| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
Cecil is a very nice fellow in person and smart enough to have learned, over they years, to use Jedi;Like mind games to make the small of mind dance for his entertainment. | ||
| Oldog |
Sky: Sounds like some sage advice to you here, Buells of all vintages don't seem to tolerate neglect too well, I had an alternator burn up in my '79 zuke, all machines can and will develop problems. My .02$ bikes should be subjected to an "anual" IRAN just like aircraft. [ My "bullet proof" zuke was ] The electrical can be sorted, I think Grumps nailed it, when you make the repairs check the output voltage. I know that rear calipers can have issues, last year I found the aft stopper in a bind "should be" in the kv, the booted pin that it floats on was jammed, and on reflection it likely has been for a while and I should have caught it sooner. If you tackle it consider a review of the manuals prior to starting and do it methodicaly and proactivly good luck Tim if you were in the area I would offer to help you.. | ||
| Blake |
Gossip is sucky. Avoiding suckiness.  | ||
| Skyguy |
Ouch to many questions. Lets try this. Bike is straight. Broke one belt before laying down the bike. Possible long lasting electrical problem, not sure yet but need to look into it further. No idea regarding the rear rotor other than perhaps the caliper did not disengage fully. I ride the bike gentle as can be for the first five minutes or so as a warmup but I do not start it and let it sit for a minute. I beleive that warmups can be done while moving. The wheel bearings are still an issue as two dealers will not replace them. Court is working on this issue as the dealers are full of shiot. Cecil seems to be so anti-Buell that his opinion is worth little more to me than a title to this thread. I am not anti-Buell despite the problems. I will continue to fix everything as it comes up. I am frustrated at the number of things that have come up on my bike are things that seem to come up on lots of other Buells. Lots of folks have had stator, belt, and headlight problems. I think these are things that BMC needs to work on as they are the achilles heel of a fine riding machine. I went over the bike with a fine tooth comb to double check the mileage as 2000 seemed pretty light. The bike was never ridden in the rain and garaged It had stock rubber and zero tool marks on any bolts. One step into the 15 car garage when I went to pick it up in a very nice neighborhood was a bonus. The guy wanted a R-1 so he offed the Buell. I bet he does not ride the R-1 much either. Oh and I went down last night. Add a Brake lever, Turn signal, handgrip, bar end and frame puck to the purchase list. I got to give serious props (Did I just say props? I get to get out of SoCal) to Erik for designing a machine that can cost less than 60 dollars to repair in a 50mph low side. Helps make up for the money spent fixing belts to be sure. | ||
| Tramp |
absolutely- i responded to skyguy's query as well as i could, with examples, not gossip. i also agree that any snappy patter regarding said 'resident a$shole' of Das Borg be confined to Das Borg, as opposed to this board. ...regardless of how cecil bashes this board on others. skyguy- repost this same thread at das borg | ||
| Tramp |
skyguy: first: you state you laid the bike down. how do you KNOW it's straight? you have to be one helluva good tech to really make that determination definitively. ever think that both your rear rotor and belt issues are resultant of a bent axle or swingarm, rsultant of your drop(s)? warmups, on these machines, can NOT be 'done moving'...when you're moving, you're cooling, and it takes forever to get to good operating temp, which is to say that your oil is highly viscous (resistant to flow) and unlikely to lube the topend correctly, or even the rest of the mill, for that matter. coo, 'lumpy' oil doesn't move well through the oil pump and ports. I'm still running my original oil pump and stator, after over 215,000 miles. think maybe dilligent warmup has something to do with that? you fly, i take it. you have a carb heat indicator in your cockpit? you wever just crank up the ole (aircooled/pushrod)lycoming and blast down the taxiway with no warmup at all? and you 'went down last night'???? unless you're sharing lurid cunnilingual details, I believ you're posting a minimum of two drops on that sled. swingarms bend, and yes, virginia, axles bend. both can lead to belt wear issues and rear caliper issues. between your drops and the fact that you're not warming that engine up correctly, i think we've found two very likely causes for your buell issues. long-stroke, air-cooled twin. minimum warmup: 60 second, and then very light throttling for the first three or so minutes of riding. (Message edited by tramp on August 19, 2006) | ||
| Tramp |
now, how come i got '4-starred two posts up? unreal babyshit | ||
| Skyguy |
Tramp, Bike rides straight. The second rear rotor has not warped and the new 06 belt rides straight and true as can be. The lowside was very low impact and I seriously doubt it would bend the XB. Also when the bike got tipped in a parking lot by a stupid cager (remember my HA did not kick my ass thread?). The bike went in for a full damage estimate at Skip Fordyce H-D in Riverside so a tech did look at it after the lowside and said other than cosmetic damage the bike was fine. I don't have any respect for that shop so if I could get a chance to put it in a jig I would. I would not be adverse to putting it in a jig if anyone happens to have though. My local dealer does not have a bearing removal tool so I am sure they are out when it comes to anything requiring a real tech. | ||
