| Author | Message | ||
     Silenc3r |
Trap, I fee your pain. I had the same thing happen to me at Electric City, down in Scranton. Southern Tier HD in Binghamton has the gaiters, and so far, they've had all the other Buell free-bees, too. I've gotten bags and other trinkets there in the past. They definitely don't FOCUS on Buells, but they never turn away a possible sale. And a bunch of the folks at the shop ride (or at least own) them. | ||
| Trapper |
Well, In spite of the damp weather I planned to take off for California on the Ulysses, this morning. My grandson has this coming week off from school and wants to meet his great grandmother who lives in Hemet, California. I bought a spare belt, clutch cable, rear bearings and fan plus extra fuses, bulbs, plugs, oil & filter to take along,just in case. We packed the bike up yesterday and decided to take a short ride just to make sure everything rode comfortably. I have a short in seam, and have to put my weight on to the left foot peg in order to get up and on the bike. As I was getting on, the two bolts that hold the side stand mounting plate to the engine case, broke off at the heads! Down I went, along with the bike which also broke the left mirror. At first I thought that the stand broke; but it was fine. It was the two new bolts that came with the side stand recall kit, last Spring! I called Utica HD and they said that they had only one new bolt in stock and that the specs said it was a 5/16 18 thread 1 1/4 inches long grade eight. They asked me to stop at a hardware store and pick up a couple when I brought them the bike, so they could get it fixed and get us on our ride to California. The bolts that broke had no markings that indicated they were the hardened grade 8 or even grade 5 and the mechanics at Utica HD said they looked like just the soft standard bolts. I got the bike there a little before noon, yesterday and they worked at it all afternoon. They could not get the broken bolts out of the case. Finally they drilled 'em out and tried heli coils, however they would not hold the weight! Finally about 5 PM, closing for the mechanics, they called Buell tech services and they wanted pictures, which the dealer made and sent. The Buell tech person was out of the office and getting ready to depart for the day, so my Ulysses is at Utica HD instead of on its way to California, this morning. Shawn at Utica HD suggested I call Buell Customer service this morning which I did. They had the info already and we had a good long chat while waiting for the Buell Tech to get off the phone on another call. After a half hour he was still not available and the Customer Service guy said there were several different scenerios that they may do among them, trying another kind of insert, replacing the engine case, or replacing the whole engine. He said he would get back to me, that was over three hours ago. In the mean time my grandson is pacing in the living room and all our gear is packed with my saddle bags on the living room floor.  | ||
| Trapper |
It's now a little after 7 PM and I just got off the phone with Buell Customer Service. They have been trying all afternoon to locate me a rental or loaner from a dealer in NY and they thought they had but then it fell thru when the dealers insurance carrier said NO. Finally the closest one they could find with a touring bike was the HD Dealer in Reading, PA. That is too far for me to drive my truck down to get and on top of that I'd have to pay an additional $25 a day for their insurance for two weeks, a $330 expense that I am not prepared to take on right now. Bottom line is I have been told that they are making me a new motor tonight at the factory and will try to ship it to Utica HD/Buell tomorrow. They told me that the dealer should have it Monday or Tuesday at the latest and according to Tech Services it should not take more than four hours to swap out the motor. According to them I should be riding my bike by Tuesday evening, at the latest.And although a few days late, on my way to the west coast by No later than Wednesday. Well, I hope they are correct. Matthew at Buell Customer Service was suppose to get off work almost two hours ago, but stayed around to work on my problem. THAT is customer service! | ||
| Ulyranger |
New Uly owner in CNY checking in. Had the bike for a little over a week and have put about 300 miles on already. Hoping get out and meet some more Buellers this riding season. Cheers | ||
| Uylrover |
Trapper Wow, changing the engine for a kick stand mount ! Sorry for the trouble, good news is you are not out in the middle of no where stuck in a hotel. Hope it all goes good for your trip. Ulyranger welcome to the group, I think Trapper and I have the local Ulys that I know of . What color do you have and where in CNY are you? Hope to see you on the road ! | ||
| Ulyranger |
Trapper, hope you can get under way soon. Uylrover, I have an 08 Stealth Black XT. I really dig the Barricade Orange, but alas no go in the XT. I'm just a short stretch down Rt 13 from you (I think I read your in Caz) in Cuyler. I used to live in Caz eight years ago. Look forward to meeting up with you guys for some rides this summer. | ||
| Trapper |
