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Buellgrrrl
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 03:57 pm: | 
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Court, I'll be happy to take that Motorola off your hands, wouldn't want it clutter up the interior of your truck. Other than a few duds, Motorola is a class act. We had HT1000s at the Postal Service and we couldn't kill them, despite dropping them more times than we cared to admit. We tried a Kenwood TK-270 for a few days- I was drooling over what I was going to do with all the 150 memory channels, but the first time it got dropped the battery case shattered as it hit the floor. Like Buell, that radio had a lot of nice features but wasn't going to last 5 years, never mind the 10+ years some of our Motorolas had survived.
BTW, TenTec makes a lot of MilSpec gear and is a Motorola subcontractor, and it shows.
As for the warranty costs, most riders keep their bikes longer than the warranty period so their pretty much irrelevant to us. Apparently once the warranty runs out, HDI could care less if our bike grenades. |
M1combat
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 04:33 pm: |
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"sorry if the reality of Buell unreliability is making you bitter and unhappy; I'm not shutting up."
No one is exactly asking you to... You're just wrong is all. The only thing you can really say is that a number of people with some problems with their M2's complain about it. You fail to mention that the ones that have had good experiences don't generally spout off at the mouth about it... No problem, it's the way goods ownership works by and large. I'm sure you aren't telling this to joe-blow on the street who you talk to about Buells. Thanks for that... It's a sure sign of bitterness. The story is perfectly clear to me. That said... Sorry you have had a less than perfect relationship with your Buell.
I'll tell you my story (this after a day spent swapping a stator)...
The first thing to go wrong with my bike was a failed transmission output shaft. It was "probably" caused by me dropping it into first from neutral TWICE without the clutch. The bike was under warranty, but I was in California. I called my servicing dealership. They asked me how much it was leaking. I told them it was just seeping a tad bit. They told me to ride it home. I think it was about 500-600 miles or better. That weekend they got me into the service center on a first come first served basis and had it fixed under warranty in about 45 minutes. I waited for them.
The next thing was the dreaded broken belt. I had a small hole in the belt from a rock. I had picked the rock out with my pocket knife. I knew it would break eventually and I wanted to see how long a damaged belt would last. It lasted about 5K miles until one day I landed a jump at about 65MPH with too much throttle applied. The rear tire spun up to probably 70-75 in second gear and as soon as I landed the belt snapped. No problem. I pretty much expected it. I'm sure there were some HUGE shock loads on that damaged belt when it broke. Had a replacement belt in about four days from Dave. A side note... When I put the new belt on it was dark and I was in a hurry. I rolled the new belt onto the pulley w/o loosening the tensioner or the axle... It's been going strong for about 17-19K miles now (can't remember if it broke at 5K or 7K).
A week ago I had a stator failure. I knew it was the stator due to reports of people smelling a horrible smell of burnt Mobil-1 primary oil upon stator failure. My engine light came on and I started to smell that smell. The bike isn't under warranty any longer. I ordered the stator and all relevant replacement parts (gaskets, o-rings etc...) from Stone Mountain (excellent service BTW, top notch). They were here in three days and I got to work on Saturday morning. It was an absolute PRICK to get it done but only because I had somehow mis-placed my 3/16" allen wrench. Found it this morning on my desk at work BTW. So anyway, that was the only reason it took so long to replace... Had to go borrow one. Anyway, swapped the stator and hooked everything back up and it works flawlessly so far.
Here's the kicker...
Every one of those failures was MY fault. The belt broke because I was jumping my bike (I still do, I'll get to that more in a second). The trans output shaft failed because I dropped it into first from a dead stop twice w/o using the clutch. I didn't mean to, I was just not paying attention. The stator failed because I never replaced my battery. It went bad and caused the stator to be over used. I should have replaced by battery after two years like conventional wisdom says to do.
On to the jumping the bike thing...
I have a blown fork seal... I'll be replacing the pair this weekend or next.
Anyway... All of MY issues have been my fault. |
M1combat
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 04:35 pm: |
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"Other than a few duds, Motorola is a class act."
