| Author | Message | ||
     Brucelee |
Yamaha Recalls 190,000 Motorcycles Over Defective Seat DOW JONES NEWSWIRES March 4, 2005 6:59 p.m. DETROIT (AP)--Yamaha Motor Corp. (7272.TO) is recalling around 190,000 motorcycles because the passenger seat can fall off the rear fender, federal safety regulators and the company said Friday. The recall affects XV250, XVS11 and XVS65 motorcycles from the 1988-2005 model years, Yamaha spokesman Brad Banister said. The mounting hardware that connects the seat to the fender can loosen when passengers shift their weight, which eventually can cause the seat to fall off, according to a recall notice sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Banister said the company knows of two minor injuries caused by the defect. Banister said Yamaha decided to recall the vehicles after reviewing quality control reports on the motorcycles in Japan. "We constantly monitor this sort of thing because we do care about the safety of our customers," Banister said. Yamaha will notify owners about the recall this spring. Dealers will replace the seat's mounting hardware for free. . | ||
| U4euh |
Only TWO minor injuries and their gonna recall 190,000 bikes. WOW! | ||
| Court |
>>>the is no "order of magnitude" window of choice. No one ever got injured as a result of most things Buell has been recalled for. Let me get this right.....Yamaha has, in one day, recalled 10X as many motorcycles as Buell has in 20 years?  Oh Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg. | ||
| Fireballsocal |
On the flip side though, how many more bikes has yamaha sold between 88 and 05 than buell? Was there a recall through buell for pre 04 belts? Clutch cables? Wiring looms? Would buell recall a 17 year old bike for any reason? I joined this site because the buell xb series was a fascinating machine and one that was likely my next motorcycle. Due to the many problems owners seem to have with their xb's though, I'm leaning more and more with a UJM. I still love the buell and all the buellish character it has but can't see spending $10000 on a new motorcycle that doesn't have the bugs worked out. | ||
| Xlcrguy |
Fireballsocal - yer kiddin' right? Name one brand of virtually ANYthing that hasn't, in this litigation-happy society been recalled the over the past decade... By the way, the "bugs" are worked out of the XB; it's one of THE most reliable, trouble-free scooters out there. I've got over 30K miles on mine, with nary a problem worth noting (the wife's minivan is in the shop monthly). treat it nice, service it appropriately and ride the snot out of it! | ||
| U4euh |
Come on, look at the percentages of bikes produced vs the problems that they have had. Produce 15-20,000 bikes a year compared to 7-8,000, over a few years that adds up, then factor in how many of each have had problems. Besides which one do you want, fun or something your neighbors son has? | ||
| Rubberdown |
"Due to the many problems owners seem to have with their xb's" I haven't noticed this. Mine's been flawless. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Recalls for uncommon problems are a sign of responsibility of the factory. It is highly unlikely NHTSA forced that one. Yamaha is being responsible. Look at the tens of thousands of trucks GM refused to recall when the ABS crapped out mid-stop and caused countless rear end collisions (early 90's models). No recall can be a problem. I'd hesitate to bag on the Japanese bikes for a seat recall. My XB had bad wheel bearings, brittle belt, and a sidestand that apparently doesn't work too well when the bike is running. My X1 has too many issues to list. Fireball has a valid point, and he is a bike buyer, so his opinion does matter. These "small" problems may not mean much to Buell guys, but they are horrifying to someone used to Japanese bikes. That said, the XB line should be pretty trouble free now, with all of the upgrades since 2003, and it's way more fun than any Japanese bike that I can think of. | ||
| Brucelee |
Well lets face it, we don't have JD Powers data on any of this do we are all just spouting off, aren't we? Reality is, I posted this because based on some older posts, you would swear that the Japs never made a bad bike and Buells are all junk. My XB has had one defect, a bad clutch cable at 5K miles. Not bad by my standards. Now, I once had a new Suzuki that .................. | ||
| Brucelee |
" but they are horrifying to someone used to Japanese bikes." Ah, you mean like Honda Gold Wing owners? Check your facts! Seems their frames were cracking for YEARS but the govt had to force them to do the recall. Lets not anoint any bike makers, huh? | ||
| Dbird29 |
This month's Motorcycle Consumer News magazine lists the Honda Goldwing frame recall again. They should have just recalled all the bad frames and not •••• off the Wingers with the phoney local welding answer. Bet HD & BMW got some customers from that SNAFU. BTW my XB is doing great. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Sure, you can take four Japanese manufacturers with about 15 bikes in each of their lineups, totaling 60 or so models, and find more recalls than one Buell model. No question, you will win this pissing contest. However, what Fireball said should be taken as important critisism, not as a challenge. If that is the perception of non-Buellers than confrontational arguing will not help. Would it not be better to point out that after the first model year all of the XBs weak points were pretty much straightened out? That he can feel safe about buying a new Buell and that the factory took care of the teething problems quickly. BTW, until I installed my TFI my front plug fouled way too much. Why should this kind of thing happen with a modern engine? I've seen enough posts to know that I'm not alone with this problem. I'm just glad I did not have to keep pulling the rear plug. I know that many of you have not had a single problem, but I get frustrated that I have had to deal with a few of them on my '03. I'm also aware that Buell has since corrected them. | ||
