| Author | Message | ||
     Wild_card |
well she has a new one now. lets see how it goes. im goin to a car show tomorrow in russellville across from burgerking and i might trade the blast for a muscle car if i find one i like. | ||
| Ezblast |
Primary still probably too tight - lol EZ | ||
| Wild_card |
never made it to the car show. the drive belt broke at a friend's house. anyone got a used one layin around? the cheapest one ive found is $85. | ||
| Wild_card |
or will a belt off another buell or harley work? | ||
| Ezblast |
NO | ||
| Syonyk |
Various updates in my Thumping About: - Jardine did the right thing and covered the replacement muffler/clamps under warranty, as their T-clamp failed which led to the muffler falling off during a ride. - Blasts are nice and easy to repair after a crash. My fiancee went down on it a few months ago, scraped some stuff up, and I had no trouble getting it fixed up. Still could use some sanding, but I really don't care that much about looks on it. - Watch out for your fuel petcock screws! One of them went missing, and the other one backed out enough that it was leaking a good bit of fuel on a ride. Whoops! Fortunately, 1125R windscreen screws work perfectly to re-secure it. It's probably worth checking and lock-tite-ing them if they're loose. - The quiet core insert for the Jardine makes a huge difference, and makes the bike a whole lot more acceptable than the uncorked Jardine. It's now "loud but tolerable" instead of just "damned loud." - Still loving the thing. I need to rejet it for altitude now that I'm in Seattle, but it runs fine with the Albuquerque jetting. I've considered leaving it lean for fuel economy, but I think I will fatten it up for the air down here. And MOAR POWARH! - It's an awesome city bike for commuting. Upright, flickable, somewhat loud. It's a lot easier to cram it between cars than it is with the 1125, since I'm so much more upright. As much as they seem to have a bad reputation as motorcycles (among the not-Buell crowd), I'm absolutely amazed with it after owning it for a year. It's a great starter bike for shorter riders with the low seat, and it's easy to upgrade it as you gain experience to the point where a reasonably experienced rider enjoys it greatly. | ||
| Rainman |
Five years of commuting in the city at 60 mpg has convinced me that it's the best in town bike to have. Love my Concours for the freeway, but the Blast is the everyday rider. | ||
| Ezblast |
Its a flippen work horse! Thats what you got to be to survive the beginning rider, from rider to rider, till the bike gets lucky to have one owner for a while till the next rider. I figure the 2003 to 2010 must be bullet proof, because the great majority of the time it is still usually 2002 and earlier checking in with a problem. Some of of these bikes you can actually track from thread to thread, by owner - lol EZ | ||
| Bluv21 |
I have posted a lot of questions in the Engine fourm as well as the diagnosing problems fourm. I am happy to report that I got her pretty well dialed in as well as a new V&H exhaust. I had the same exhaust on an 01 when I was in high school/college and back then I thought it was cool but now I realize why my parents didn't like it so much. It's loud! One minor problem with the V&H exhaust on an 01 is the rear mounting bolts. They give you 2 (two) 5/16 - 18 x 3/4 in bolts but one of them is too short for the LH side of the mounting bracket. Easy fix though. You can buy a 1" or 1.5" cap screw of the same spec (5/16 - 18) and in 18-8 SS at lowes or home depot for 1 or 2 dollars. I think V&H didn't take into account slight differences between model years. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
"reasonably experienced rider enjoys it greatly" -understated. Even the very experienced enjoy it greatly (just dont pretend its something its not). (Message edited by Gearheaderiko on April 24, 2012) | ||
| Iim1rmg |
Just checkin' in. It's been a few months since I did the V & H exhaust and rejet on the '05 Blast and so far, so good. Thanks again for all the help I got from this forum. It is much louder than I would have wanted, but I'm adjusting. I have the V & H 2->1 Pro Pipe on my '05 Ultra, and it too is a bit more noise than I really wanted, but otherwise great. The good news is that the mod seems to have fixed the nasty problem. The stock exhaust was very heavy, and with the thumper vibration and what I suspect was a harmonic issue, it kept breaking off exhaust studs. New studs, ehaust mounting hardware, proper torque, etc. would not fix it, and when the studs break off even with the head, the head has to come off to remove the broken stud. I did find a great machine shop where they