| Author | Message | ||
     Steveford |
I have a confession to make: I just hit the MAC machine and filled up the mighty Useless and then came upon a big hill. I don't know what got into me but I put it in third and twisted the throttle just as far as it would go, it would not go any further. The old heap is still pretty peppy! | ||
| Etennuly |
You should be ashamed of yourself. Taking a chance on scaring the public that way! | ||
| Tootal |
Sounds like me chasing a certain BMW Rockster the other day! Up hills or out of corners, torque is a wonderful thing! | ||
| Steveford |
You guys are right, torque is a wonderful thing and I should be ashamed of myself but somehow, I'm not in the least. | ||
| Steveford |
Windy as can be today, I almost got blown off my feet at lunch time. The Mighty Useless handled it really well on the 50 mile ride home, just hug the tank, tuck in and nail the throttle. Those XB9S bars were really appreciated today. | ||
| Etennuly |
I need a shot of torque myself. Beautiful day here. I think I'm riding after I get done working today. Damn the public.....im going for it! | ||
| Steveford |
I was going to take the old heap to work today BUT the CEL and dash were going berserk and no lights so took the Tiger instead. After work I pulled the headlight and the ground lead up front had broken SO I crimped and soldered all 4 leads onto one terminal and (hopefully) got enough slack in the wiring to keep that from happening again. It's always something but at least it's simple enough to repair. | ||
| Etennuly |
I rode mine nearly happily. Damn front tire went flat! It felt a little heavy, but I was tired and had not been on it in a while. Hopped out on the road to a 2 mile straight stretch. Then on to a slow road. Still had about 20 lbs of air at night. Rode to air it up at a gas station near by in the morning. It showed less than 5 lbs. Aired it up and all good since. I hate super slow leaks. | ||
| Tootal |
Steveford, Been there done that mod too! I took the plastic wire loom holder off not long after I bought it and just wire tied the loom loosely so it wouldn't kink. Never had a wiring problem since. | ||
| Steveford |
Ye Olde Pile Uh Shyte decided to have clutch trouble today 50 miles from home on the way to work. It's not disengaging completely and nothing appears amiss when I pulled out that goofy actuating mechanism on the side of the road. I had to leave early from work and today I made the decision to not try and use this as a real motorcycle any longer. Back road beater at home but from here on out it's Triumphs for commuting duty and touring. The Buell has just become too unreliable; the last four misadventures were rear wheel bearings/spacer, belt, ground leads last night and now something weird with the clutch. They came pretty much within the last few thousand miles SO it's time to take the hint. Mileage 127,500 and it now acts like a 1970s British bike - great fun to ride BUT the reliability is just not there. | ||
| Tleighbell |
Yeah, 127,500 mi. They just don't build them to last anymore. How many miles on your Triumphs?  | ||
| Steveford |
The highest mileage is 31,000 on an 06 Tiger at the moment. That was purchased with the thought that it would be the replacement for the Useless when it finally became too unreliable as the miles stacked up. I guess it's time to give this old thing a break from daily beater duty. It's been through a lot over the years, I've had a lot of fun on it. (Message edited by SteveFord on April 19, 2019) | ||
| Steveford |
Found the problem quick enough: broken clutch guts. At the very least, the retaining ring for the release plate. I put a Barnett clutch in it and I know from my Norton days that they don't have much, if any, slip in them and would blow up gearboxes if you just dumped the clutch. I think I may have overloaded these parts by just (you guessed it) dumping the clutch under load as I blow off annoying commuters. | ||
| Etennuly |
My 06 Uly had three of those four problems at 30,000 miles or so, and a whole lot more from New. I'm only at 66,000 so I won't go all "you are a winer" on you yet. Problems are just problems. If ya still have bolt holes put more bolts in them, it'll be alright. If not.... Weld that sombich and keep riding.  | ||
| Steveford |
Yeah, I'll fix it and keep going. I'm going to have knock off the dump the clutch with a handfull of throttle in fifth, though. That's what popped the last belt and I'm pretty sure that's what did in the clutch bits. No slip with the Barnett so the force is being transmitted elsewhere. | ||
| Etennuly |
Got to learn to ride smooth, no bike will hold up to constant clutching abuse like that for very long! | ||
| Tootal |