| Dbird29 |
Sure liked the old Goldwing why did they have to go and change it? (Owned one from '90 thru '00) Sure liked the Hurricane 1000 that I had before that why did they have to change? and the Yamaha Seca and the .... The confrontational arguments started with Fireball's post. So it is just turn the cheek time? Fine, can't wait for mine to melt to the ground! Is that better? DBIrd  | ||
| Fireballsocal |
Spatten, thanks for the objective reply. Unfortunately, I'm not kidding XLCRguy. Coming off of Japanese dirtbikes (Ridden way hard and never let me down due to plenty of preventative maintainance) and one terrible example of an 85 honda vf500f, I want a bike to commute on that is reliable and gets good gas milage first off. I would love to have the fun factor be #1 but for now, my CR500 will have to handle that role. I had my heart set on an XB12S for several months. Having learned early on in the two wheel game that doing your homework is extremely important, I began lurking here and PM'ing certain questions to people. I've learned that most of you absolutely love your bikes but many have had problems that could and have left you on the side of the road. I live in an apartment complex that doesn't take kindly to wrenching on the bike in the parking lot. I have my folks house available to do maintainance at but clutch cables breaking, dead cylinders, and wire looms chaffing through are things that may be prevented if one knows about them but can leave you on the side of the road if you don't. Riding something my neighbors son has bothers me less than my neighbors son riding while my bike is on the tow truck. The SV650 and FZ1 both have the ergos I am comfortable with and the reliability I need. The buell has to many compromises for me. I love the way it looks, sounds, and handles. Those things unfortunately are not at the top of my list of needs. Now what is this about all the bugs being worked out of 04 and newer bikes? Has the wiring loom been re-routed? Clutch cable replaced? | ||
| Spatten1 |
David, you rule! It is off the subject, but I did get to ride one of the new Goldwings. Man, it does have an engine. A bike that friggen huge should not accelerate like that. It also felt really solid on the few sweepers I got on, none of the flexing and wallowing that I felt on the Voyager and Yamaminium. I never rode one of the older Goldwings, so I don't know how they ride differently. | ||
| Brucelee |
Geez, I forgot about the famous Gold Wing overheating issues. Thousand served up nice and hot! Ohh, I forgot, that is a Honda, they never have any issues at all, right? | ||
| Brucelee |
Go to the Honda VFR forums and read about the problems these bikes have. I have one, and it is a great bike. And it breaks. And Honda knows about it, and they ignore all of the persistent issues. Try facts instead of taunts. | ||
| Brucelee |
"I love the way it looks, sounds, and handles. Those things unfortunately are not at the top of my list of needs." Then why in the world are you hanging out here? If you want to strap a milk crate on the back of your bike, by all means go buy that SV650! No, how about a SV500, yeah that is a reliable bike too! Perhaps a Honda scooter????? | ||
| Dbird29 |
But wait this is not off the subject! This will cause personal pain and inconvenience because my wife has (can you guess?) a Yamaha V Star 650 covered by the recall. But I don't care because "•••• happens". Pick any brand and there will be the guy that almost bought it but heard there were problems. You want perfection go to church. | ||
| Rubberdown |
Since when does reason and logic have anything to do with the purchase of a motorcycle anyway? | ||
| Thepup |
Way to turn a prospective Bueller off on the brand.A guy ask some questions and he gets pounced on.I have a 03 Buell and have had tranny problems,clutch cable,voltage regulator,speed sensor,relays that keep getting burnt out.Ppl need to quit taking this stuff personal. | ||
| Thansesxb9rs |
Fireballsocal, I have been racing dirt bikes for about 7 years, I do not understand how you think they are reliable, yes they run for quite a few years, but to get the most out of them they need to be rebuilt about every 2 months depending on how much you ride (that is when you do the proper maintanence). Every year it seems like the Jap bikes have 2 or 3 recalls on their dirt bikes alone. I have seen a brand new bikes tranny blow up costing the owner who only had the bike for 2 months around $2500 and the factory would not pay for the defect because they don't offer a warranty (yamaha and ktm have a 30 day warranty, the rest have none). I have one of the original 03 XB's and I have had no problems, the dealer switched out the bearings in about 3 hours, haven't had any problems with the kickstand and the belt is only faulty if you handle it wrong otherwise it will last 15,000 miles or more. If you look at the Buell as an unreliable bike then you must look at all the other brands the same, every bike when it is new has a few kink's that the factories must workout. The 04 and 05 Buells have not had one problem that I have heard of. Just a quick reminder for you not to judge a new bike to quickly because a lot of those bikes that yamaha is recalling have not been updated in 17 years, that means it took them 17 years to admit to a problem their bike has, when Buell recongized their little problems in the first year of the bikes production. So I guess the question you need to ask yourself is Do you want to own a bike that you know the factory will correct any problems it is having in a quick amount of time or after 17 years of the bike being in production. Seems I have heard that the new Goldwings are not all that reliable, and also notice when I visit my dirt bike shop it has a lot of bikes in there with major problems they are fixing but when I go to the H-D shop it is a lot of bikes getting their service done and chrome put on. | ||