used a "trick" that saved me a bundle (after I broke the "easy-out" off in the stud :-) ). They place a nut over the broken stud and used a TIG welder to weld it to the broken stud, then just put a wrench on the nut and backed the stud out. So now a few month down the road - No more broken exhaust studs. The bike runs better than ever, and fuel mileage drop was measurable but not significant. The increased power and torque were significant. This has always been a "blast" to ride, but now it's addictive. Reading the success stories folks have had with the Jardine and the "quiet baffles," I sort of wish I had opted to go that way, but, I have had great luck with V & H products, and some and "above and beyond" outstanding after-sale support from V & H over the years, so I don't have strong regrets (I just wish it wasn't quite so &*&$$% loud. And.... I can no longer say that every carburetor I have ever touched with a tool instantly transformed itself into a paper weight. That would have still been the case without all the help. Hey that reminds me - I do have a question for the maintenance gurus out there: An old trick for bleeding the brakes on airplanes is to force the fluid in through the bleeder nipple and suck the excess out of the reservoir. You can take something like a clean new oil can, attach a clear hose to the end, fill it with clean new brake fluid, pump it to where there are no air bubbles coming out of the clear hose, and then push the open end of the hose onto the bleed nipple. (being careful not to let in any air) Open the reservoir, and suck out the old dirty fluid with a turkey baster, then pump the new fluid in through the bleeder nipple until there is nothing but clean brake fluid in the reservoir. Close the bleed screw, remove the hose, and top the reservoir. Is there any reason that wouldn't work to replace the brake fluid in the blast? Thanks. | ||
| Syonyk |
It would work, though I'm not a huge fan of pumping dirty fluid back up through the master cylinder area. Hydraulic brake systems are hydraulic brake systems, though, regardless of what they're in. I usually do the opposite and use a MityVac on the bleeder to suck new fluid through, then finish with a traditional bleed. | ||
| Ccahdvm |
NEED SOME INFO from the Blast experts. Just purchased an '01 Blast & it's missing the front fairing. The mounts look as if they've been bent to fit around a larger headlight. What size is the stock headlight? Is it common to put a bigger circumference headlight on a blast? What are other options for a fairing/windshield if the original won't fit? I'll probably have a lot more questions while I get to know this cool little thumper! | ||
| Syonyk |
Awesome. Welcome to insanity.  The mounts are a bit curved to begin with - they have a smooth arc out. So if that's what you're seeing, it's normal. As far as a bigger headlight, my understanding is that the Blast uses just about the largest headlight of that style you can get - and it was a bit of a trick early on due to production numbers not being enough to support the Blast. I seriously doubt it's larger than stock, though a picture or two may help. Suggestions for things to do as soon as you have time/money: - Put on Dan's SuperBoot (you can find him on the board, or look on ebay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buell-Blast-Custom-Intake- Boot-/130685956714?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessorie s&hash=item1e6d7d726a&vxp=mtr#ht_500wt_1156 is what you want. This replaced the stock, known-to-leak intake boot with a much more solid one that won't have problems. A leaking intake boot is a pain in the *** because it will manifest as about 15 different problems over it's failure. - Rejet it for your altitude. Especially an 01 - they're stupid lean stock. - Bleed the brakes. I'd bet good money that you've still got the factory fluid in there, and it's probably jet black. Swap it out with some good stuff and enjoy - the brakes are really very nice on the Blast. - Do a full maintenance cycle on it. Change the oil (both crankcase and primary oil), adjust the primary chain tensioner, change the oil filter, and make sure everything is tight/not broken. They do occasionally break the front motor mount. Also, if you're riding it a lot, I'm a pretty big fan of putting Lightning/Ulysses mirrors on (they're a ton better than the stock ones), and if you ride in the cold/rain, put a set of handguards on. ... then you end up liking it way too much, and end up with aftermarket intakes & exhausts, and spending just way too much money on it. It's quite easy to modify such that it has more than enough power for any sane type of riding, and it's a *great* city bike/commuter. It's cheap to run, uses no gas, has a great riding position for traffic, and is insanely flickable. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
