| Author | Message | ||
     Levor |
Well long story short (I haven't cleared everything up with the other driver/insurance yet so I'm not posting details until everything is square.)I had an off avoiding a particularly nasty situation. Landed hard on my left side, bike runs, but the clutch does NOT work. The lever is bent to shit. I need new bars, but I haven't had time to get into it to figure out why the clutch doesn't work. My theory is it just doesn't have enough pull but perhaps one of you might have suggestions on where to look. If it makes any difference, I have the clubmans. Need some other stuff but I don't think my forks are bent or anything so aside from the dented frame (not caved, just dings) I'm pretty sure she'll be fine. Pods did their job and the bars did too. Simply, I will have no opportunity to look over the bike until Tuesday, its being stored at a shop for me until I can pick it up with a knowledgeable buddy of mine. Its probably simply the lever.   | ||
| Reepicheep |
Fix the obviously ruined parts before you sweat too much about it. I think you will find it is fine.  | ||
| Usanigel |
Looks like the lever has lots more "bend" than when it came from Buell! Lots of clubmens bars around collecting dust! | ||
| 98s1lightning |
Its simple, the clutch lever is NOT allowing for enough stroke. | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
to check the clutch, pull the master cylinder off the bike, and then you can pull the clutch in to check it. here are some pics of my bike after my bro wrecked it. You are lucky, the clubmans on my 1125 bent the other way and dented the frame on mine. pics:     | ||
| Jules |
The clutch lever is bent (obviously) but looking at the end that would normally be flush (with the bit that pushes the piston in) it's standing proud... so if the lever was in the correct position that bend wouldn't look too bad (If you see what I mean). The spring behind the piston normally pushes the lever back into position so my money would be on the master cylinder (maybe the piston is bent or pushed too far in)? As suggested before - take the lever off and see if you can push the piston in and see if it pops back out on it's own. | ||
| Levor |
Alrighty, I'll check it out when we go in to pick it up. Friend is insisting I get the front end checked out. The car got a flat tire, but I can't see anything that would have caused it on the bike. I can't tell if I got flipped by my front brake being hit or if my front wheel caught their back wheel.. I was trying to squeeze between them and the center divider when I realized evasion was the only option. I was in the left portion of the lane so going right wasn't an option at that point. Its hard to say, but I know my bar end mirror on the right side (the side that contacted the car) was untouched so I'm fearing the worst at this point. I won't know more, again, until we can go in and look it over. Ugh. This is my first real accident so this whole thing really sucks! If I'd only just not looked over for half a second when I swear I thought the car next to me was going to merge into me. Ah well.. done is done. Neither me or the person I clipped plan on talking to insurance, but they were adamant that if I need to make a claim, do it regardless. I still feel bad that I gave them a scare like that and scraped their car + flat tire  Heres the rest of the last minute pics I took on the side of the road, overall she cosmetically fared well, but looks don't mean a thing. I flipped and she came down HARD on the left side. I'm hoping it was my tire breaking the bead which doesn't seem that difficult on low profile tires like those. We'll see. Them:     Me:     | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
that sucks balls but they did the right thing and stopped if nothing else but to exchange info. she'll be up and running in short order. don't be to quick to sign a med release as sometimes things have a way of cropping up a little later. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
If ya wanna make sure that everything is strait, find a shop that has this equipment to check it for you. http://www.mphohio.com/megamax.htm | ||
| Levor |
Boogi, I'm not terribly worried about med releases, both of us wanted to keep this low key, me because I have a clean record and I don't want that to change, them because damage was minimal, and I think my demeanor was rather refreshing (I was incredibly apologetic, offered to help them any way I could before I went on my way, look like a 15 year old kid and probably scared out of my mind LOL) and our chat later that night helped too. I have their blessing to do what I have to if I need to make a medical claim but I feel sore, and ache a bit but I don't feel painful which is good. Elbow-dropping the freeway -I flew off the bike and landed in basically what was my riding position- isn't exactly a great way to impress your fellow motorists. Still cant figure out how I got bruises on the insides of my legs. My knees are probably from smacking together when I hit the ground, but the insides of my thighs? Maybe clipped the airbox when I launched? I dunno. Needless to say, with a collision deductible