| Author | Message | ||
     Sickquad |
I love my BUELL, this thread sucks. | ||
| Dynarider |
Trip, then help me out with it. Wanna buy a broken X1 for $8000??? Working on a solution but it takes time. Till then cant do shit. | ||
| Court |
>>>I love my BUELL, this thread sucks. You got that right. In the words of one journalist, Buell has the most loyal following of disaffected owners who, regardless of what they now ride, remain in contact with the Buell community daily and maintain websites to discuss, while riding their xxx brand, their Buells, Buell friends and Buell experiences. Dave Gess: you hit it on the HEAD. The bearings, if their service life is observed, never become a safety issue. See my analogy about the tires at 100,000 miles. | ||
| Court |
Anyone ever read Marvin K. Mooney? | ||
| Libnosis |
Sickquad - Ditto Tripper - Very Nice S1 Court - I get it  | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Who cares what recalls are made as long as Buell had the common sense to recall parts that could potentially fail. Hmmmmmmm let me see, about two weeks ago my belt broke - I fixed it and got over it. Last year my rear shock leaked - it was replaced and I got over it. If I wanted the precision of a sewing machine I would have bought a Jap thingy. I love my Buell and if the damm thing blows up tomorrow I will FIX it and get over it. Dyna, please don't take this the wrong way but if your X1 is still sitting in broken condition then the only one really losing out is you as you did not have it fixed and are not enjoying it. | ||
| Darthane |
I love my BUELL, this thread sucks. <~~Sickquad Hehe...I ran my li'l 'bolt at 5500RPM+ for about 7 hours Saturday on the NE Adventure, for another 4 hours Sunday...after 3000 miles it was about 1/4 quart low and hadn't leaked a damned thing. I think it's fair to say that the whole engine reliability item is a thing of the past. Now if they could just keep these damned front wheels from being so sensitive! BTW, Court, it's still there after checking everything under the moon, it is definitely the wheel, which I'm sure I'll have to eat the cost of. Now hopefully it's JUST the wheel and not the rotor as well. ...but I still love my bike, head shake and all. LOL Bryan | ||
| Blake |
Dyna, What about the following did you not comprehend? You can whine and gripe about the issue till you are blue in the face. No one is going to answer you here. A tire can be punctured and go flat. OH MY GOD!!! Send out a safety recall!!!  News flash... motorcycles are not fool proof safety cages. | ||
| Bigj |
Bottom Line: Whether you think it deserved or not, Buell right now has a terrible reputation for reliability. The XB could afford no recalls, no issues WHATSOEVER. NONE. Any issues that come up now, however minor, will cement that reputation, whether you think it deserved or not. | ||
| Rocketman |
Further to that as technology moves on a pace so should quality. I know fuck all about the XB wheel bearings but I know the wheel and headstock bearings in the tube frame bikes are of a cheap quality compared to SKF, Timpkin, RHP or similar bearing manufacturer and to me that smacks of bean counting. When I note the price of many of todays production motorcycles and compare that of Buells relatively simple offerings in comparison I wonder why Buell would shave a few dollars here and there off production costs when a quality component (bearing) could have so easily been used to start with, given that Buells are relatively expensive in the market place. Is there not enough profit in the thing so that reliability and ultimately safety should not be (possibly) compromised? Fast becoming the world most reliable motorcycle (maybe?), save the odd bearing failure or two. No excuse in my book and this lesson should have been learned from the tube framers shouldn't it? Do I care? Yes it suggests to me that if enough attention to detail wasn't considered (or even discovered) at manufacture I doubt I'd trust Buells modern offerings as much as I'd like to based on what went before with earlier models especially when other manufacturers don't have these problems. After all this isn't a Buell specific component right? I mean it's bought in so there is NO excuse (other than cost) for bearing failure at such low miles. Relative to tyre wear? My arse it is. Now watch some smart arse tell me Buell got a bad batch of square bearings! Rocket  | ||
| Blake |
Dyna, I asked you twice to please cease with the tirade. You refused to honor my request both times. Your last post has been deleted. Everyone here knows the score on the XB9 bearing upgrade. You are preaching to the choir. No one here can answer your question, so if you are really so concerned, get off your ass and contact someone who can. But please drop the trolling tirade here. edited by blake on June 17, 2003 | ||
| Blake |
Bigj, Buell did the kickstand recall on the XB9R straight away. They recalled the rear sprocket on the first year Blasts straight off. Your assessment is incorrect. Buell is growing and thriving; the new bikes are doing extremely well. A recall doesn't mean a thing other than the company is taking care of business. | ||
| Blake |
Bigj, The reputation is well deserved. No argument about that. | ||
| Sportsman |
