| Author | Message | ||
     Ethanr |
Downundabueller - It's been 14 years...some of those brews may not have survived. | ||
| Ztferrari |
I just thought I should introduce myself to the board. Ive been reading through the site for a few weeks and familiarized myself with your habitat. I ride a black saphire '95 S2 (made 9/94) with some headwork, thunderslide carb kit(180 main/45 pilot), and other misc goodies. I aquired the bike in july from a good friend who was the original owner and put 12000 miles on it, and i've logged 6k since. I'm a junior at texas a&m university getting my mechanical engr degree, with interests in turbo's and automotive(bike too?) racing. I've met one other S2 owner and supposedly a third, altough i didn't see his bike. Here is my current Dilema i need some advice with... Friday(10/15) i dropped my s2 off at an Aprilla and Triumph dealer to get a dunlop 208 tire mounted and balanced on my bike. When i asked them if they knew what to adjust the slack to, they told me they knew how to change a belt. Saturday(10/16) I go to pick up my bike and they tell me the belt snapped when taking it for a test ride. They ordered one and will "work with me on it" and they will have it by tuesday. Monday(10/18) Call the place and argue on the phone for 20 minutes with a few different people, and they claim that the belt was worn and its not their fault they broke it BUT i insist they did not check the slack(which the mechanic told me they did not adjust anything dealing with the slack). they said they would pay for half of the belt, and install it leaving me with 60$ to pay. I tell them this isn't acceptable and to not put on the belt until i tell them to. Wed(10/20) Talk to a lawyer through the university and he says there isn't really anything i can do, except pay for it and then sue them which i will not go through the trouble, or really believe in. So i tell them to install the belt, and then 30 minutes later recieve a call from the mechanic telling me he broke off two 3/8" drive allen sockets trying to remove the isolator mount. I asked him if he had supported the back wheel or tried to impact them first and he got PISSED because i thought i was insulting his mechanical knowledge. anyways, my bikes suppose to be repaired tomorrow but i have a feeling they are going to try to screw me over on this deal. what would be the best way to cover my arse for anything they might pull? Sorry for the long post, but i hope i made it fairly easy to follow my ramble. Scott Wilson ztferrari@tamu.edu aim: ZTFerrari ~pic of the bike in question  | ||
| Blake |
Dude, You are a Mechanical Engineering student and you are letting some none Buell mechanic work on your bike? Suck up the hard lesson and move on. If you have no facilities/tools to do the work yourself, take the bike to a qualified Buell tech at your nearest dealership. You may have to venture into enemy territory (t-sipper land). Good luck. If you ever make it up to the Kilgore area, give me a ring. Blake (BSME from SMU) | ||
| Ztferrari |
i end up doing most of my mechanical work myself, except when dealing with spinning things that need balanced and most anything dealing with painting stuff. i never really had liked any repair shop, especially after being a vehicle inspector this summer and having my way with a few customer vehicles. Guess its a good lesson learned. | ||
| Smoke |
i suggest spare rims and do the quick change when you need tires. while you are riding around on the new ones, you have useable spares and the convenience and time to get the best deal on new rubber. ride safe, tim | ||
| Ingemar |
I had my tires and wheel bearings replaced last week. I could wait for it and a window allowed me to peek into the workshop and see how they do their work. A report of what I saw is here. | ||
| Blake |
You should feel comfortable balancing your motorcycle wheels statically. | ||
| Ingemar |
Meaning?  | ||
| Henrik |
Scott; the bolts holding the sideplates on the S2 are notorious for seizing and can be a bear to get out. Not knowing that, the mechanic could have been a hair too "intent" on getting them loose ... Heat AFAIK is the only way to get them loose when it gets to that. Unfortunately, you're at their mercy. They have your bike after all. So haggle your way to the best agreement you can get and get the hades out of there. Make sure they didn't tighten the belt too much. That's the bane of many a transmission main bearing. Nice bike  Henrik | ||
| Mikej |
Zt, They probably twisted the belt getting the wheel assembly off and on, very common for folks who are not up to snuff with Harley/Buell belts. I'd head down there with a trailer or pickup and retrieve the bike before they do any more damage. Or at the very least take your own personal service manual down there with you for them to read up on how to do things properly. I have a couple of comments about the insecure If you do a search on the site here for Buell Customer Service you should find a telephone number. You may want to give them a call and see if there are any decent reputable certified Buell service centers in your area who may be able and willing to retrieve your bike for you and to do the job properly. Then let the two dealerships fight over who screwed what up. And the next time you need a tire remove the wheel yourself, saves tons of hassles. Sorry for what you're going through. Hope the coursework is going better. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Welcome ZT! Sorry about your luck. I had a similar experience with a Harley dealer and a bent brake rotor. Paid dealer cost for the rotor just to get out. Unless you enjoy the sport of these sorts of things (and there is something wrong with you if you do), it's not worth your time to make a holy war out of it. Be polite and firm, get what you can out of them, but quickly move on and get somebody else to do the work, or do it yourself. Splitting the price of the belt sounds fair to me, especially if it was an older belt. It's better then what the Harley dealer would do for my bent rotor... Buell customer service can help, but they have many masters. People here will give you a MUCH better answer. And like Blake says, do it yourself! Going through EE school, I can't count the number of perfectly good pieces of electronic equipment that "died at my hands" as I tried to fix it. Or spending 50 hours repairing a $30 stereo. It made no sense financially, but it was an invaluable experience. I am astounded at the number of EE's I knew who could not even solder a good joint. I expect ME's are not that much different. Good luck! Don't let it steal your joy. | ||