LOL  . How Ironic.
So is Buell honey. |
Brucelee
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 04:46 pm: |
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"Apparently once the warranty runs out, HDI could care less if our bike grenades."
Poor baby, no one loves YOU!
Give us a break, the whining is getting maddening! |
Curtyd
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 04:47 pm: |
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You know, for such an apt and astute consumer, how come Buellgggrl didn't just buy used to begin with and save all those depreciation costs off the cost of a bike. Plenty of low mileage bikes around, especially up north.
TRAMP is right, "BMW whiners" is an appropriate moniker.
I am going to just have to start a new thread entitled, "I wanna NEW BIKE", every time some maintenance or repair issue comes up |
Brucelee
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 04:48 pm: |
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Can you imagine being an ex of Buellgirl?
Whoa baby! |
Percyco
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 05:14 pm: |
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2003 XB9S from up north, 6500 miles,race kit and less than half the price of new. No boo-who'n from me, can't wait til the 2007's depreciate so I can own one of those too !
Oh....Did I mention no problems what so ever? |
Dauphin
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 06:41 pm: |
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I know I'm the relatively newbie lurker here but I really don't understand why you guys are harping on buellgrrrl's statements in a thread specifically about reliability (or lack thereof) of Buell. It's not like she hijacked the "Company kool-aid 4ever!!!!" thread. I sincerely hope that the reliability problems are a thing of the past but I'm not going to delude myself given the track record and the recent issues that still pop up (sidestands, fans).
I'm at ~4500mi in 3 months of riding without any known issues. Given my 80mi/day commute and occasional trips, I closely follow threads like this one as I'm more than a bit concerned how the bike is going to hold up a year from now when it has 20k on it. No burnouts, no wheelies or other typical abusive behavior. (Yeah, yeah, should've gotten a cruiser.) And demonstrating a similar mindset when it comes to vehicles, the only car I've ever owned is almost 11 years old with 165k on it and I plan to keep it until the maintenance becomes cost-prohibitive (or the kids outgrow it). I (perhaps naively) think that you should expect the same amount of reliability from any vehicle that's purchased in this day & age. It's the 21st Century for crying out loud. (WTF is my flying car?) |
Buellgrrrl
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 06:42 pm: |
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Such poor attempts at personal attacks... clearly some of you guys haven't matured beyond the boys in the locker room stage. Buellgrrrl is most unimpressed. |
CJXB
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 06:42 pm: |
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So, how is this strategy working for you so far?
I'd be interested in knowing as well !!  |
Brucelee
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 07:29 pm: |
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"Buellgrrrl is most unimpressed."
That is, of course, what we live for; to impress you! |
Brucelee
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 07:30 pm: |
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"I (perhaps naively) think that you should expect the same amount of reliability from any vehicle that's purchased in this day & age"
You keep thinkin' those good thoughts! |
M1combat
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 07:35 pm: |
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You've obviously never been in a boys locker room... Personal attacks come in the form of fists there .
If I'm one of the ones that prompted the statement I really wasn't trying to impress you dear... I was just saying that I've had a few issues with mine too but I don't go spouting off about how un-reliable Buells are. There are a number of people who have over 100K on their tube frame buells.
Get rid of yours. It's obviously not cost/smile effective to keep it unless you now get smiles from pointing out the "reality" that buells are unreliable. That's an in-accurate statement. YOUR Buell and some others have been so far un-reliable. Anything you say beyond that is vindictive.
To each their own I suppose but it's a fact that many/most Buells now days are indeed reliable. Get one of those if you really want to own a Buell. If not, get something else. Heck... if you like the air heads so much just sell your Buell and take yourself out to dinner on an old BMW. |
Dauphin
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 07:59 pm: |
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"You keep thinkin' those good thoughts!"
It's worked so far!  Hell, it's worked for my grandmother so far. She only buys cars once every 10 years or so as well. |
M2nc
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 09:12 pm: |
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Okay, what are the terrorists demands, because this thread has been hijacked. Let me review - Many good experiences, a few not so good and sadly, one bad one. Can I have the hostages released now?