of 1k, I'm in no hurry to mess with that one. I think even if my frame/steering is damaged, it'll be cheaper to deal with it myself, if not now, in the long run. BadLionsFan, I'm not sure what the plan is yet, but my friend/mentor/something of an older brother figure will make sure I do what I need to do and get me set up with the right people with the right tools. Probably end up over at GP suspension and toss her on the machine to get some measurements and whatnot. I'm REALLY crossing my fingers for a bill of mechanically good health. Front ends cannot be cheap :-/ All because I glanced over when I should have been worrying about that which was directly in front of me! Lesson learned, one I thought I knew but apparently not well enough! Hehehe (Message edited by levor on August 23, 2010) | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
check erik buell racing for parts. They sell takeoff's a lot cheaper then if you buy them from harley. Looking at the pics, i would check out the frame dent. Mine got dented like that and it started leaking gas. I had to change out the frame. I enjoyed repairing my bike. I got to strip it down to the engine and swingarm, I had a blast! I got to know this bike really well, because i basically had to take it apart to fix it. These bikes wreck really well. My brother lowsided on a corner and sent the bike down a 40 ft ravine @ 60 mph. the bike rolled 3 times and landed up side down in a riverbed that was full of rocks. The front end on mine was undamaged. | ||
| Levor |
Holy hell, DK, thats all I can say. It gives me a bit of hope yet that I might just make it out of this relatively unscathed then! There was a bit of SOMETHING on the ground fluid-wise but I have no idea what it was, and nothing appeared to be leaking at the time. I tried the old "sniff your finger trick" but with the adrenaline and shock of the situation, I couldn't even tell. I'll keep an eye on it and pore over that especially. The biggest issue I can see is while I have friends who can help, I do NOT have some of the more advanced tools -stands, torque wrench, manuals- or a trailer of my own (I live in an apartment and don't have a garage) so its going to make things a bit more complicated. I should obviously get the service manual, but what about the diagnostics book? Been meaning to pick the SM up, but was waiting until my 12k so I could learn as I go, never having delved into something like that before. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Levor, glad you're OK. I would get the front checked. If you were to go through insurance there's a good chance they will total the bike. As it would need a new frame to be back to perfect. At least somebody told me insurance won't repair the Buell frames. But it doesn't look to bad as long as your front end is all good. I'm no expert like the other guys on here, but I would get it checked just to be safe. You only have two wheels don't want one to start getting woobles on ya. Good luck! | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
I had a $60 torque wrench and a $40 harbor freight tools stand. The garage may be a problem, i had mine apart for a couple of weeks, but maybe you can find a friend that will let you use his garage. If the frame is not leaking, then you should be ok, but if it is leaking, then its going to need to be replaced. Service manual is a must have, the diagnostics manual is nice to have also. I found the parts manual really usefull also, its nice to be able to look up the part numbers yourself. I found a few dealers that will give prices online if you enter the part number, so that made pricing parts easy. Also, I thought it would be hard to fix it without the dealers tools, but the only advanced tool i had to buy was the ignition removal tool from american sportbike, it was about $10. And i paid my dealer $40 to swap the fuel pump from the old frame to the new frame, because i don't have the special fuel pump removal tool. | ||
| Levor |
In the event that I DO need a new frame (I'm still really wanting to keep my record clean.. I simply cannot justify obliterating my clean driving record and insurance rates because of something so minor like this accident, AND losing the bike on top of that when they total it out) how much are those going for these days? I doubt its twisted and I'm almost positive it didn't pop through. I vaguely recall being concerned about this, but shoot, I was pretty much in a haze of shock and adrenaline anyways, who's to say what was going through my head. I'll have a look tomorrow morning though with more pictures and a basic idea of whether my front end checks out. Even if it does, probably going to pay to have it put on a machine and analyzed. Too risky with how twitchy this bike can be. God I really hope I didn't •••• her up too bad.. not exactly how I had imagined I'd lose a bike :-/ I figured it'd at least be a bit more dramatic. Crossing my fingers, we'll see! | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
The frames run $1300 through Harley. But you might want to talk to ebr, they sell a lot of take off parts. | ||
| Levor |