Whoever it was with the headskake. After screwing with every adjustment, replacing headbearings, GMD computrac, it turned out it was Dunlop. Put on a set of Pirellis and it disappeared. Put the Dunlops back on, and the only way to stop it was to run low air pressure. Maybe OK for crusin, but if you're driving out of corners when it starts, Dump the Dunlop. | ||
| Darthane |
Sportsman, I had OEM D207s on the bike for 7500 miles with no problem, ran the D208s for a thousand miles hard riding no problem, put a D207 back on the front, still there. I can actually SEE that the front wheel is out of round - and if you can see it, it's bad. In any event, I will be getting a different set of tires soon, but unsure what type yet. Bryan | ||
| Mikej |
"News flash... motorcycles are not fool proof safety cages. " A safety cage is only as safe as the user, food for thought.  | ||
| Sportsman |
Whoa, If you can actually see it in the wheel, I guess it's no mystery | ||
| Bigj |
Blake, I know what you're saying. And I agree. The company is taking care of business. BUT, in the public's perception, ANY recall, no matter how well taken care of, is going to further that perception. These bikes have(had) to be PERFECT, literally, when it comes to reliability issues. Since we know nothing can be perfect, they need a Hyundai warranty. That's something they could do to erase the quality perception, along with furthering Q/A. I think(hope) the XB's are going to be better than the tubers, but it's way to early to tell. What's going to kill them in the mean time is the PERCEPTION of bad quality. The only way to change the perception(not the reality) would be a Hyundai warranty. People used to view Hyundai's as cheap throwaway cars, beacause they basically were. What changed the public's perception of them was not thier increasing quality, but thier warranty. It's like 10 years/100,000 miles. | ||
| Nevco1 |
BigJ...Interesting comment. I should think that for a motorcycle that 3 years and 36,000 miles would be adequate. Just can't see the 10/100,000 on a bike even though it would be nice. | ||
| Mikej |
I put over 70,000 miles on a little Honda 450 before I gave it away. Most bikes rarely accumulate over 10,000 miles. If a bike manufacturer put a 36,000 mile warranty with no time limit on a bike it would make a huge statement. IMHO. Oh, and simply changing the air filter and exhaust should not affect the warranty in any way. YMMV. | ||
| Cjmblast |
Most bikes rarely accumulate over 10,000 miles. You mean I'm going to have to get a new bike in less than 3000 miles !!??? CJM  | ||
| Mikej |
No, I mean that most bike owners don't put 10,000 miles on their bikes. Start shopping around for used bikes, apart from the H-D cruisers and BMW's and Honda Goldwing/Interstates and such, you'll find most of the bikes you look at on the used market have 10,000 miles or less. Most riders ride only on sunny weekend days down to the beach or local hangout place. No real facts beyond what I've observed. For you, you could accumulate 10,000 miles between now and August 31st and need nothing more (hopefully) than gas and oil, and maybe a set of tires depending on your throttle use and cornering skills. And from what I've heard you'd need a set of tires within the next 10,000 miles which is a nice thing. Plus for some reason the Blast tires don't seem to last as long as the twin tires of similar brand and model, but I'm probably wrong on that observation as well. Oh well, don't worry, be happy, ride a lot.  | ||
| Cjmblast |
Plus for some reason the Blast tires don't seem to last as long as the twin tires of similar brand and model, but I'm probably wrong on that observation as well. I don't know either, but I've already had to put a new back tire on it, that surprised me too !! I've put 6,600 on my Blast since last spring, so I'm betting I will get it up to 10,000 by August !!!!! And yep by next summer, I want a Black Lightning XB9S Low, that is one pretty bike !!! CJM  | ||
| Mikej |
I probably shouldn't tell you this, but my first set of tires on the M2 lasted 11,000 miles and still had legal life left on them. I think I'll duck now before you throw your helmet at me.  | ||
| Att |
Blake..............You are a knob | ||
| M2me |
I just had the tires replaced for the first time on my M2. 10,049 miles! But those original tires were in rough shape. The bike handles a lot better now. It's like getting a new bike!  | ||
| Bigj |
When I used to live on the east coast, I would agree with that 10,000 mile thing. But people out here in California put 10,000 miles a year on no sweat. Many do much more. I think a 5 year/50,000 mile Buell warranty would cover the bill. | ||
| Darthane |
Even just a two-year unlimited mileage would have made me happy. As it is I've got an extended warranty that probably won't ever get used, and given HD dealers I can bet that if I ever DO need to use it I will have to fight tooth and nail to get anything warrantied. Bryan | ||
| Blake |
Five years? I think even a two year unlimited warranty would do it. Or a three year 30K mile warranty. Five years would be unbelievable. | ||
| S320002 |
This thread began with a complaint about Buell customer service. Since BCS is under the control of HDMC, rather than BMC, shouldn't the thread heading read; WHY DOESN'T HARLEY DAVIDSON GET IT? The question itself should explain a lot to most Buell owners. Greg (running for cover) |