Glad to see we are getting more riders on board. Ulyranger, where did you find out about badweb? Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement. I must admit I have been down in the dumps sorta speak for the past few days. I had bought all sorts of spares to take on longer trips, just in case. However I never thought of this possibly happening. I got my first motorcycle license when I was fourteen living in Nevada and have been riding since then on all sorts of different bikes. This year I'll be sixty and this is the first time I have had my side stand break off. What a surprise and like someone already stated I am glad it happened in my drive way and not out in the middle of the four corners region or along the AlCan Highway. From what I was told they hinted it may have been the way the folks at the dealer attempted to repair the broken off side stand bolts that caused more damage to the engine case that prompted the replacement of the whole thing. What surprised me is they already have nearly five man hours working on getting out and trying to replace the broken bolts and a complete engine swap is not suppose to take more than four man hours. Starting to look at a shortened contingency ride to take my grandson on for after I get the bike back and before he has to go back to school week after next. Probably a ride down Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway to break in the new engine. Speed limit is 35 on Skyline and I think 45 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We could take the two lanes from here to Front Royal in Virginia to keep the speed down at first. That would be a pretty trip with nice views and he hasn't been out of NY state so it would be a good learning experience. They have been studying the Civil War in school, so seeing some of the actual places may make it more interesting for him, too. It looks like a West Coast run will have to be put off until August or so. | ||
| Ulyranger |
I found references for Badweb on Advrider(I assume it's OK to mention other sites here). I read the entire CNY thread last night to see who/what was going on. I also found your link at the Buell Owner's site. Keep your spirits up Trapper, sounds like Buell is stepping up for you. It does suck having to wait though. After reading your posts I checked my side stand mount this morning..........probably will often now. I usually just swing a leg over, a good stretch for me but have been standing on the left peg with pillion to get on. I may not make that a practice anymore. Probably over-paranoid, but I sure don't want to find out the hard way. Plus I might not get the wife on there again if the unmentionable happens..........can't decide whether that's a bad thing or not. ;) (Message edited by Ulyranger on April 12, 2008) | ||
| Silenc3r |
Wow, that's a great story of customer service. Sorry you had to have such a crumby experience to have something that cool happen to you. I mean a new engine for a busted kickstand? That's a ton of mileage you just got back  I did Skyline last summer. It's a great ride. You should be able to keep the speeds down enough to break the new engine in, and there are a lot of great scenic overlooks to stop at and get some good pictures. Good luck with the bike. Hopefully you'll be back on road soon! | ||
| Trapper |
Got my bike back about noon on Thursday and had it packed and my grandson on the back and we were headed South by 2 PM. For the break-in period we had to stick to the two lanes so it took us until Friday afternoon to get to Skyline Drive. By the time we finished it was almost dusk so we ended up dodging more than a few deer as they were around almost every curve. My grandson who has never been to another state, said the views are very beautiful. We spent Saturday visiting some other national sights/parks and got caught in the rain. Tomorrow we plan on being down by the Smoky Mountains National Park. The side stand works great and the motor is running well. However, there seems to be more engine vibration than I remember. Almost like a solid mount instead of rubber mounted engine. When I got by service manual out everything appears to be like it says. Maybe I am just getting paranoid? Been trying for 45 minutes to post a photo we took on skyline Drive but no matter what dimensions or how many pixels I make it, it won't post! | ||
| Carpedium81 |
It may take a bit to break the isolators in as well. Who's in for homecoming? | ||
| Trapper |
Carpedium81 - I have reservations at the host Hotel 2-5 Jul. As it stands right now my wife will be riding on the back. On another note, I had the new engine serviced at Smoky Mountain HD/Buell in TN, Monday morning as I went over a thousand miles by Sunday PM. Everything checked out fine. In the PM we rode the "Dragon" and stopped at Deals Gap for some of the best hot dogs we have ever tasted then rode some other really nice motorcycle roads. This whole area seems to be really pro motorcyclist and like to see the business. Would be a really good area to just come spend a few days. Yesterday came back up the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wanted to stop at the NC/VA state line signs along the parkway to get a photo for my ABCs of touring, but missed them because that part of the parkway was shut down. Plus it got real foggy along the mountain tops and started drizzling. Then about an hour South of Roanoke, the bike started running real ••••••. Every time I rolled on