Wow, 1300? Thats MUCH cheaper than I thought.. but why the hell do they instantly write off these bikes with even so much as a scratch on them? Ah well. The good news is from the initial measurements, the frame is straight and the forks aren't bent, but when we were moving the bike off the truck, it was noted that the front wheel seems to be slightly canted to the right. Looks to be that the forks are twisted in the triples, which is SO much better than bent forks from what I understand. The wheel seems to be fine too. Rotor wasn't dragging and didn't wobble any while rolling. What a relief! Now I need to find some new levers and a left foot peg. One of the heat tacks broke off on the pod so I can't reattach the outer shell to the black inner portion on the leading top edge, but thats fine, the rest of the tacks are present and were popped back into their slots. Any good suggestions for levers? I was just gonna find some cheap as hell ASV knockoffs, but I'm open to suggestions! The swing arm was completely UNTOUCHED. The spool saved it. My clutch switch doesn't work but so far the clutch itself seems functional. Good signs! Anyone got a pair of new/untweaked clubmans? (Message edited by levor on August 24, 2010) | ||
| Ratgin |
but why the hell do they instantly write off these bikes Labor.. you have to strip out parts and rebuilt it... at $80 an hour/ (Message edited by ratgin on August 24, 2010) | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Labor.. you have to strip out parts and rebuilt it... at $80 an hour/ I wish The shops around here only charged 80. HD charges 120 an hour I think. | ||
| Levor |
Makes sense. Anyways, ordered bars and grips from American Sport Bike, bought some cheap knockoffs off fleabay for 60 shipped, Fire Dragon Bro's in black, shorties. I figure they'll work for now until I can afford some of less dubious quality. Would have gotten red, but good luck finding knock-offs in red that doesn't look pink thanks to poor anodizing. Heh... well so it begins. Left footpeg OEM is impossible to find online it seems, and I don't really want to cough up 50 bucks to a dealer for a single peg. Highway robbery! Friend has an 07 STT, picked up some aftermarket pegs for it but didn't like them. Offered to give them to me if they fit, but I'd still prefer to have pegs similar to my stockers. I don't even know if those other pegs will fit anyways. 150 bucks for a full aftermarket billet peg setup is awfully steep right now so its out of the question. | ||
| Motorhead102482 |
Levor, Do you need the whole shifter, or just the toe peg. Erik Buell Racing has some billet toe pegs for $9 a piece. | ||
| Levor |
Nah, clutch lever, my shifter peg was absolutely untouched.. the left foot peg shearing off saw to that  | ||
| S21125r |
Levor - i had a get off myself last week and looking for a right footpeg. If you find someone with a pair of take offs i'd split the cost with you. | ||
| S21125r |
Levor - better idea... I'm in need of a front brake lever as well. Since you bought the knock off levers as a pair, maybe we could horse trade your good stock brake lever for my good stock left foot peg. Saves you and me from buying both sets of lever and pegs | ||
| Dannybuell |
I would call Erik Buell Racing their take off department may have everything you need and a lot less than dealer prices. | ||
| S21125r |
I checked their take off page and all I could find was the headlight assembly that I needed. You would think though that they'd either have take offs for levers and pegs if they run aftermarket or at least a bin full of stock ones for the occasional on track low side. Think I will try emailing them just for grins. | ||
| Froggy |
Liability. | ||
| Levor |
S21125r, I'll keep an eye out, but so far I'm not having much luck finding stock pegs. As far as my brake lever, it is slightly tweaked and has a couple scratches. Functionally fine, but bent slightly... downward? I don't recall, never really noticed it except for right after. I haven't checked Erik Buell Racing for foot pegs, thats not a bad idea actually. Hadn't even occurred to me. | ||
| Dktechguy112 |
I would check with ebr for parts before i ordered them from harley, they have great prices, and they have some parts that are not listed on the website. | ||
| Levor |
Well I got the bars, levers and grips put on... but bad news was revealed. In the time it was sitting, it appears the right fork seal (the side that I clipped the car on) is pissing fork oil everywhere..... Still waiting on my footpeg (its en route!) and we'll be taking it in to GP suspension so it can be measured/taken apart/rebuilt/etc and I'll have a better idea of what the hell the deal is.... I really hope its just sudden compression is all in combination with the use of the canyon dancers.. please let it just be a bad seal LOL I know it wasn't leaking post-crash or when we picked it up from the shop the following mid-week. Laaaaaame! Edit: Also my footpeg bracket seems to be rubbing the belt slightly. Can probably hammer the couple millimeters it'd take to get it back away from it pretty easily. I figured it probably WAS bent, I mean hell, it pretty much landed straight down on its side. (Message edited by levor on September 06, 2010) |
