| Author | Message | ||
     Tramp |
republic's good stuff. there are FAR more HD techs per HD unit, in north america, than there are bmw techs per bmw unit. actually, there seems to be a glut of MMI guys out there. Almost every one I know does NOT work in a HD shop anymore... Cochise has met three of them, in my area, and none of them is in a HD shop. Those that are in said shops rarely relish working on Buells. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Glitch, It would be Sundrop but the doctor killed that plan,,,,,I'll try a diet Coke in the AM  G2 | ||
| Pwnzor |
Diet Coke is the best soda pop ever. | ||
| Oldog |
Court: I have to ask does Buell have a minimum order dollar amount for the dealers on a parts order? Where I work we at one time instituted a 25$ minimum order to help cover paper work, in some instances where a small but important part like a gage glass gaskets(Small rubber bands) was needed and the customer did not need any thing else (particulary repeat customers,) I was allowed to grattice them us-post. This might explain why there may be delays in parts turnaround say the min order is 1k$ (seems high) dealer needs to wait on enough items to place the order OR they pay an up charge. Some distributers do this with us at work now. BuellGrrrrl: For some reason I understood that you had some wrenching abilities? And Shop space, You post like you at least understand what goes on inside the mill, Why not get your hands dirty? One of the most pleasurable experiences I have ever had is the satisfaction of having done a repair or an up grade myself and that it is done as well as it can be done. After a fiasco with the Dealer where a D207 was placed on my bike (front was a 205 as was the nail damaged rear) A discussion with the service writer in question left me with excuses a large bill for the tire/mounting etc., and an over tightened belt. My solution: I simply decided that This dealer will NEVER change for me or sell me another tire. End of the problem, I bought this set from Daves, Next set maybe him or SMHD I buy the odd part from the locals from time to time (like the pad retainer I am still waiting for), Good folks and the service writer in question is gone. I too wish to suggest that If you are un happy with your Cycle or the service you recieve on it your options are limited to, 1.Do business with some one else 2.Do it your self ( I saved 150$ in service fees! for my time and learned something.) 3.Get some thing else to ride I suggest too that when you get irritated with these situations Count your blessings, I have been waiting 1.5 weeks on a 10mm X 1.0 mm tp set screw to lock the pad retainer pin, I can't find one here any where I have looked. Each week I drive the round trip 5x to work Its 50$ for gas .. But I have a largely trouble free bike that I can work on, I enjoy doing it, This Board for help and a little encouragement and I have a way to go when the bike is down. Ride Safe BuellGrrrrrl | ||
| Jackbequick |
Tramp said: "Those that are in said shops rarely relish working on Buells." I don't understand that. Is it part of the "not a real Harley" syndrome, like, "I only work on real Harleys"? Jack | ||
| Tramp |
jack- it's because harleys are very user-friendly to work on, all BIG fasteners and parts with plenty of space (in general) between components, etc., manufactured for a clunky ease-of-assembly and overbuilt postwar styling. The essential tenet behind buell is the shoehorning of a HD powerplant into semi-frame with various metric and fractional fasteners. many HD techs simply don't even possess a wide range of metric hand tools. Yes, I KNOW, all-too-well, that HDs require some limited complement of metric tooling. Buells throw it all off for these HD techs, though.... who'd wanna deal with an xb when he/she spends the bulk of his/her days changing "heritage softtail" (reg. tm) rockerboxes to chrome, and fitting "screamin' eagle" (reg. tm) ignitions to "night trains" (reg. tm).... the act of simply typing "night train" makes me feel the need to shower...... anyway- there's an enormous difference between wrenching because you like the machine, and wrenching to earn rent. when it's a daily thing for your daily bread, you just want nice, smooth jobs.... and the big twinge stuff provides such.... | ||
| Jlnance |
Here is an idea for making this better. | ||
| Tramp |