| Dilysi73 |
I'm new to Buell, bought my 04 XB9SL on Jan 6th. have put on 2457 miles since then. No major problems. Switch to Mobil 1 in trans and main case last week and it cured the noisey trans. Overall I could not be happier with my XB.  | ||
| Brucelee |
"Way to turn a prospective Bueller off on the brand.A guy ask some questions and he gets pounced on." Well, the guy really didn't ask a question, he set a trap and got what he wanted, as he had already made up his mind to buy a UJM (nothing wrong with that, I have one too!). He just wanted to get a rise and he did. Fine! I have no issue with "turning off" a prospective Buell purchaser either. I don't work for Eric, I just ride his bike. And a damn fine bike it is too! | ||
| Fireballsocal |
Brucelee, put away your flamethrower for a minute, in fact, you can stick it back where it belongs.  I never said I had made up my mind, I said I was leaning towards. What you say has no bearing on my decision anyway because you don't seem to be able to comprehend my posts. I never set a trap. I never baited anyone. You asked, "Then why in the world are you hanging out here? If you want to strap a milk crate on the back of your bike, by all means go buy that SV650! No, how about a SV500, yeah that is a reliable bike too! Perhaps a Honda scooter?????" I came on to this site because I needed to find out more about the buell before I ran off and bought one as I previously stated. Please read my entire posts before spouting off. I'm not saying buells are crap and I'm not saying japanese bikes are golden. C'mon guys, open your eyes a bit. Buells are not for everybody and I'm one of those people it's not for. Japanese get the recalls just like every other company. I work for a large japanese automobile company and I see this stuff first hand. I do think that the Japanese, (from what I have experienced), are more willing to recall their bikes. My first post dealt with yamaha getting lambasted for recalling 190,000 motorcycles that resulted in two minor injuries. I thought that was a good thing for yamaha to do and said so. I didn't mean to incite rage in anyone here, even brucelee, though I might start changing my mind. | ||
| Thepup |
Bruce,if you want Buell to stay in business and support your bike,you should be wanting ppl to purchase a Buell,not driving them off. | ||
| Fireballsocal |
Several of you guys had mentioned that the 04/05's haven't had any serious problems. Is that because the clutch cable and wiring loom problems have been fixed or because these bikes don't have 6,000-10,000 miles on them yet, the milage that these problems come up? | ||
| Glitch |
I broke my clutch cable at 26thousand miles, and don't know of this wiring loom problem you speak of. 31thousand and still goin' strong. Never mind, I see you said 04/05, mines an 03. | ||
| Court |
Court | ||
| Blublak |
"Buell has a "home run" on its hands with the new XB9SX CityX" Now Court.. You have to admit, since you're the proud owner of a City-X you are a little biased in your opinions regarding that wonderful machine. I do have to agree with your thinking there, but you must understand I have an earlier 'Dinger' (to continue the baseball theme) with my XB9R FireBolt. So I think you have to admit that when ridden the way they were meant to be ridden, by folks who enjoy the sheer thrill of scooting along.. The XB's as a whole are a 'Out of the Park' success.. Fireballsocal - I know some of us can seem a little rabid about our bikes. But then again, you have to admit that passion is a big part of motorcycling and this bunch here has it in spades. That said, my 'Buell Passion' is from an '03 XB9R Firebolt. I've had the following happen with regard to reliability issues.. Buell sent me a letter saying the front wheel bearings were not holding up as well as they wanted them too and they had changed design and supplier. Please take it to a dealer and have the new version installed, free of charge. I did. I had the fuel overflow hose come from the dealer not properly secured to the frame and it spritzed gas and rubbed a mark in my swingarm. A wire tie and that was fixed. Aside from regular maintenance, I've had to replace the worn tires twice now.. Oh wait, I did that to the tires. So I can't really complain. The fact is, if you look around here, you'll see folks that have more miles on their '03/'04 Buell's than a lot of folks have on their '98 something or other. This is an indication of how well they are built (IMHO) and should be taken as such. Some of the problems, like the belt thing had to do with folks making modifications to the belt guards and then being upset (sort of) when the modified or removed guard didn't ... well.. guard the belt, so it got damaged. If you leave the system as designed, or only make 'factory approved' modifications, I think it's safe to say that these are as reliable as anything you can buy from anyone.. Anywhere. The biggest complaints you will see here are the dealer network. Some of them, well.. They don't deserve the title 'dealer'. Others, are sterling examples of what a Buell dealer should be. In the end, I think the only 'weak' thing about Buells are the lack of the good to great dealers that may be in your area. Hope this helps you in some small way.. Later. (Message edited by blublak on March 07, 2005) |
