| Author | Message | ||
     Danger_dave |
I took my Uly in for its BAS recall yesterday - no sweat - but while it was there the boys at Auckland Motorcycles discovered that my front wheel bearing is shot - and recommend I don't use the bike. Told me it would be a warranty job. Taxi home. No biggie. None in NZ. None in Australia. 2-3 weeks ex USA. Can you suggest any way I can expedite matters/supply please. 3 weeks without a Buell - auuuuugghhhhhhhh  taa dc | ||
| Danger_dave |
So 11 minutes later I'm on the phone to NY, the bearings are in hand in NJ and being dispatched as we speak. Sure I want to go back to those good old days in the nostalgia thread. Thank you sooooo much Court. | ||
| Crusty |
No wonder I like these bikes so much! | ||
| Court |
Hehehehe. . . I was in the library and the kooks at the factory had gone home by 6:30pm. . . it took me that long to call Australia, chat with Kathy (Paul's in China for a couple weeks), get your country code and ring you. No problem . . . parts will be dispatched first thing in the morning. Whatever you do don't tell Erik it took 11 minutes . . . he finds out I'm getting slow I'll be out of a job!  P.S. - Major thanks to Moose for jumping up from the dinner table, going to the shop and confirming Liberty had the parts in stock. These guys are good . . . Reeeeeeeeeal good. | ||
| Nutsosane |
 excellent Buellness. Court, I'll be in "The City" for the first time end of May. Any moto-necessary places to visit? A week with the in-laws is gonna require booze or bikes; I've never been a fan of hangovers. NUTS (Message edited by nutsosane on April 13, 2007) | ||
| Court |
It's a most fascinating city . . . slip over here and take a look about. I spend most my time in Harlem these days but the city never fails to amaze. Within the confines of the city limits we've got the most amazing forests and parks, the financial capital of the world and the crossroads of the world . . .with 18,000 restaurants tossed in. . . you'll have a blast! I used to do my once a month, under a full-moon, tours of Manhattan . . the city that never sleeps (and that makes fresh brewed coffee and homemade cheesecake around the clock) that's always fun and you never know who you'll run into in Times Square at 2:00AM.....  | ||
| Naustin |
 Court - you're awesome, and extra thanks to Moose! | ||
| Court |
Still a lot of "i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed" but we'll get it done. I'm in meetings and then school all afternoon, but I'm betting it's work. Next step is for smokes farter than me to sort out why there was not one wheel bearing in an entire continent. | ||
| Blake |
Are those bearings not a standard size like the ones for the tubers and thus available through most any local bearing retailer? | ||
| Court |
Dave: I love you man! Not only have The Elves come through but once again . . . input from an owner solved only the instant problem but revealed a place where the entire supply chain can have a bottleneck removed. Buyer/Engineer will start on it Monday. It's a long story I'll explain to you later (remind me to tell you) but there are a group of Ulysses owners who owe you a beer! Your parts are on the way via the fastest (International Air) method. Expect them to clear customs about next Tuesday. Case closed. P.S. - Blake you'd certainly think so but one of the elements I adhere to in this sort of a case is understanding the problem (no bearings) while finding the best (a combination of speed, cost, effort and hurdles to jump) solutions. When a person has this sort of a problem they don't want the most logical solution, they want the fastest. I'll share my thought process. I was in the library studying when the IM popped up on the Blackberry from Badweb. It was 2 hours past closing time at East Troy. The weekend was moving in. Whatever I did have to move tomorrow and consume the least amount of my semester term project here in the library. I assumed (mostly cause I had to) that if a noted journalist and the parts guys in two countries said they could not find them, that they couldn't. Dave, as most folks, didn't include a phone number . . so I went to his website. . but it didn't have the country code. I knew Oz was 61 and might have guessed New Zealand was 64 but again went to the well I knew water was in, called Kathy and got it. By the time I connected with Dave, and gave him the balance of the info I needed, 11 minutes had lapsed since his post and the sun was setting. I did the F. Lee Bailey (See The Defense Never Rests) "its' not my dog" thing and initiated two solutions paths simultaneously in the event one failed. Once I had ONE set of bearing in hand then I put that (the less desirable of the working solutions) on hold and went back to work on the "righter path" (keeps me outta trouble with the folks at Juneau . . they'll still yell at me next meeting, just less vigorously). Today a number of things (that will be included in the chapter about how customers have unwittingly shaped Buell and improved the company happened that are so cool I am totally bowled over. Communication is paramount in these things. The sole focus is getting the right parts to the right place. Right and wrong and where bearings should or should not be can be dealt with later by the folks whose job that is . . . I'm a construction worker and not nearly bright enough to sort out the complicated details and processes. I love this stuff . . . . you can see now why in my letter of rec to the White House Office of Advance W. Clement Stone's guy described my "talent the team needs" as the "ability to come up with a marching band in Des Moines at 7AM Sunday morning with an hour's notice" . . I REALLY love it when a plan comes together! Just a glimpse for the benefit of some folks who wonder why Buell is able to do what no other motorcycle company in the world can. Buell owners and Elves are AWESOME! . . Dig it! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Court - great work, and great process! Takes me back to my days of concert production. 5 minutes to curtain, and "it" breaks. Hm. Make it work now. Make it safe. FIX it later, after the audience goes home. Good to see there's still folks out there who can seperate "trouble tree" from "crisis situation", and deal with either one effectively. | ||