I dont know why you would go through so much work to flush/bleed the brake system. Either way you do it you're going to be flushing dirty brake fluid through the caliper or master cylinder. Popular 'automotive' belief is its to better to go through the caliper (and the caliper has less sensitive parts). A gravity bleed will work just fine. The next and seemingly best practice is to use a "Mighty Vac" as that (from reports-never used one on the Blast) gets the brakes working fully, sooner. I will tell you that whenever you crack a brake line (or open the system) on the Blast front brakes you can have one heckova time getting the brakes 'back'. The more you try, the worse it will get. If you can get any kind of pressure at the lever, enough so the brakes will work, its best to stop there and the brakes will come back the rest of the way on their own. The next best (aka: free) is after you believe your system is full of fluid and bled (the best you can), press the caliper piston back into the bore and that will usually set things right. OR (not free, but reasonably cheap) is to use a Mighty Vac and that has reported great results. You have been WARNED! If you have trouble, its normal!!! or concur! | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Welcome Ccahdvm ! I will clarify some points Syonyk made (thanks) : You dont need a superboot. To say the boot will just plain fail is incorrect. It is the weakest link and every motorcycle has one. The boot is the Blasts. The stock boot works just fine, so please dont run out and start changing boots "just because". More often doing that just creates more problems. If it aint broke, dont fix it. Make sure your bike runs and put a few miles on it before you just start "going through it". While maintenance is great, if you perform it on a bike that you dont know how well it runs, you wont know if you caused the problem or not. Bent flyscreen/headlight brackets are very common on Blasts. They bend very easily from a 'drop' and bend right back just as easy. I think you'd have to go back pre-1940 to find a bigger headlight! ...and please, please, please, dont take the carb apart "just to give it a good cleaning". It doesnt need it and you'll likely have more problems with it after. If it does have a running problem, its the slow jet that usually clogs from long term sitting. If it still has the stock #42, it needed to be changed to a #45 anyway. But stop there. No special carb kits, etc. | ||
| Syonyk |
The stock boot works just fine, so please dont run out and start changing boots "just because". More often doing that just creates more problems. If it aint broke, dont fix it. This is true, but on a 2001 model Blast, unless it's been replaced (which I'd say is highly unlikely unless it either failed completely or the previous owner was a Buell-nut), if it hasn't started to fail, 11 year old rubber on a Blast is likely to fail soon. They cause a lot of issues when they start to fail, and they're a *known* weak point with a good aftermarket solution that completely solves the issue. My tendency in cases like this is to preemptively replace something with a better part. Is it strictly required? No. But I still think it's a good idea to do. As far as putting miles on it before going through it, I understand the point there, but if it's been sitting for a long time, it's still a good idea to at least change the oil before putting too many miles on it. YMMV. | ||
| Ezblast |
Concur! | ||
| Ccahdvm |
thanks for some quick responses! The bike seems to start/idle/run great in the 10 miles I've ridden it so far. I'll continue to putt around getting familiar with it before doing any major stuff. It seems pretty mechanically sound, but is missing the fairing (or do you guys call it a bug screen/windshield?!?-sorry, I'm an old Harley guy that bought this bike as a weekend toy and starter bike for my son). I've seen a lot of ads for used plastic, none of which include the original plastic fairing - ideas on where to get one? jpcycle? Harley dealer? | ||
| Syonyk |
eBay or the classifieds here are a good start, otherwise see if your local Harley dealership can order it. Alternately, get the part number & google for it. What color is the rest of the Blast? | ||
| Bluv21 |
You can order new stock body parts from buellpart(s).net but they are pricy and have about a 3 week lead time. I checked on a windscreen before i learned that the previous owner of my Blast still had the original wind screen and it is about $76.00. The hardware to attach it is expensive (washers, well nut and screws) but you can find them still. (Message edited by bluv21 on April 25, 2012) (Message edited by bluv21 on April 25, 2012) (Message edited by bluv21 on April 25, 2012) | ||