| Mikej |
Yep, some of the ME's around here can't solder a good joint either.  | ||
| Josh_ |
solder or roll? | ||
| Whodom |
As an ME, I never cease to be amazed at the number of ME's with no practical mechanical aptitude at all. I can't figure out why thy chose this as a career field in the first place. I was wrenching a long time before I decided to major in ME. Oh yea, I can solder too. I assembled a Dynaco SCA-35 tube amp when I was in high school, and it worked on the first try. | ||
| Ara |
Scott, As far as motorcycle mechanics are concerned, Buells are rare and weird machines. If the service wasn't something I could do myself, I would never, ever let anybody work on my S3 that wasn't a factory trained Buell mechanic. When I get new tires, I take the wheel off and bring my local Japanese bike dealership just the wheel. BTW due to the additional width of the pully, many shops can't balance the rear wheel. I used to work at the aformentioned Japanese bike dealership, and they have but one decent mechanic in the service department. He is a road racer and he knows what he's doing. The rest of the "mechanics" are just kids and their knowledge is limited to changing oil and filters. None of them have any training at all. I don't trust them to mount and balance my tires, I do it myself in their shop since I used to work there. Nice perk. Russ | ||
| Mikej |
I think for some of them - both | ||
| Ztferrari |
the replys were insightful, and although no matter what was recommended, I really am at the mercy of them. I hate having other people work on my possessions, just because a lot of people think they know what they are doing but those are usually the people carrying around a crescent wrench, vice grips, and duct tape in their back pocket. I currently don't have a way to support my bike without a rim but the things used to prop the back swingarm don't look difficult to make with some 1" tubing and castors. has anyone made one of these and ran into trouble spots? I think this whole situation is funny because a few weeks ago the mainshaft nut on the primary side decided to come loose and rattle around in there for a few hundred miles. Loose mainshaft nut = runs fine "qualified" mechanic at an aprilla dealer = can't adjust a simple belt. thanks for listening to the vent, ill let you know if they finish it today and how far they bend me over. Scott Wilson ZTFerrari@tamu.edu | ||
| Josh_ |
Scott, for $99 you can get a front and rear tubular bike lifts/stands. Anyone still got the link? Damn what was that company's name? They work great. When you get the belt just right, next time you change the tire don't move the adjusters, just remove the axle. (Message edited by josh_ on October 21, 2004) | ||
| Rick_a |
M.E. with no prac. ap. I know someone like that...just enrolled. Poor guy doesn't do even the simplest of services...doesn't fully grasp the simplest of concepts. He wants a degree so he can work in the motorcycle industry. Bless him. | ||
| Josh_ |
http://www.handyindustries.com/ | ||
| Reepicheep |
For $35 at harbor freight or home depot, you can get a come-along... one of those ratcheting hand operated winches with steel cables. Hang it from a strong point in the roof in the garage, and just ratchet the back end of the bike up from the frame with some heavy nylon straps. Good motorcycle tie downs work fine if enough are used. In a pinch, I have used motorcycle tie downs hung from a strong A shaped aluminum ladder going over the back end. PITA to work around, but works in a pinch. | ||
| Firemanjim |
The bolts in sideplate respond very well to a couple of bangs with a brass drift to break loose the corrosion--works like a charm on front disc rotor bolts,too.Heat not necessary.Course it helps to have a high quality allen bit to start with.And of course it was too tight when they took it for a ride.16,000 miles is nothing.I had 75,000 miles on my belt and only changed it to a newer one when I went to Bonneville. | ||
| Mikej |
Yep, the old apartment/dormatory bike lift. Ladders => the portable hoist support. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
 Yes it needs a 2x4 cross support in the middle but that is a set of Gorilla Shelves rated at 1000lb capacity. The bow you see is left to right, not downward. It comes back apart in about 5 mins. Actually takes longer to put together. | ||
| Firemanjim |
Josh,another set of S-2 touring bars on eBay.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35564&item=249 5990420&rd=1 | ||
| Josh_ |
Thanks FMJ. Wycked - Add some cardboard panels and it's ready for shipping! | ||
| Tripper |
 | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Ladders rule! Home Depot has the platform version, I don't know it's proper name, and it gives you enough room to move around the side of the bike. I've got one that folds up and it's rated to like 400LB -- it sways a bit, but works fine. | ||
| Sandblast |
Josh or somebody else that knows, which adapter would I order for those Handy industries stands? I have an M2- if that makes a difference. These really work good? For that price I can get those and still afford to get the peg lifting ones from Al at American Sport Bike when he gets some. (as long as it takes him a while to get them  ). | ||
| Josh_ |
pads not the spool setup. The rear works great, the front scares me but I get over it |