| Blake |
I'm lazy. I spent a few minutes searching BadWeB for a cross reference identification for XB wheel bearings. The Buell XB front wheel bearings are NTN 6005LU. The Buell XB rear wheel bearings are NTN 6006LU. (Message edited by Blake on April 13, 2007) | ||
| Court |
Wait . . . you are suggesting you are lazier than I am . . . . perish the thought! Can't be done. | ||
| Danger_dave |
It's not often I sit here shaking my head at the computer screen. What could have been a pisser has had the old girl and I laughing our heads off as these 'developments' unfolded. They're going to need a big truck to deliver the Karma that must be arriving at your pad court. Enjoyed the NY phots much. Made me think. What we have here...is success to communicate. Awesome. | ||
| Pilot |
Court Mate, Those bearings are sitting on my parts shelves. I know that processes have to be followed,and the bike is probably owned by Buell.(warranty and all) But if the bike really had to be on the road the bearings could easily be purchased at the local bearing store etc.This event has shown that sometimes the parts person only knows what they have in stock and not what the parts are. I grew up (did I say that but still think I am young)in the parts game and actually looked at the stock I was putting on the shelf, so when someone came in looking for a part I may have been able to help them with another part that would fit but maybe from a different vehicle,But again the process of warranty and such has to be followed in this case and it highlighted a concern of why did the bearing fail early in its life and maybe they need to stock some incase it happens again to keep the customer happy. Ross | ||
| Danger_dave |
>why did the bearing fail early in its life< I suspect it's due to the way I ride it.       | ||
| Court |
Ross: Right you are. I'm sure there were a host of bearings in various places; it's a very common bearing. I, at the moment, was working under constraints of time (had class in 10 minutes) and didn't have the luxury of calling funeral directors in Australia enquiring if they had bearings. Again . . I had to go to the well I knew there was water in. In a perfect world all the logical processes would have been followed and 3 weeks from now the bearings would be arriving. We'd all behave and done what was logical. What a poor way to become "Different in every sense". Oft times many folks KNOW the right thing to do. The gather, discuss, agree and confirm that it is indeed the RIGHT thing to do and the right way to do it. But there are times it's more important to DO something. My Dad gave me some great advice in construction years ago. He told me that as a leader you often had to make important decisions with partial, less than perfect or complete information and that there are many times it's far more important to MAKE a decision and less important it be the right one. Now the pundits will jump on that and bash me but there are times that a wrong decision (use the instant bearing example) carries little ill consequence (perhaps one extra set of bearings if the parts guy goes and buys a set next door at the lawn mower shop today and mine arrive next Tuesday) can easily be changed or is of little consequence. What carries a high consequence is inaction. . . . some refer to it as paralysis by analysis. There are groups of folks in the world who are thinkers and groups who are doers. Entrepreneurs tend to be those who do whatever it takes to make something happen. I can take this bearing example and find fault with about 9 elements of what I did. I, however, would prefer to do that WHILE the Buell customer is out riding his motorcycles. There are, and most the world never sees and many lack the acuity to grasp, many unintended benefits of ACTING as well. . . in the instant case the very process of the MANNER in which it was handled revealed a glitch that needs fixing. A team will commence on Monday morning and essentially Dave's bearings will have benefited other Ulysses owners. . 88 to be specific. Most of what I do is wrong and can easily be criticized. What if, the first time I'd been blasted by a HD exec, I'd tossed in the towel, proclaimed "why am I spending my own money and time to do this and take this grief"? I am one of the "non-bright" who ACTS, takes the shit it brings on and keeps on going. . I suppose someday I'll grow up . . . P.S. - I can never imagine having to face Erik Buell and tell him I knew of a Buell customer who had a problem and that I failed to act cause I wasn't sure I was doing EXACTLY the right thing, following all the rules . . . it's sometime better to be amazing that absolutely correct. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Don't bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals. David Ogilvy | ||
| Pilot |
Court Mate Yep just what I thought.Grow up NEVER.You are only as old as the woman you feel.Ross. | ||
| Blake |
"Wait . . . you are suggesting you are lazier than I am . . . . perish the thought! " I would have answered your above comment sooner, but I was too lazy, and then I procrastinated. | ||
| Court |
>>>Aim for the company of immortals.