If I am not mistaken the thread was about the XB reliability and the last few pages has been about Buellgrrl's tuber.
HELLO!!!
Can anyone tell me the number of miles the motor on their XB grenades?
Okay, how about the transmission?
Okay, how about the frames, how many have had the frames just break (without dropping it)?
Okay, how many caught fire due to an electrical short or gas leak for a total loss?
We will tally the results and then let see how good the XBs are or are not.
I want to measure catastrophic failures on XBs ONLY. Not that I am snubbing the poor tuber owners, of which I am one too, but Buell no longer make tubers so this is about how the present product is doing. Okay so the belts, clutch cables and fans breaks. Irritating. Buell needs to improve these issues, but all can be fixed and ridden.
Since this thread was started I went onto other boards and started to see if it was true that only Buells need repair. Well here are a few finds.
First - It is really hard to find a supersport with more than 30,000 miles. I did find two CBR1100XX with some mileage but they are more sport tourers. I did find this fella with a the 1999 ZX9R with 27,000 miles that says his bike runs great after spending $1,000 rebuilding carburetors, replacing timing chains and servicing the bike with all fluids. Cough!! If I spend $1,000 on the M2, I just blew the motor for crying out loud also a 1999 with 44,000 miles.
How about other Japanese products, surely they never need repairs. That is what my buddy on his Vulcan 1600, who love to pick on Harley guys about their reliability issues. At 35,000 miles the bike started to leak coolant and it went down hill from there. He traded it for a loss and the bike is basically trash and still at the dealership last I looked because it is not worth fixing it. He use to pick on my M2 for its oil leaks, but since I am still riding mine and his is toast, he doesn't say much about my little oil leaks.
How about the guys on Adventure Rider that call the R1150GS junk. Cardian problems abound, ABS braking issues, front suspension issues, stalling and surging problems that BMW refuses to acknowledge and luggage that likes to share its contents with everyone else on the road.
Suzuki SV650 board: sudo-quote
"I'm a new rider and found a 2000 SV650 with 35,000 miles for $2,000 miles is this a good deal?"
Answer: "Well a bike with that many miles on it will have some issues so take it to someone that knows Suzukis and have them go over it."
Okay 35,000 miles is allot?
All I can say is do the research, or if we can get some insight on warranty cost/sales dollars then we will know if Buell reliability is more than or less than one bitter tale.
(Message edited by M2nc on July 31, 2006) |
Wademan
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 10:52 pm: |
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Very good post M2nc, I completely agree, There is not one board I have ever been to where someone does not have issues with a bike. |
Diablobrian
| | Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 - 11:45 pm: |
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M2cn, good points. thank you for having the clarity of thought, and purpose to put this thread back on track.
Other than race motors, I don't remember many catastrophic XB motor failures.
I think there were a couple related to oil pump drive gear failure on early models.
I don't remember any frame failures that were not crash induced, or any fuel leaks.
There have been some problems with stators and voltage regulators failing, as well as various wires chafing and causing shorts.
I've never seen a report of the electrical problems causing a fire, but they have stranded people. |
Tunes
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 01:51 am: |
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'04 XB12s currently at 8K miles
1. Fuel Pump wire shorted to gnd blowing IGN fuse. 1,500 miles
2. Temp Sensor replaced. 2K miles
Standard oil changes, adjustments and tire replacment.
No problems since. |
Jcbikes
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 11:11 am: |
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Has anyone had any problems with the 03-04 fuel pumps going bad other than the noise they make? I think they changed the pump in 05-06. |
Diablobrian
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 11:46 am: |
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The changes made were to make them quieter, and to keep them from starving when fuel is low, and braking HARD (racing mostly)
I have heard of a couple of pumps going out, but not enough to be anything more than an anomaly |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 11:50 am: |
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Everyone, this is Buellgrrrl. Buellgrrrl, meet everyone.
Surprise! |
Pmpski_1
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 - 11:51 pm: |
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It lasted about 5K miles until one day I landed a jump at about 65MPH with too much throttle applied.
ummmm....I can see why a belt may break in that case. |
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