent of a solar eclipse coming.... Part of it is kind of a translucent red. | ||
| Jon |
Pwnzor, Getting into the tea thing myself. Very interesting varieties those teas. Much more diverse than coffee based bevs. Peets is waaay better than Starbucks... | ||
| Court |
Okay. . . . taking a break and it looks like not a minute too soon. Tramp. . . our house is the highest point, or within feet of it, in the Big Apple. We don't have MUCH of a yard, but both the neighbors’ across the street have well over an acre. What we do have is a pretty good view.  Red Wings are made in the USA but . . well, the last pair I had lasted about as long as the first EFI system on an X-1 and when I went to replace them I had to argue with the dealer that I did NOT want the "new" WORX that are being sold by Red Wing as "just as good". Somehow I have a tough time reading Made in China on the boots, seeing the $39.00 (vs. $179) price tag and believing they are "just as good". I'm pretty disappointed in my current Red Wings (4418's) but my faith in American manufacturing is always buoyed by my custom WESCO Highliners. They are great for climbing towers and wood poles but a poor choice for yard work. Ahhhh...a "youthful" Court 450' over the Missouri River. I think I'll stick to gardening in my sunset years.  The dealership in question has 22 trained technicians, 4 dedicated to Buell. I know little about their work load and can't recall if I have actually been there or not. . . I'm gonna have to ponder this "HD make'em tow the line" thing. I'm trying to think of a way to initiate, regulate, measure and enforce that. HD dealers are like contractors in that they tend to be fairly independent and hard headed to a fault. I remain an advocate of communication, letting them know what your expectations are (essentially becoming the squeaky wheel, with a very responsible squeak) and keeping in close touch. I get spoiled; my local dealer has been good about calling me on pretty much a daily basis when they have my Buell and updating me. If there are delays getting parts I want to know pronto. The other thing that HD dealers and contractors (who I have a pretty good handle on as a 4th generation construction dude) have in common is that both threaten rather poorly. I KNOW better than to go storming into my dealer threatening to take my business to BMW or Honda. Of course, I also know that the success that most the dealer has insured, at least in my area, that they own either all or at least some of the BMW and Honda dealers. They are businessmen first, "Harley dealers" second. The local NY area association was borne of the motor company trying to dictate something to the dealers years ago, didn't work. Hoss Waugh remains one of my favorites for the way he handled HD telling him to remove the confederate flag from his logo. Finally....the "extended warranty". You shoulda asked me about that before you popped the bucks. Neither HD nor Buell has one bloomin' thing to do with it. Dealers sell these 3rd party contracts at a huge mark-up. I suggest you read it VERY CLOSELY. I have yet to deal with anyone from an extended warranty firm (and this is based on dealing I had with them while I was a Buell employee) who isn't slimy as they can be. They never would tell the folks at Buell what they even covered, citing "confidentiality". My bet is that your extended warranty covers a lot less than you think and if it does cover the sun and the moon, it's no skin off Buells back. Just some thoughts. . . . back to work. | ||
| Ducxl |
Red wing 4418? Insulated(too hot)?? A must have are the 2218,none better except now,i'm onto these Wesco 16" highliners,gotta havem'. Too bad some have trouble with some Buells' reliability,mine are rock solid.When they're needing i merely show up at the parts counter with a detailed list of part numbers and always get attentive parts service.Now even,the local dealer has installed one of those "pull a number/ticket" thingys and the display registers the next number in line.And very cool as i can walk the floor while waiting for my number.Those of us who can do our own wrenching......GET THE BEST SERVICE! Others have to wait in the service dept. line....now calling number NINE! | ||
| Ducxl |
Oh yeah...i've seen some of your lineman photos.And i'm petrified of heights so.......YOU"RE NUTZ! NUTZ! Really though,what bravado...cool | ||
| Pwnzor |
Jon, I recommend all varieties of Twining's Brand teas. I have a few English buddies who turned me onto that. Here's something I discovered at one of my favorite restaurants: http://www.republicoftea.com Best selction of glass-bottled iced teas I have found. Also incredible selection of tea in general. | ||
| Old_man |
>>>and the apparent slow shipping of parts from Buell should not be acceptable. I agree. I need to know why you think the delay was "from Buell". Court, I say apparent because all I know is what the dealer tells me. Either way, it says Buell on the sign. They have some responsibility. |
