| Author |
Message |
    
Ridrx
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 07:29 pm: | 
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I think the XB engine is at the fulcrum of its performance/longevity ratio...you're going to give up some of one to get the other.
As long as it remains reliable for commuting use I'm happy with the power it has. I do hope to get more than 30,000 out of it...50,000 would be great, anything beyond that IMO would be testament to the rock solid foundation that everyone loves to dub "antiquated".
How you ride has the biggest impact on engine longevity IMO. My 12 has about 7k on it, broken in by the old(easy) method in the owners manual to the letter, Syn3(for the $ it should be SIN3 LOL) every 2500 as well as Formula+ every 2500 along with primary chain check/adj. and cluth adj.(too easy not to do it),and she's never seen the far side of 5500rpm(I'm a fan of the torque and at 5252rpm there is no more coming). I hope we grow old together...haha. |
Spatten1
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 11:42 pm: |
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RidrX: Well said, I agree with all of it. |
Thepup
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 07:03 am: |
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"28,000 is a lot on an inline 4 that screams to 15,000, but it doesn't seem like much at all on a low revving twin!"
07xb12scg,were do you get this info,I've read that comment on here before.Go check out some other motorcycle boards,plenty of people with a lot more than 28,000 miles on an I-4 with no rebuilds or problems for that matter. |
07xb12scg
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 12:25 pm: |
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I never said an inline 4 needed a rebuild at 28,000 miles. I said it's a lot of miles. I stand by that statement. Would you say 28,000 is low mileage? |
Ridrx
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 12:35 pm: |
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My VFR had 57,500 on it when it was stolen and still ran like a champ. Only thing ever done outside of routine maint. was a re-ring at 42,000. The guy I bought it from took it from Ga. to Ca. more than a few times, swears it's never left him on the side of the road. I never had a single problem w/it...so, yeah I'd say 28k is low miles these days(for SOME). |
Twinv
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 12:56 pm: |
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All that speculation is absurd.....
An engine no matter what architecture it is should be designed to a certain duty cycle, and should meet a specific life expectancy, most of the time expressed in 100,000s miles. An I4 since it revs much higher and develops most of the time more power than a V2 will have different requirements to meet, but at the end of the day the design requirement should lead to the duty cycle. I would be very surprised and disappointed if Buell is using 30,000 miles as life expectancy for their engines....The problem that plagues our forum member is most likely an isolated case, and if it is a part that failed prematurely, the dealer should send the failed parts to Buell and upon inspection and confirmation of the above hypothesis, Buell should then stand behind it and cover the cost of fixing it. If the failure is due to poor maintenance and abuse, then all bets are off. But the bottom line: 28,000 miles is very low for an engine failure of that sort.... |
Jiffy
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 01:29 pm: |
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Reepincheap I'm not sure what type of other bikes you have owned but very few would cost that much to maintain. Valve checks are not that often on most Japanese bikes. Many of them have 16k valve checks. Chains also last longer.
07xb12scg: 28,000 on an inline 4 is a walk in the park. Many inline 4's have reached 100k miles. |
Spike
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 01:33 pm: |
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I agree, excessive speculation is absurd. I think we should wait to find out what is actually wrong the bike before we jump to any conclusions.
If you haven't already, this article from Motorrad is well worth reading:
http://www.buell.com/en_us/news_events/pdf/112406+ Motorrad_article_en.pdf
They rode an XB12S for 50,000 kilometers (~31,000 miles) including time on the autobahn and the track and tore down the motor for inspection afterward. Not only were the internal bits still in good condition after ~31k miles, but the bike actually made more power on the dyno than it did when new. |
Sshbsn
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 09:01 pm: |
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Blake--
A HUGE percentage of us in SWFL depended on construction for a living. When the housing market collapsed down here over a year ago, the majority of us ended up out of work. Hence, you now will be served a fast food taco by a trim carpenter, etc. A lot of people, facing loss of income, increased property insurance, and rising property taxes, have left the area and headed up to the Carolinas and Georgia where there is reportedly work available. That is why I say "weak economy," and it is really no laughing matter. Foreclosures in our county have increase SIX times over what they were this time last year.
Back on topic, I believe Buells are at least as reliable as most other bikes made, if not more so. I also believe that overall, maintenance on a Buell will be cheaper in the long run than on most other brands. It still sucks to face unexpected expenses. No offense meant! |
Lost_in_ohio
| | Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 09:24 pm: |
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SS....Ohio has one of the highest foreclosure rated in the nation. The simple explanation is that people bought more house than they had any business buying in the first place. They believed what the mortgage people told them, you can afford more house and then They went with interest only and flex interest loans and guess what the rate went up along with the payments. Interestingly enough a payment increase of 100 bucks was put people on the street. Plus they owe more on the houses than they are worth. I know a person first hand that lost 12k, because of a forced sale. UNBELIEVABLE! I hope to never be in that position, I have enough fluff in the budget to account for such changes. I hope.
So Don any diagnosis on the motor? |
Blake
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 04:09 am: |
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Gotcha. Your local business specific economy is not so great. Nationally, we are doing great. Come on over to Texas. All the gas and oil activity has the place booming. Can you believe I have the mineral rights of some property sitting right on top of some natural gas? Too bad it's only a quarter acre.
Yeah Don, what's the prognosis? |
Donatello
| | Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 - 05:05 pm: |
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Still waiting to get into the shop. I normally have one of the mechanics work on it on his own time, so working to get it scheduled in...
Will update when I have some info, hopefully it'll all come together right when my full Micron system gets here |
Donatello
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 09:08 pm: |
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Anyone know of a "freelance" mechanic in the Phoenix area? I'm having a hard time trying to justify the labor cost that Chandler HD is qouting me at the time. |
Aj06bolt12r
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 09:45 pm: |
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hmm quit running and blows white smoke when u tryn start it. Sounds kinda like a head gasket blew out to me. That should be a pretty cheap fix, good luck. |
New12r
| | Posted on Sunday, June 17, 2007 - 10:22 pm: |
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Sounds kinda like a head gasket blew out to me.
White smoke from blown headgaskets is usually coolant. Fuel will be black if its not firing right/low compression and oil is blueish.
The smell will tell you alot as well. |
Mdm
| | Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 - 08:03 am: |
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>White smoke from blown headgaskets is usually coolant.
For a Buell, eh ? |
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