great point- in BMW service, we always used llightspeed, and our service parts ordering (at the last two dealerships where i'd worked) was digitally generated interdepartmentally. I enter the model, the part, and click to automatically apply that part to the RO I'm working on, and parts gets an sos to pull it for me and have a runner bring it to my building, or watch for the incoming part on the next UPS truck- it's already ordered..."click". there was no need to supply the customer with an RO# (although we did so, glaldy) as their service histories came up just by entering their names, tags or VINs. any associate could pull up their RO and get tracking intel on the spot. when excited customers called me, i'd pull their ROs while I had 'em on the phone, and from there I could see where the part was, between AG; East Coast; Ontario, Ca.; where-have-you. Our parts system (lightspeed) used exactly the same codes as does BMW automobile group, and all parts diagrams, lists, legends, etc., were in the system, scematically and otherwise. I was shocked when I learned HD still didn't have this together. actually, yesterday I was at a volvo dealership, and when I asked for a 740 fuel pump/float housing-regina system, the guy still had to pull out a book.....just like HD. what the h*ll is wrong with these pleistocene corporations? | ||
| Jon |
Pwnzor, Thanks or that link. I book marked it. I do know that I love Earl Grey. The iced tea thing is intriguing for the Summer parties on the deck! | ||
| Jlnance |
Oldog - I don't know if Buell has a minimum order, but I've never gotten any flack from DaveS about the riddiculously small orders I place with him.  | ||
| Jlnance |
what the h*ll is wrong with these pleistocene corporations? We've never done it that way before.  | ||
| Court |
>>>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. Thank you for an honest answer. I understand your thinking. I have trouble, with Buell parts pretty much being fully integrated in the HD system, believing that most dealer don't run up a pretty impressive order daily. If I ever had a dealer tell me he had to wait a couple days to scare up $25 or some similar # worth of orders to HD, I'd have it from DaveS or Liberty by the time the phone call ended. Technology allows us better effortlessly. Dealers used to use Lightspeed and Talon. I think it's all Talon now, but I confess I am not up on this end of it. | ||
| Glitch |
I'll try a diet Coke in the AM Thanks for your support.  | ||
| Oldog |
I've never gotten any flack from DaveS about the riddiculously small orders I place with him. DaveS is the consumate professional you never would. He understands us that is why you and I go back. I take it that there is no minimum order from the factory.( I used 25$ as OUR minimum) The HD min could have easily been say $500.00 or 1K$ of parts items. I suspect that motor clothes are likely separate items and likely handled differently so they would not count on a "parts" order. I ordered 2 pins and went to check Saturday, Tony looked it up, they were ordered but have not been recieved, In that they were ordered on the 3rd It makes sense that It sould take a couple of days, would it be unreasonable to have expected them by the 7th? maybe expect it by NEXT Friday? This is the pad retaining pin for the nisian front brake calipers, or is this a vendor item beyond Buells control? I am not unsympathetic to the Dealer issues I bet Our local dealer has 100K or better at any one time in motor clothes, the HOG chapter hosts cookouts almost every weekend I just wish that they had the 3.50$ brake pad pin or could get it quicker. DaveS had my tires to me 1 day after the draft to pay him hit my bank, [2 days] Appelton to Wilmington ON TIME AS PROMISED BTW Thanks DaveS I think I will like the tires, the protectors I recomend 2 sets for the breakaway, and a 3rd Iron for remounting | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Friday I rode 550 or so miles of 2 lanes in South Dakota and western Minnesota, not an unusual ride for me. What was unusual was the fact that I saw not a single motorhome pulling a trailerload of Harleys. What I did see was plenty of serious riders wearing helmets and leathers out actually riding Harleys. From the way they were packed it looked like they'd decided to save on $3/gallon gas by riding their Harley's on vacation and leave the RV home. Clearly, the average annual mileage a Harley sees is rapidly rising from 800 miles a year. So it's no surprise I saw a few Harley's in pickups, probably being dragged home after dying and ruining somebody's vacation. It's thus no surprise that a nearby HD dealer has a month's waiting list