| Author | Message | ||
     Jwnsc |
Being new to Ulydom and starting to plan some trips I was wondering what, if any "special tools" were needed to facilitate a roadside replacement of the drive belt, cooling fan, wheel bearings or regulator if you carried replacements and the $100 Buell tool kit. Thanks. | ||
| Parky |
Just get your road crew to have all the gear!!! or get a trailer Parky | ||
| Johnboy777 |
I carry a small bottle of tubeless Slime, Slime air pump, BMW tire plug kit, xtra rear bearings, and AAA Plus RV... tools? Just the ones that came with the bike, small Vise Grips, and a multi-driver from Sears. Oh yeah, Visa and cell phone. You can probably pare it down to just a credit card, AAA Plus RV card and cell phone, really. Maybe the air pump, too, i don't know - it's kind of nice to have along i guess. . | ||
| Crusty |
I've ridden my Uly all over the Eastern U.S., and I haven't had to do anything as far as roadside repair. I still have my original drive belt, wheel bearings, regulator, and damn near every other part the bike came with. I have gone through a few sets of tires, but I changed them at home in the garage. With 32,000 miles on the odometer, my Uly is the most reliable and trouble free motorcycle I've owned in 39 years of motorcycling. | ||
| Jwnsc |
Yes, it's reassuring that Uly's are so reliable. I did sell my Beemer to buy one. So the consensus is that if you do suffer a rare broken drive belt, fried regulator or frozen wheel bearing that stops you say on Hwy 50 in Nevada between Austin and Eureka, on a late Sunday afternoon, nothing can be done except call Triple A? | ||
| M_singer |
Jwnsc I have run hwy 50 once years ago. I'd sure love to ride that road again and this time on my Uly!!! | ||
| Xbimmer |
The belt is my real concern when touring. Even if you get the bike to a dealer within 100 mi are they going to stock one? When I hit the road I take a used spare and a locking adjustable wrench for the axle, my assembled tool bag with the rest of my servicing tools goes with me always. I can change a belt with the gear, though it isn't easy and without a torque wrench I would consider the repair a temporary to get moving. Fan I wouldn't worry about, mine's been dying for over a year and if it goes I'll be careful until I fix it. Wheel bearings? Check them before a trip. Regulator is a piece of cake but unless you have a voltmeter to monitor the system if it goes it'll maybe take out the stator also (or vice-versa) which is a shop job. Flats are what you'll be liable to encounter. I've had to fix two rears on the road in 45k miles. I like Johnboy777 carry the Slime compressor, and a sticky-rope-type plug kit. I don't trust rubber plugs but that's like opinions on tires and oil and the RSS. Any vehicle can have anything happen to it at any time. Unless you plan a chase team to follow you just do good PM's and enjoy the riding.  | ||
| Jwnsc |
Yes, M_Singer, Hwy 50 was great, especially those little towns every 100 miles or so that seem frozen in the 1950s. And thanks XBimmer, I'm only concerned with show stoppers and fixes to get me to civilization. I've read that a spare belt can be fitted, just didn't know if some special, proprietary (and portable) HD or Buell tool was required. I always travel with tire repair stuff, 12v compressor and mulitmeter, and my volt meter from Aerostich should be here by tomorrow. I've only had one flat in 35+ years of touring and that occurred at a service station! But I still haul all the tire repair stuff, 'cause you never know what's around the bend. | ||
| Michael1 |
I carry: Spare Belt Stock Tool Kit Set of Allen Keys Gerber Multitool Duct Tape Flash light Tire plug kit Campbell Hausfield 12V air compressor removed from it's packaging. That will cover pretty much everything I need to do. If it's worse than that... I'll call some one. I do need to upgrade my AAA to RV/motorycle though. (Message edited by michael1 on March 20, 2008) | ||
| Darthane |
Where on earth do you guys carry a spare belt at? I thought you weren't supposed to bend them backwards (or did that requirement go the way of the dodo as the belts were upgraded over the years)? Hell, I must be doing something wrong. I retired my Firebolt's original '03 belt at about 16K miles and it's still hanging in my garage as my 'spare'. Ditto what Michael1 said when I travel any significant distance. I'd throw in some zip-ties, too...they're even better than duct tape for some things! | ||
| Bugnut |
No special tools that I had to have for maintenance. Buell kit and a couple other hand tools will usually cover most roadside stuff with a tire plug kit and pump. You can pretty much guarantee any HD dealer WILL NOT stock Buell parts. You'd be lucky if they have a selection of tee shirts. Maybe a few bikes. But belts, VRs, bearings, or even a tire? Nope. Got to order. 2 weeks. Some places do, but don't count on it. They are few and far between. 4000 mile road trip two years ago with a back up family with truck and trailer proved to me the dealers had next to nothing. I stopped at every dealer with a Buell sign and asked for a random part. Like spark plugs. They looked at me cross eyed. Really. Knock wood, not a thing broke or gave me grief. The bike was only a few months old at the time. But 2 years, 3 VRs and assorted electrical bits later, I'll be carrying spares IF I keep the bike. Rely on yourself, good tools, and AAA with a Visa backup like others say. And forget worrying about what might break, relish what didn't at the end. Mike | ||
| Johnboy777 |
BTW, here's a really handy tire kit, packs up small (it fits in the stow-n-go bag), w/ CO2 if you don't want to carry an air pump: Innovations Tire Repair and CO2 Inflation Kit LINK: http://www.tireexpress.com/prod.cfm/cid/6509/pid/8 822  | ||
| Skyclad |
Several folks have mentioned AAA. Unless they have found some kind of coverage that I am not aware of, AAA will NOT cover motorcycles. I am not criticizing AAA for this, but even the AAA Plus coverage does not cover motorcycles. DAMHIK. | ||
| Michael1 |
If you have AAA and add the RV portion, it will cover motorcycles. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
i just got the AAA RV coverage - IIRC, it was $35 xtra. | ||
| Skyclad |
I will have to check on that. It would certainly be worth the extra cost. | ||
| Jlnance |
So the consensus is that if you do suffer a rare broken drive belt, fried regulator or frozen wheel bearing that stops you say on Hwy 50 in Nevada between Austin and Eureka, on a late Sunday afternoon, nothing can be done except call Triple A? Not at all. The belt can be changed on the side of the road. I've never done it, so I can't give you details. You can actually do it with out jacking the bike or laying it over. I at one time put together a toolkit with everything needed to do a tire removal/belt change. I don't remember exactly what was in there, but here is a picture:  I also had the standard comes with the bike toolkit. Some of those tools duplicate what's in the toolkit, but I'd rather work with real sockets than the dinky tools in there. If you want to put together a kit, I'd recommend taking the belt off and putting it back on and noting what tools you used. It's not that many. | ||
| Jlnance |
FWIW, I also subscribe to the AAA/Cell phone school of thought. In my travels out west I was shocked at how poorly that would have worked had I needed it. There appears to be no cell service on I-80 (approx 400 miles long) in Wyoming. I can't image it gets any better after you get off the interstate. There was no cell service anywhere near Death Valley. I never found cell service in Arizona (I-40 across the top of the state.) I did have cell service in Albuquerque, but no where else I checked in New Mexico. Texas seemed to have it in towns, but they are all a hundred miles apart. I understand things out west work better if you have Verizon, but my Suncom phone was fairly useless. Breaking down would have sucked. |