| Rocketman |
No one was taking a shot at the Cecil were they - just stating the obvious so as not to let his negative Buell comments sway the opinion of a Buell owner that can't read him that well. Jedi Like mind games? C'mon. The Cecil's as blunt as a Mack truck when it comes to slagging Buells and winding up Buell owners and fans. And the small of mind made to dance? Is there really any need for that kind of comment coming from you of all people. Sky, the more serious aspect of this thread should tell you another thing. Buells cause troubles outside of motorcycling too, lol. We Buell owners just can't help ourselves. Rocket | ||
| Slaughter |
Don't worry about putting it on a frame jig. If you didn't tear it to bits, it's still good to go. Just ride it. I've wadded up XB's 4 times now and have NEVER had problems with the frames. Got some pretty huge dents and scratches (wasn't using sliders in the crashes) | ||
| Blake |
Riding is fun! | ||
| Skyguy |
Thanks Slaughter, Good to hear the frame has been fine. Funny how I was just thinking about re-painting the bike.............. Line-x is sounding pretty good. I am going to use some JB weld to take care of the shallow gouges in the swingarm. Does anyone know if the silver Buell paint is a solid match? I need to pretty her back up. she is showing the miles lol. | ||
| Tramp |
skyguy: did you READ my post? i didn't discuss the frame true, but, rather the singarm and rear axle.... the swingarm is that component which is all gouged up right now, it seems. remove it, set it on a very flat surface, and check the ends for level, both mediallaetrally and torsionally. trust me on this...... I hope you get that puppy squared away! best, tramp | ||
| Toona |
Sky, the silver on my employee's '03 "S" was dead on, he had a few light scrapes on his swing arm, a little 180 grit, followed by 400 grit and little paint dusted/faded into the non re-painted area, you can't tell, even if I did show you. Said paint (rattle can) was procured from the one and only DaveS @ Appleton. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Your dealer doesn't have a bearing removal tool,  If that's the quality of your dealer, buy the parts from Daves & do the job yourself, drive out the old bearings carefully with punch & hammer, being careful not to damage the inside of the hole, a brass drift is favourite as its softer, put the new ones in using a socket that sits on the outer race & threaded bar stock, it's a piece of cake, just take your time & don't force anything. You'll get the satisfaction of having saved time money & hassle & having "beat" the dealer. If I lived there I'd come & do it for you, it's less than a half days job on your garage floor. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Tell you what, you take me on as mechanic/driver, I'll sort your bike & I'll take care of the Pinzie too!  | ||
| Cyclonemick |
Speaking of bearings, I changed my front tire on my 00M2 last weekend. I took my front tire to the local HD shop and asked them to check my bearings while I had my tire off." I bought my tire from another bike shop" They said the bearings appeared to be in good shape and should last me the life of the bike. Now that contradicts things I have read on this board. Can someone knowledgeable help a brother out. I have 38K on it now. | ||
| Tramp |
i have my original bearings still in my wheels, and they've only recently become an issue. | ||
| Crusty |
What??? Only 200,000 miles and the wheel bearings are an issue? What an unreliable piece of junk. Buell should take it back and give you a new bike.  | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Cyclonemick, 38K? Change 'em. When I took the rear wheel of my '98 S3T last year, the cage and balls fell out in my hand from the rear. Front bearings don't seem to go as often as the rears. My rear went south around 20K. Most likely because of the previous owner running the belt too tight. And the good 'ole 'Made in China' bearings. I replaced the bearing with NSKs. Which were cheaper(less than 1/2 the price) than the HD/Buell bearings that curiously, were made in poland. | ||
| Tramp |
interesting point, steve, about tight belts and bearing wear. i've always been an enormous proponent of the 'scary loose' belt, and it might have contributed to my bizarre bearing longevity | ||
| Cyclonemick |
I also run my belt very loose, and so far no problems. Thanks for the info. I think next time I have my rear wheel off I will go ahead and change them just for piece of mind but I was curious to other people's experiences. | ||
| Spen |
I run the belt on my X1 as slack as a yak. I've fitted one of Trojan's spring loaded belt tensioners to my wife's XB12R to give it some slack and alleviate stress on the wheel bearings. | ||
| Skyguy |