the throttle, it started running on one cylinder. However if I eased on it real slow it would run on both. Also if I kept the revs up above 3500 it would run on both. But if I stopped and let it idle it would only run on one cylinder and when I hit an upgrade, if I let it fall below 3500-4000rpm it would start running on one. So, I programmed the GPS to take me straight to Roanoke HD/Buell. As I pulled up to the service door it was running on one cylinder. All the folks there heard it. However, after shutting it off and their man took it out, it would only run correctly. They also put it on the machine and could not pull out any electronic faults info. They also went thru and checked on the fuel lines and wiring and could not come up with anything. They were very concerned and helpful and did not charge me anything. Whatever it was, It has run fine since leaving there. Today we had a mix of interstate and back roads and revisited the Shenandoah National Park then went to Grove's Winchester HD/Buell before heading over and getting a room at the Holiday Inn. Groves is new and getting fixed up really fine. It is larger than Utica HD and Performance in Syracuse put together (However all three of these would only just approach Smoky Mountain HD/BUell). Groves even has a coffee shop attached where you can get fancy coffees as well as meals. We ate a late lunch there. At Roanoke HD/Buell we watched a movie on their cable TV, while sitting on leather covered HD lounge chairs and sofa in their waiting area, while eating fresh popped popcorn and drinking sodas. Our dealer's should take a peak at what these other Buell dealers are doing. They even hand out self address/stamped customer comment cards. And all these dealers I have stopped at (Smoky Mountain, Roanoke, & Grove's) have a display with Buell clothing, hat's, helmets and accessories. Grove's even has several Buell leather jackets in various sizes. Some folks evidently do get Customer support, even if somewhat limited in scope; but a whole bunch more than sometimes having a hat or pair of gloves to sell like Utica HD! | ||
| Uylrover |
Trapper Was it really hot out ? The bike might have been shutting down the rear cylinder. I had a bout of this in my Uly when I got a tank of poor fuel. It was real weird till I figured it out. They have a temp sensor, The same one that runs the fan I think, if the rear cylinder gets to hot it will be shut down at low speed. Just a thought. How many miles were on the first engine? | ||
| Trapper |
Ulyrover, Not very hot. I was coming up the Blue Ridge Parkway when it started missing. Probably about 50-60 degrees F in clouds/fog with a slight mist. That is the conclusion that Roanoke folks had also; probably some bad gas. If it hadn't been "caughing/hiccupping" once in a while over the past few days I probably would have jumped on that one, too. They jumped right on things and put it on their computer plus test road and visually went all thru it and found nothing out of the ordinary. It has run fine since, so I have my fingers crossed on the bad gas thing. I can't get over how customer service oriented they all were/are. I truely expected to have to pay for their diagnostics but they said no charge! I was almost on reserve, so I filled up about a mile down the road after leaving Roanoke HD/Buell. I did not get to ride near enough last year! Only had about 13,000 miles on the first engine. The new one already has 3,000 and its only a week old. | ||
| Trapper |
Would anyone be interested in an annual mileage contest and/or something like ABCs of touring for Buell riders? Something that we could possibly start here and if it took off may be expand it? The BMW Owners have it as well as some other well known bike brands. It appears to be very popular amongst them. I saw that this year just in NY State there were quite a few BMW folks that rode in their mileage "contest".  I know that Buell folks are allowed to join HOG (I am a life member of HOG) however I rarely if ever see Buell folks at their activities or listed in HOG Tails, their publication. When I ride my Uly to a Harley type function I am always asked what kind of bike I am riding! | ||
| Silenc3r |
I am in my local HOG chapter, and also am part of the dealership mileage competition. I'd be up for something like that, but Buell oriented. There are a handful of us in the local HOG chapters, but you're right that we never seem to get any Hog Tails press | ||
| Lazylion |
I see Buells at my local HOG functions. (the ones that Silenc3r ride) Soon I may see more, if I ride the STT instead of the FLHTI there will be two at a time! Don't be racking up to many miles, I forgot to get mine on the books when I bought it. | ||
| Silenc3r |
Ha Ha! Wait, they wouldn't let you sign up later on? I mean, they know the mileage of the bike back then... THEY had it Ah well. I'm off to the shop for some snacks. I dropped the M2 yesterday... Well, 'the road swallowed the bike' is closer to the truth... I was riding down a freshly paved road, went to turn off, and sunk 6 inches into the pavement. They had to repave, and I've got a ton of goo to clean off the bike. No apparent damage, though, so that's good. Ah well, a little tar just adds to that 'street fighter' look I like so much Anyone else going to the Mets game / ride tomorrow? | ||
| Trapper |