to get into their service department. So thoses bogus bearings burn out, stators short out, and HD is snowed by a blizzard of repair work. Customers remember their ruined vacation and trade for a Honda, Star, etc... And Harley stock goes from stagnant to free fall. The Motor Company needs to develop a 21st century parts and service operation right now. In the short run, they need to pay some overtime at the parts warehouse to keep the dealers supplied. Every dealer should be sent a minimum service parts complement, whether they order it or not. There's plenty of unsold new and demo '06 models around- when a customer on vacation breaks down and the repair can't be made, loan 'em a bike so they can continue their vacation instead of visiting the nearest Honda et al dealer. Then, over the winter, do all the recalls to keep the techs employed and make sure those bad bearings and such aren't around to clog the service departments next summer. Drastic measures, no doubt- but with the Motor Coompany's future in the balance drastic measures are needed! | ||
| Henrik |
Take a look at http://www.coffeegeek.com, http://www.sweetmarias.com, http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/ etc. etc. Lots of variation (and surrounding geekiness ) on the coffee theme. Between the coffee bean variations, locations, soil, preparations, aging, roasting, blends, grinding, coffee making methods and varying equipment there's quite a bit of options in the coffee world. One could get obsessive ... not that I ever would ... Henrik | ||
| Jackbequick |
"jack- it's because harleys are very user-friendly to work on..." Duh! Thanks for the details. I guess I should have been able to figure that out. I spent some time in the last week week doing some low level wrenching on my "new" FXD. And come to think of it, I haven't needed a Torx driver yet or gotten into the Metric drawer of the roll away. I did have some M2-like déjà vu as I worked out a solution to the oil collecting on the pipes and cam cover during and after a ride. I got the crankcase breathers out of the air air filter and routed them to a home made catch tank. And I was very delighted to find out the the absolutely atrocious front braking was cured by a drain, refill and bleed. I know now that I was riding a bike with an almost dangerously ineffective front brake. I had mentioned the poor front brake to the owner after my test ride and she said she didn't use it that much. So I don't think she knew it was not right. It was my first encounter with a H-D single disk system and I did not know it should have been better. The lady was the original owner and had put over 49,000 plus miles on the bike in the nine years she owned it. And already has a brand new FXDL. I put 330 miles on the FXD last week, I've figured out the differences have made a happy and successful transition from a Buell tuber to a Dyna. I had an apple, this is an orange, oranges are good! Jack | ||
| Oldog |
There's plenty of unsold new and demo '06 models around- when a customer on vacation breaks down and the repair can't be made, loan 'em a bike so they can continue their vacation instead of visiting the nearest Honda et al dealer. Then, over the winter, do all the recalls to keep the techs employed and make sure those bad bearings and such aren't around to clog the service departments next summer. Nice sentiment, no way it will work HDI would have a fleet of used bikes in short time and be in big trouble soon after. } | ||
| Pwnzor |
Buellgrrrl... sounds like you have everything all figured out. Can I add that my feet should only touch red carpet during my visit to the dealer and perhaps a private lounge with attendants and a full service bar.  I'm just givin ya the business. I'd love to see a dealer network like you describe, but I just think it's a bit unrealistic. Until the attitudes of the dealers themselves changes, Buell owners are subject to treatment the likes of which is often depicted in these forums. It's like a broken record to me. In this case the needle is rusty and the record is made of slate. (Message edited by pwnzor on July 09, 2006) | ||
| Court |
>>>>And Harley stock goes from stagnant to free fall. You must have had a different HDI stock that I did. I'm beginning to make sense of this now. It sounds like the equation was solved with a lotta inaccurate data in it. No stock in the history of publicly traded equities has ever done what HDI has. | ||
| Pilot |
