| Author | Message | ||
     Scs1 |
She had 10,000 miles on it when I bought her last year. The guy I bought it from didn’t provide much info. I’ve added 7,000 twisty back road and coast line miles. Right away we had some minor issues. Since then I’ve periodically encountered some fairly small problems. It’s never left me stranded though. Had to do a little uphill pushing for a good bump start, but never stranded. This bike has its shortcomings but it’s a lot of fun to ride. It’s taken me all up and down the California coast. I’ve been taking between 1 and 4 trips to Alice’s restaurant every week since I bought her. No matter what it takes, I plan to keep riding the hell of this bike. It’s so nimble and flickable that one feels a certain sense of safety. Like it’ll do whatever you want it to do. The power curve takes a bit of getting used to. It’s like no street bike I’d ever been on. It almost runs like a diesel. Not all that snappy but feels like it could climb a tree. It just pulls and pulls no matter what gear, or how steep the hill. When you let off the throttle, it pulls back like a jake break. Off the line snaps from 0 to 100 are so much fun on this bike. In fact off the line snaps are so fun that I’ve done some excessive clutch wear. It won’t pounce like it used to, but an aggressive short shift into second gear at around 3500 rpm will still make the front wheel stand right up….if you want it to. The issues encountered are a small price to pay. These bikes are worth the trouble. They have a unique design and provide an all around pleasurable riding experience. The powerful engine pulls with a strong, predictable torque curve and gives off a mean throaty tone. The tight wheelbase and high center of gravity give it an incredible responsiveness. An upright riding position makes you feel completely in charge of the machine and aware of the road ahead. The seat is obviously not meant for comfort, you discover that right away. It does allow for effortless weight shifting and holds you to the bike. The SW1 I bought had passenger foot pegs in it. I removed them, since It’s just too small for a passenger. No matter how small her butt is. Below is a list issues and their solutions so far. They’ve been minor considering how much fun this bike is to ride. I guess that’s what makes one a bad weather biker. PROBLEM-Too much oil when I got it and leaky Banke oil cap dumped oil all over the place. FIX-Drained some oil and applied a small amount of JB weld around the top of the oil cap collar. Rubbed a little bead around the oil tank, where the collar is inserted. Hasn't leaked since. No cost PROBLEM-Stupid anti drain ball valve in the gas tank breather cap was sealing it's self and causing a vacuum lock in the tank, which stopped gas flow to the carb. Only seemed to happen on the freeway, when the ball valve wasn't tilting around through back roads. FIX-Cut the damn ball out by splitting the round valve housing in half with a hacksaw. Cleaned all edges and made sure no goobers could get in the fuel. No cost PROBLEM-Throttle not springing back to idle when. Progressively got less springy until it had no spring at all. Cable was frayed and splitting inside the cable housing, causing it to stick. FIX-Replaced the idle cable. Cost $40 PROBLEM-Stock Showa rear shock abruptly lost it's absorption. Bike became bouncy and could have been dangerous if not very careful. FIX-Monterey County HD gave me another old Showa that they had laying around from a recall. It's still working but also will eventually fail. Until then....No cost PROBLEM-Monterey County HD incorrectly installed my shifter linkage when replacing my stator and voltage regulator. Couldn't shift. MCHD's service mistake scored me a nice discount on my charging system rebuild. See next problem FIX-I readjusted the linkage arms in MCHD's parking lot, paid the bill and rode it home. PROBLEM-Battery wouldn't charge. I could get two or three starts out of a full charge at first. Eventually I was limited to short rides with no stops. FIX-Had MCHD diagnose and fix the charging system. After installing the new stator and voltage regulator, the problem persisted. Turned out to be a worn down 12v wire that passes between the rear lower case and the swing arm pivot. For this mishap and the misassembled shifter linkage MCHD charged me only $200 for the charging system and the new wire. But I soon found out that the clutch was adjusted wrong. See next problem. Cost $200 PROBLEM-MCHD misadjusted my clutch when removing it to access the stator. FIX-Cycle Imagery's Joe fixed it nice like. Cost $100 PROBLEM-Starter solenoid and motor wouldn't actuate. Relay clicked and contacted, but starter did nothing. Voltage drops checked out according to Buell manual. Turned out to be the solenoid not plunging and contacting the starter leads. With the solenoid cover removed I could manually