Anyone from Central NY planning to ride out for Homecoming? I am planning to head out on 1 Jul with my wife on the back of the Uly. We plan to take our time and arrive at the Host Hotel on 2 July and head back to Central NY on 6 Jul. It would be real nice if we could ride with some other Buells as a group. | ||
| Silenc3r |
I'm planing to go Pretty much the same time frame. I am up for whatever. I don't have my passport, yet, and I'm not sure if it's going to get here by the time I leave. So a jaunt through Canada might be a problem for me. I agree. It sure would be nice to have another couple of bikes along for the ride. Anyone else in? | ||
| Trapper |
Silenc3r, Are you going to ride the new 1125R? Last year I was the only person in our group with a passport and no one seemed to have a problem at the border crossing. However, this year I have been planning on taking the scenic in the US route. Since I will be riding double with my wife on board, the Iron Butt method of riding will not be in order. We are going to take two days to get there. I do not care for Chicago traffic so we are going to go a few extra miles to go around and see a little of Illinois in the process. I'd like other Buell riders to go as a group but have not heard from others in the area and time is getting close. PM me if you or anyone may be interested in getting together for the ride. Thanks. -Trapper | ||
| Rde48 |
Hey Trapper, We are planning on leaving on the 2nd early but was wondering where you were going to plan your stop for the night. I have to work the 1st so but possibly could leave after work and meet up at the stop to finish the trip with ya. I have never been through Chicago so I have no Idea what to expect and If we leave in the morning and ride straight through it would put us there sometime around rush hour. I had thought about the ferry but the price was the deal breaker there. Its crunch time for me so much to do and only about a week to do it. | ||
| Trapper |
Rde48, Who are we? Do you have a group? Since I am planning to go around Chicago I was planning to drop down on US24 near Toledo and stopping somewhere before Ft Wayne. I am not sure how my wife will be getting along so really am not sure exactly where at this point. What time are you planning to head out on the first or second? You are at least a couple hundred miles and three or four hours closer than we are so maybe we could be able to meet up. I don't know how much sleep you need to get. If you are planning a more direct route, I used to be a trucker and am familiar with getting thru the Chicago area so may be able to offer some hints/words of encouragement. If I was riding solo, I'd probably make it on one thru ride stopping only for pit stops. -Trapper | ||
| Rde48 |
Trapper, Just 2 of us, My brother Matthew on his Orange M2 and Me, Ryan on my Black S3. Our plan is to be on the road no later then 7am on the 2nd because of work. We are just going to run the super slab so I am thinking we will be around Chicago just in time for the evening rush. If it is best to wait that out we will probably stop and eat dinner before going through. Hints and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated. | ||
| Silenc3r |
Yup, I'm planning to take the 11. I got it back from the shop tonight... but it's still doing the battery light thing. They assure me that this will be fine, though. I'm planning to swap out the battery before the trip, though. The lack of bags might be a problem, though. I'm actually thinking of shipping my luggage out there so it gets there when I do. I can probably rig something up, it's just a pain. Is there a ride planned, like the ride home, where people from different states meet up along the way? | ||
| Trapper |
Not aware of a planned ride like ride home. However some folks have been posting stuff on the 25th anniversary thread. Are you planning to ride it all the way thru in one day? What day/time are you headed out? Myself and Wife are leaving CNY on Tuesday morning and plan to get there Wednesday. Maybe we could cross paths along the way. | ||
| Silenc3r |
Hopefully I'll meet up with ya. Right now the bike is still in the shop, so my plans for leaving tomorrow morning are pretty much shot. If I still wind up going, I'm going to try to do the trip in a single shot. But at this point, I'm almost convinced my trip is done. we'll see how things go tomorrow. If I don't catch ya, have a great ride and bring back a lot of pictures | ||
| Trapper |
Missed any others who may have gone to homecoming from CNY! You all missed a really great time. | ||
| Rde48 |
I missed you too. I did try to look for the NY plates and found a few but never ran into you. I was going to ask what it takes to be a Outdoor Recreation Specialist when I met you because that sounds a good job. Anyway I had a great time and everyone should try to make it to homecoming. I also me a guy from up near Syracuse that will be joining badweb after meeting so many of us at homecoming. We will have to get a ride and meet set up for the Dino BBQ before summer is out. | ||
| Trapper |
Ryan, Did you stay at the host hotel? I did look at more than a few plates and did not notice any NY, however I did see some NY pins on the map. Met folks from Brazil, Down Under, Israel, and Europe, though; as well as from Canada and numerous states. |