| Ccahdvm |
It's bumblebee yellow, but I would consider a black windscreen also if they're hard to come by. I just looked at the brackets, and I think you're right - they're not bent, they just have a weird twist to them, as both sides are "bent" identical to the other. I'm also going to need a timing cover, foot pegs (all 4) and shift lever......oh boy, this is going to be like my Harley, isn't it - the parts list never ends! (of course there's a fine line between "need" and "want") (Message edited by ccahdvm on April 25, 2012) (Message edited by ccahdvm on April 25, 2012) | ||
| Syonyk |
Ouch... sounds like it was in rough shape. Hopefully you got a good deal! What's wrong with the pegs? And why would you need to replace the rear pegs? The Blast isn't a particularly passenger-friendly motorcycle. How badly broken is the shift lever? I've got one with the toe peg bent up - I was going to cut it off, drill it, and run an aftermarket delrin peg or whatever through it. I'd be happy to ship it your way - I doubt I'll get around to it. eBay is the cheap way to go, but you need some patience to get good prices on parts. | ||
| Ccahdvm |
the pegs are all functional, but they're ALL (except brake peg) angled down. The "stop" that allows them to fold down & stop against the mounts are worn or bent, so that all 4 of them angle toward the ground. They're functional, but it's kind of annoying, feels a little like your foot could slip off if not careful. The shift peg is actually bent. Will probably try to bend it back to normal. I don't know, maybe some REALLY big person rode it a lot standing on the pegs! | ||
| Syonyk |
Pics? How far angled down are they? Blast pegs are incredibly loose, on the best of days. It's part of the reason they survive crashes so incredibly well - they just flap about instead of taking load & snapping. That, and they're pretty much a stout metal rod covered in rubber. A bit of JB Weld to build up the edge might do a nice job of propping them up more to your comfort. Or, have someone locally weld some material on. I'm fairly certain that will be cheaper than replacing them. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Well, we dont disagree, I've just been around Blasts and the internet to know that when 'newbies' start working on Blasts, things go wrong. Even those 'experienced' mechanics put in 3 (or more) quarts of oil to do an oil change, if they can even figure out the drain plug. Would I change the oil asap? You betcha, but my experience has been that even something seemingly that simple is a gamble with the inexperienced. Same goes for the boot. Although myself and others have run unsupported carbs with a stock original boot for many miles, I wouldnt argue its not a weak link. I wouldnt say it inherently fails or will fail on all Blasts either (like the 2000 recall sprocket will). I've seen way too many people screw installation though. Ride it first. Fix whats broken next. Modify it after that. While I dont mind helping, its a little frustrating trying to fix problems that people created by doing their own repairs, especially when it wasnt broken to begin with. ...and if you're still reading. The big reason Harleys have a bad rap is that everybody is a mechanic. Couple that with aftermarket parts that werent Harley tested and you have a very unreliable motorcycle. The things I've seen over the years, unbelievable.  Dont get me started on "give the carb a good cleaning"!!! | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
You can put the pegs in a vice and bend them back to a workable unit (with heat). However, the Y-frames might also be bent inwards from being dropped (or heavy riders) and that might be why the pegs angle down. Its very common and new pegs wont fix that. The Blast is better for passengers than most sportbikes and a lot of Sportsters! | ||
| Luvdathump |
Hello all, everybody doing good? I'm trying to do a shift pawl adjustment I was trying to take the clutch pack off with the bolt behind the adjusting screw plate. The clutch just spins internally. What am I doing wrong? I've looked around on this site and in the repair manual and don't see anything about it. I very well could possibly be blind. Thank you for your help as always! | ||
| Ezblast |
Reverse thread - | ||
| Luvdathump |
Yes it is. Maybe I should ask this another way. Can I take off the clutch pack as a unit? To get to the shift pawl behind. Or do I need the spring compression tool and disassemble the clutch pack before it can be removed? |