The Uly is not a two stroke dirt bike!! Actually, when I was Jeep trailing mine in Colorado there was a switchback that had a big berm made my ATV's. There were boulders at the base so I decided to take the berm. I was at the point of being sideways to gravity when the stock gearing and lack of power over 10,000 feet became a huge issue. At that point I reverted to my 2 stroke days and started fanning the clutch pulling a sideways wheelie and launching myself to safety past all the boulders! I've never done it in fifth gear though! I think it would just slip being a stock unit. | ||
| Steveford |
What's with these little emoticon things? I was thinking about it today as I was riding around (not on the Useless) and the Buell is down probably 30-50 horse power compared to my other bikes so that's why I'm really on the gas with it. Traffic has gotten heavier and also a lot faster. I'm simply wringing this bike's guts out and it has a few miles on it. I'm asking too much of it. That red 1125CR in the classified looks like the ticket for blowing off those stupid cars. | ||
| Cupcake_mike |
Rode my uly about 2000 miles from thurday to monday last week to austin and back for MotoGP, even with 85K, hardley had a hiccup. I did notice the last 3 or 400 miles I had a CEL and apparently my O2 sensor is going (again). Didnt effect driveability and I kinda wonder if it isnt a wiring or ECM issue since its not consistent. I did blow the clutch a few weeks ago, but that was my fault as the stock clutch cable was too long after installing new bars and i have a bad habit of pushing it down through the hole in the triple tree, thus slightly engaging the clutch. The barnett install (and new, shorter, lightening clutch cable because I had it) took barely anytime at all. | ||
| Roostre |
I must confess that your thread inspired me. To pick up a truck I purchased I rode the Uly 840 blissful miles through some beautiful country instead of flying; Then loaded it into the truck and drove it all home.   | ||
| Blake |
Nice. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Heh! Thats how I picked up my 2004 Dodge from the used car dealers. Only I used an X1 instead. | ||
| Smorris |
gotta love a truck with wing windows  | ||
| Steveford |
Cupcake Mike, Read the codes. The last one I had was interactive exhaust valve which was ridiculous as I've always had a race kit on it. I had to do some fooling around with ECM Spy to turn the valve off and no more code. I'll give the bike (and myself) a good cooling off period and then see what the carnage is all about. It's probably just the snap ring had enough and called it a day. Nothing is perfect, the 06 Tiger has low compression on cylinder No 1 and I know the previous owner sucked sand into it by using it as a giant dirt bike. Luckily, I have a used 955 Sprint motor to stick in there. Once that's done I'll hit the Useless with the Magic Hammer. | ||
| Etennuly |
I've been riding some lately. Yeah, it feels good! When I was riding a lot of miles years ago, I figured when the Uly hit 100,000 I was going to mount it right into a wall in my office like what happened to Hans Solo in the second Star Wars. Then of course I was going to get a new one. Would have been around 2012 if the economic life hadn't gone •••••• back when, oh and ....you know. | ||
| Cupcake_mike |
Steve, The code is for "rear O2 sensor inactive" and its pretty much always on now when I am above 60mph, CEL goes off when I drop below 60mph. My understanding of Buell EFI tells me the f**ked-up-edness of this is that the O2 sensor seems to work in closed loop mode, but throws the code when in open loop mode (the ECM isnt even using the O2 sensor in open loop mode, right?). I'll do the O2 sensor before I leave for the springfield/homecoming trip and hope it takes care of the (non-existent) problem. I've gone through and tested continuity of all the wires and don't seem to have a split anywhere. I always carry an extra ECM if I am more than a couple hours from home now, since I got stranded in flagstaff, 1200 miles from home, a couple years ago. | ||
| Steveford |
A little update: the Sprint motor will not work in a 955i Tiger SO I'm in the middle of pulling the cylinder head. The garage is pretty cramped and a thunder storm made me shove the Tiger into a corner until tomorrow morning. I'll say one thing, a water cooled, fuel injected, DOHC, 4 valve per cylinder triple motor is really a complicated thing to work on! As much as I may have cursed at the Useless it's actually a really simple thing to beat on. | ||
| Tootal |
I always said, if you can fix a lawn mower you can fix a Harley! They are pretty simple to work on, it's just that some of them you have to work on too often!! | ||
| Ourdee |
I've worked on my fair share of lawn mowers. |