Did ANYONE feel at least a little concerned when Court said he was picking up a shovel and heading outside.I do hope Jack was left indoors and that the local emergency response team were alerted. | ||
| Jlnance |
DaveS had my tires to me 1 day after the draft to pay him hit my bank So why didn't you order the brake pad pin from Dave?  | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Court, HDIs big stock run up was in the 1990s. 5 years ago HDI was at about $53/share, and today it's at $54.30. HD's aging customer demographic is largely responsible for the lack of investor enthusiam for HDI stock. The Buell brand could have brought some younger customers into HDI's demographic, but with many dealers not carrying the Buell brand that's not going to happen. With the loss of Buell outlets goes the Riders Edge program that fed new riders/buyers into HDI's demographic. That does not bode well for HDI's future as their demographic ages, buying only a few Harley decals for their walkers and wheelchairs... | ||
| Court |
>>>>That does not bode well for HDI's future This is good news. My SCU was the youngest person to ever become a full partner in a Wall Street firm and works, these days, with 3 young Billionaires who've learned to play a very dangerous game well. I've been telling her for years my moto-buddies knew more than her and her financial whiz kids. . . now I have it in writing, that's right, straight from the internet, and I can PROVE I'm smarter than her. How can I thank you? P.S. - I'm holding my HDI, I don't share your pessimistic view of the future. In fact, put me down as predicting GREAT things for Buell, and a HUGE STEP into the main stream of motofacturers, in the next 5 years. Call it a hunch. | ||
| Court |
Jack's fine, but did try to make a run for it in a stolen truck. I have a new power tool, should be arriving from Milwaukee today, that should allow me to recapture the upper paw in the man vs. dog home improvement battle. An essential element is to allow the dog to get fully asleep before keying the trigger on the circular saw next to him.  Get busy and gor tickets for you and Fiona for the Xmas party. Planning session next Saturday evening, during which time folks will be polishing off Henrik's remaining wine (thank you Josh) stock. | ||
| Glitch |
Sell the ••••••• bike and stop the drama already. | ||
| Tramp |
"5 years ago HDI was at about $53/share, and today it's at $54.30. " ummmm.... nice citing of HDI's post-911 trend. Now look at the overall trend, in that same period, and that $1.30 upswing isn't so bleak. I'm NO fan of HDI, but I keep the big picture clear. I also ride with some heavy-hitters from the finance world, and none of them express any trepidation about HDI's 'future'... | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Court, could the "big thing" coming from the Motor Company be a Buell designed sports wheelchair? I've got a Quickie GP sports 'chair in my shop, used to play wheelchair basketball and even did a marathon with it. But it's 1970s technology and Buell could surely improve on it. Will the "trilogy of Tech" be applied to wheelchairs and walkers? Will we see a Buell sidehack with engine offset low and to the right to improve weight distribution, driving both rear wheels...? | ||
| Bomber |
Buell on the sign, they own some of the responsibility (apologies for the slight misquote, but I'm too darned lazy to go back and copy/paste, Oldman) you're right, of course -- there's not a company that sells through independant distributors that doesn' wrestle with this issue -- Ford revoked some franchises a while back, and ran em themselves for a bit -- a major furniture maker did the same thing -- there are numerous examples of this, including the culling of the Buell Dealership herd not too terribly long ago by HDI -- however, things will not change on a big scale til some MBA (or wanna be) can proove that HDI is loosing money due to bad dealerships, or that HDI could make MORE money with good ones -- HD is successful by any measure, and there is nothing less willing to change than a sucessful business person -- when you decide NOT to purchase another HDI product, or to avoid a particular dealer, serve yourself and others by dropped HDI a line, and telling em -- | ||
| Tramp |
Now THERE's ground for a class-action lawsuit.....  "Americans with disabilities act of 1990..." buellgrrrl v BMC " From AP wire: Buell Motorcycle Corporation cited in discrimination lawsuit invoking the americans with disabilities act of 1990, for failing to manufacture a v-twin powered wheelchair..." |