If you want to be brave And reach for the top of the sky And the farthest point on the horizon Do you know who you'll meet there Great soldiers and seafarers, Artists and dreamers Who need to be close, close to the light They need to be in danger of burning by fire And I, I want to get there I, I want to be one One who is touched by the sun, One who is touched by the sun Often I want to walk The safe side of the street And lull myself to sleep And dull my pain But deep down inside I know I've got to learn from the greats, Earn my right to be living, Let my wings of desire Soar over the night I need to let them say "She must have been mad" And I, I want to get there I, I want to be one One who is touched by the sun, One who is touched by the sun I've got to learn from the greats, Earn my right to be living, With every breath that I take, Every heartbeat And I, I want to get there I, I want to be one, One who is touched by the sun, One who is touched by the sun. | ||
| Abuellinwangi |
Hey Big Dave have you got any contacts in N.Z. for a device called the "True Trak" ? I've been waiting for heaps to hear from Mackay Motorcycles who are the dealers here on the mainland, I'm hoping to stiffen the Glide up a bit before working on the motor, no point going harder if I can't keep it where I want it to be ! Replacement cost for shifter parts $368:50, the Sidchrome extension was a lot less than that ! | ||
| Danger_dave |
Nah - not heard. Don't supposed it's been polished since I saw it either? | ||
| Midwayav8r |
Court, some advice if you have time. I bought an 2005 XB12Scg two years ago and unfortunately only have 5000 miles on it. I rode it up to Johns V Twin in Savannah last week and when I got there I looked down at the drive belt and two teeth were blowing in the wind. John does our Buell work here, cuz the HD dealership will not sell or service Buell, so he attempted to order the belt for me. Here is the issue, they don't have any, and it is backordered until May 30th. This belt from what I've been told is good for 25,000 miles, is that why they figured they didn't need to stock any?? Of course the bike isn't in warranty so I get to pay for this, and I'm sure it will be expensive. Thanks | ||
| Diablobrian |
You should get the latest revision of the belt (06?) if you're getting a new one. | ||
| Midwayav8r |
Latest update. I called the dealership I bought the bike from - Ocala HD, they didn't have the belt, they advised trying St. Augustine. I called them, and found out that they gave up the Buell franchise, but they did have the belt. I'm driving down to get it tomorrow. $152.00 for the belt and then whatever it cost to have it put on. Not very happy about that. | ||
| Midwayav8r |
Here is the latest and greatest. As I mentioned I called the dealership that I purchased my Buell from, mentioning when I bought it and how many miles. The guy I spoke too didn't bring up the warranty at all. I have always thought the warranty is 12 months. Tonight I drag out the book to check and find out that the warranty is 24 months. Wonder why the three dealerships I spoke to didn't mention that. Now I get to take the belt back to St Augustine and take the bike to a Buell dealership (not any within 100 miles) and have the belt replaced under warranty. I love my bike, but WOW can any manufacturer be any more dicked up? | ||
| Ratbuell |
On something like a belt, the dealers don't automatically think "warranty"...especially on a Buell. On an FLH...maybe. A Buell, the first thought is "aggressive rider" - which wouldn't be covered under warranty. Sucks (especially since the only belt I've broken to date was on my FLHP, with 58k miles, in ten degree weather)...but unfortunately true. Check with the folks in St Augies. My parents live there, I've been in a couple times - they're good people. Even though they don't carry the franchise, I suspect they may still be able to perform warranty work if they're willing (and an XB belt isn't all that tough to do). Worth a phone call if nothing else...and if it doesn't work out, you can always console yourself with a couple rounds at Scarlett O'Hara's just off the square in downtown St A's! | ||
| Midwayav8r |
So here what happened. I called the number in the back of the warranty section in the book and the unkind lady informed me that she couldn't help me, that the number was for HD. I mentioned that the number was in the Buell book and she told me that it was there so she could give me a non-toll free number to call Buell warranty. I called that number and spoke to Deborah. Awesome lady and she made things happen. She coordinated with Adamec HD in Jacksonville and I drove the bike down yesterday, nothing like a little 257 mile drive. Adamec is going to use the belt that I acquired from St. Augustine and do the repair under warranty and reimburse me for the belt. |