depress the plunger and start the bike. FIX #1-Cleaned out the solenoid plunger assembly and the contacts that engage the starter motor. Worked for a couple days then it stopped actuating again. Needs a new solenoid plunger and whatever else comes with a solenoid rebuild kit. I didn’t have the time or money for that, so I went with plan B. FIX #2-Drilled a 1/4” hole in the center of the solenoid cover plate. Using a 3/16” ball end allen wrench I can stick it through the hole and manually depress the plunger. Actuating the starter gear and contacting the starter motor leads, thus starting the bike. Be carefull, starter now has no safety interlocks. It can start in gear. Make sure it’s in neutral. I will be fixing this soon. But it’s been working fine for a couple months. No cost. PROBLEM-Engine vibration caused the License plate relocation bracket to break down the middle and violently shake the license plate and blinkers. FIX-Drilled four through holes in the relocation bracket, two on each side of the bracket. Installed two sheet metal strips, one on the bottom of the mounting bracket and one on the top. Drilled through holes on the sheet metal strips at the same hole location of the holes I drilled in the mounting bracket. Installed four 1/4” screws with fender washers, two on each side of the strips. With a split lock washer on the nut side. It’s stronger than ever. Blinkers no longer look like a light show. Cost $10 PROBLEM-Lower exhaust bracket busted off and left a 1/2" by 1" hole when riding down Hwy 1, almost to San Louis Obispo. Noticed an exhaust note change. FIX-Made it to SLO and installed an exhaust hole patch collar and a 6" hose clamp through the exhaust mounting hole on the frame, to hold the weight of the front exhaust. Hose clamp failed, but the small exhaust bracket on front of the header and the muffler mounting bolts held everything up. In fact I've been riding the bike for a while without a front exhaust mounting bracket. Not a good idea. The smaller front bracket failed and the exhaust was left unsupported. It failed the exhaust port gaskets. It also caused the header pipes to form small cracks where the two pipes connect. I knew I should have fixed it. See next problem. Cost $20 PROBLEM-Growing cracks in header pipes just before the pipes meet. Noticed the cracks when I was in Freemont. In the 40 or so miles from Freemont to Aptos the cracks grew slightly. I'll post a question thread about this. It needs to be fixed. Probably not going to be cheap. FIX- Unknown. Cost unknown. That’s it so far. Not too bad I think. I’ll update this periodically. –Nate Cavanagh  (Message edited by scs1 on February 17, 2010) | ||
| Kalali |
Nice write up and a nice bike. Enjoy. You're lucky living in a nice area... | ||
| Ratbuell |
Nice looking bike, great color. For the rear shock...bite the bullet now and get either a Penske or a Works setup. User-rebuildable, parts are still readily available, and totally adjustable (and they have the uber-cool exposed spring look!). Exhaust - fix it pronto. I haven't seen it myself, but have heard of cases where the front of the muffler breaks free and drops, and pogo's the bike up. Not a happy day. There's an updated exhaust bracket, by the way. And FWIW...I would have replaced the throttle cable at the same time as the idle cable. You're in there anyway, cables are pretty cheap, and the throttle side has been through just as many motion-cycles as the idle cable....but that's just me. Again - great looking bike. Keep 'er nice, there's not too many left around! | ||
| Jos51700 |
Factory Color Combo? | ||
| Terrycoxusa |
Nice write up, thanks. I will try to remember this 'just in case' I have a 99 S3, no problems since I bought it used with 7,0000 miles except the muffler that I paid a shop to install broke off after 100 miles. I fabbed a wrap around bracket with stainless strap 2" wide, put an inner layer of silcone sheet between it and the muffler, and it's been fine since. Oh, and the clutch is giving me tendonitis. | ||
| Vecchio_lupo |
I also have a 99 S3T with 30k on the clock, just stay up on the vibrations and watch for warning signs. | ||
| Scs1 |
Hey Guys, Thanks for the info and compliments. From what I hear there were only 50 or so S1Ws made in that color sceme. They are cool bikes with a ton of charicter. BadWeb is doing a great job keeping these bikes on the road. Here's some more recent pics. I'm having trouble with the multi pic upload. Ratbuell, A shock upgrade would be nice. It's just a matter of money. Those things are EXPENSIVE!! The exhaust is FUBAR. After the 40 mile ride home the cracks grew. The one of them is cracked through 75% of the pipe. I'll put a pic on the "1998 S1W Exhaust problem" thread. Your right about the cable. I should have pulled a new through when running the idle cable.  | ||
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