| Author | Message | ||
     Muppet |
First things first, I still love my Uly, have no intention of getting rid of it and now the touring season is starting again I'm looking forward to racking up the miles. My Uly (06 model but 07 registered)is now 2 years old, with 21,000 miles on it. That means out of warranty. In those 2 years, it has had replaced under warranty the following: Front brake disc & pads (you call it a rotor I think). Front fork seals. 2 drive belts. Drive belt tension pulley. Rear wheel bearing. Clutch actuating springs. Swingarm. Exhaust (muffler). Wiring loom complete. Headstock bearings. I think that's it. I have to say that at no time have I ever had to fight for the above to be done, my dealer and Buell have been fantastic and always worked very hard to get things done with the minimum of fuss and inconvenience to me. That alone make3s owning this bike an enjoyable experience compared to other dealership's 'customer service' I've experienced. However, you can't get away from the fact that this is a lot of stuff to go wrong, and it must have cost thousands in both labour and parts to fix. I have every intention of keeping this bike and I'm pretty handy with a set of spanners so none of the above would have been beyond my capabilities to do. Things is, whilst some of it was perhaps wear and tear, or in the case of the swingarm an unfortunate mechanic over tightening the sump plug, if I carry on experiencing failures like this it's going to be an expensive bike to keep. Any thoughts on how I might avoid future big bills, bearing in mind I do average about 10,000 miles a year. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Sometimes, mechanical construction goes awry. Yours sounds like a Tuesday morning after Memorial Day build. | ||
| Hughlysses |
If you check other posts here, you'll see that of the problems you encountered, perhaps the front brake rotor/pads, rear wheel bearings, drive belts, and exhaust (due to rusting) could be considered semi-common problems. I think it's reasonable to believe everything else replaced on the bike is a one-off problem that will never happen again. OK, regarding the "common" problems: The front brake problem is almost definitely caused by pad material deposition on the rotor. You can avoid this by not holding the brakes with the bike stopped after a long hard braking period. The pad material tends to bond to the hot rotor resulting in uneven braking force afterwards (the rotor develops "sticky" spots). Many have had good results from switching to Lyndall Gold pads on the front (available from American Sport Bike and others) which seem to be less susceptible to this than the stock pads. Rear wheel bearings- the factory released updated bearings last ~August which are supposed to have improved seals to counter the cause of failed wheel bearings. If you've got bearings with black seals, you should be good to go. If not, swap them out at your next tire change. Belts- The factory released an updated belt last year incorporating technology from the 1125R belt. If you've got one of the later belts, I doubt you have anything to worry about. If you don't have the latest belt, buy one and swap it out when you get a chance. Save the old one for a spare (a pre-stretched used belt is easier to install road-side than a brand new belt). Muffler- If you've got a new factory muffler, it's eventually going to rust again. You can remove it and paint it yourself with high temperature header paint (preparation prior to painting is key), have it powder coated, or have it ceramic coated. Any of these should provide a near-permanent fix. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
My list was nearly that long and not so easy to swallow. The dealership was at a loss as to what to do and just put it in the back of the shop for months. Buell Customer Service and a friend here on this site got the ball rolling again as I was having no effect on the dealership. The best thing that happened so far was that the warranty ran out. Now I have a close relationship with this bike. I listen to it when it talks to me. (it does talk to me) I understand it much better now and it does not give me much trouble. When it does have a problem (talking to me again) I fix it before it gets worse. My maint proceedures include looking for issues that are common to the model as well as anything that might get loose or leak etc. The knowledge and experience stored on this site is a gold mine! I would not hesitate to ride this bike anywhere right this minute. | ||
| Dr_greg |
Hear, hear! That's the key, IMHO. The closer you can get (within reason) the better the relationship. Hey, that might just also work w/people. Hafta consult with Mrs. Greg about that... --Doc |