Grump lol, As many times as I have thumped the ground in various toys I may have to take you up on that. I am really sore today. Quaid of Loma Linda CA gets none of my business ever again. Oh wait they have such a crappy attitude they never really got more than some spark plugs out of me. Tramp, The swingarm is straight also. Did you you READ my previous post? It was checked out and given a clean bill of health. I have also done a couple of home made checks with a laser level and a metal straight edge about 4 feet long. I border on compulsive about staying on top of my equipment. I also do ALL of the work on my Pinzgauer which I tore down and rebuilt so I am pretty decent mechanic until it comes to the newer electronic stuff. I am going to go over the bike again here soon. I have decided to attempt to tear it down and go over it with a fine tooth comb and repaint it myself. I won't trust any of the dealers out here with my bike. Idiots can't even handle the simplicity of changing out my wheel bearings under the recall/free performance upgrade. In fact so far they have refused to even look at the Buell paperwork Glitch sent over to me. So far I have to drive to Riverside and Glendale to get the parts to fix my ride. IMHO Every freaking Buell dealer should be required to stock the simple things needed to put a bike back on the road after a tip over. How hard is it to keep a darn brake lever in stock. Or a clip on or a footpeg. Jeez I resent these H-D people. Daves would get my part order in a second flat but I dont do credit cards and don't have the patience to wait for a check to get over to him and the time for shipping. So off to drive a couple of hundred miles to chase down some parts. RANT RANT RANT. But hey I am in one piece so all in all I am pretty darn happy to be off chasing parts. | ||
| Tramp |
skyguy- looks like some HD tech simply looked qt it and sai it was fine....did they have a jig or not? hard to tell from the posts. can't check swingarm true without first removing the swingarm. if it's tweaked at the yoke, you can still get straight length radings and have torional issues. after finding so many twisted swingarms, i don't trust 'em, especially the xb stuff. i have no dog in this, outside of my sincere wihs to see you get it all squared away, and get back to beating the she-at outta that pup, asap. try warming it up correctly, though...think of it as a plane..... | ||
| Gomo |
4600 miles - Stator blew apart, 6800 miles - speedo died 7200 miles - saddlebag latch broke 13,000 miles - computer went - recall problem 14,000 miles - speedo die again 15,000 miles - latch on hardbags broke again 17,000 miles - speedo sensor, one more time 18,000 miles - Broken rear fuel injector 18,500 - front brake pads, new rotor 20,000 - Saddlebag (left) cracked - 2 spots 23,000 - Gastank paint blistered 25,000 - saddlebag (right) cracked 27,850 - Replacement Gastank paint blistered Somewhere in the mix - leaky rocker gaskets, broken lower right fairing, front & rear bearings failed Yes siree I've had my share of Buell problems. Sure I've had some headaches, perhaps more than some and less then others, but I still own it and enjoy it. I will say that I have never owned a bike that had a company stand behind it's product as much as Buell has. They have repaired/replaced ever item - even after the warranty has expired. On the other side, I have never owned a bike with so much character. It has always been fun to ride. That's what it is all about to me ....the FUN factor. If the bike didn't have it's flavor for fun; it would have been long gone. This isn't suppose to change anybodies mind, just some ramblings of mine. Maybe sombody else would have gotten rid of a bike with the list of problems I had, everybody is different. I am just glad I have mine, if the smiles every stop then I might rethink it. Till then............... | ||
| Tramp |
skyguy: didn't see this reposted yet at sacborg. try posting it there, as well, to be fair to cecil. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Sky, you know American Sport Bike is just a little farther away in Vista and they are near Biggs which is reportedly one of the better Buell dealers around. I'd bet in one trip, between the two, you can get everything you need. Al has all kinds of goodies for your bike and you can't beat the service. | ||
| Court |
>>>Every freaking Buell dealer should be required to stock the simple things needed to put a bike back on the road after a tip over. That's been tried. It's an excellent idea. Should be revisited. | ||
| Skyguy |
Tramp, I do not understand what about this thread is unfair to Cecil. I also do not know how to repost this entire thread at Sacborg. I could if you tell me how though. I do think some of the folks that posted should have avoided saying bad things about Cecil. This was neither cool or my intent. I do not know Cecil past a few posts on Sacborg but he is very vocal about all things Buell. I found it kind of funny but I never thought bad of him for his opinion. We all have an opinion................ I was just amusing myself when I used his name I was not trying to be nasty. On another note I doubt the dealer had a jig. They have Buells but dont SELL Buells and they don't even pretend to like them. The first time I went there one of the parts guys took really good care of me and rode a XB so I thought I had a chance at that dealer giving a crap. I was wrong. The only thing I have to base my thoughts on the swingarm not being bent is that it has never been hit very hard. The new 06 belt tracks very straight in the rear sproket also. I would like to put in a jig just for peace of mind though. |
