| Author | Message | ||
     Dblhaulxb9s |
Hey, I have an XB9S and have gone through 2 belts in 3500 miles. Is anyone else having this problem? I took my belt guard off but I have seen some other pics of people doing this, what is going on? | ||
| Tim |
Handling and installation procedures are very exacting for the xb9 belt. A service bulletin has been issued. I believe it is posted here somewhere. Was your belt ever removed by the dealer prior to the first failure? ie: tire replacement? | ||
| Blake |
I took my belt guard off...  | ||
| Rick_a |
Doesn't seem to bother the tubers much... | ||
| Sicemm |
I posted this message in the XBoard folder today about my wheel bearing failure this weekend. I have about 6500 miles on my bike. The bad thing about it was that it gave me no indication that there was a problem. I stopped at the Florida welcome center to take my helmet off and I just happened to look down and see a bunch of grease on the rear wheel. That is when I noticed the bearings were missing. I talked to the dealer today and they gave me no idea of how long it would be in the shop because just about everything on the back end would have to be replaced (Rim, axle, wheel spacer, bearings, etc.). So it looks like I might not be on the road for a while. | ||
| Blake |
And I posted the following too... Sicem, Your description of "everything on the back end" sounds like nothing more than a new wheel assembly and axle. Should take three business days or less to have the parts delivered to your dealer, any longer and your dealer has dropped the ball. Something doesn't smell right... "As I was riding I heard a noise from the back and realized the back tire felt loose or something. Pulled over and saw the rear tire missing all the bearings, grease and metal shavings all over the the place." then... "The bad thing about it was that it gave me no indication that there was a problem. I stopped at the Florida welcome center to take my helmet off and I just happened to look down and see a bunch of grease on the rear wheel. That is when I noticed the bearings were missing." So which is it? First post you say the failed bearings caused the wheel to become loose and make a noise causing you to stop and investigate, but then in your next post you say that it gave no indication of a problem. Methinks something stinks... new poster, newly registered, I shall confirm this story. No offense intended to Sicem, just that it seems awfully strange and his simple story is not even straight. It deserves to be confirmed. | ||
| Court |
Ray: You are obviously new to Buell. I have good news. Buell's gone to extraordinary lengths to bring about improvements. You may expect prompt parts delivery and the fix is easy. Court | ||
| Tripper |
The bad news is Buell dealers still refuse to stock simple maintenance items, like clutch cables, and they quote 2 week lead times from Buell for these simple parts. Apparently the dealer parts people have not noticed any improvement in parts delivery. | ||
| Daves |
Tripper, Maybe that's the case at some Buell dealers, don't lump us all together. Thank You. Ride to the edge! Dave HD/Buell Cycle Center Waterloo Ia dave@iowaharley.com | ||
| Sicemm |
}Blake: Methinks something stinks... new poster, newly registered, I shall confirm this story. No offense intended to Sicem, just that it seems awfully strange and his simple story is not even straight. It deserves to be confirmed. My wife was the one who wrote the original post about hearing something because she registered my name while she was at work. She was trying to do me (and all other XB owners) a favor and let people know about the bearing failure. The true story is what I wrote in the second posting about stopping at the rest stop and noticing the grease. So, confirm what you want, just because I am a new poster, newly registered, it does not mean that you cannot believe what I say. The only reason she was anxious to register before talking to me was to get the word out so everybody could be on the lookout and ride safe. | ||
| Sicemm |
Court: Thanks for the good news, I already miss riding and it has only been two days. I hope that I can get back on the road soon! Ray | ||
| Sicemm |
Blake, I am Ray's Wife and the second story is true. He replied to you to let you know what happened. I respect your site and was not trying start something bad. I agree that even a simple story told twice, and both are different should be checked out. We are not Buell bashers and only was concerned about safety of other riders. The noise and wobbly tire was after we stopped. We went to push the bike by hand to move it aside and then even saw more damage and heard a noise and noticed the tire was wobbly too. My main point was this whole think could of resulted in a serious accident and I consider us lucky. The letter we received from Buell states word for word "Our records indicate you are the owner of a 2003 Buell Firebolt or Lightning model motorcycle, which requires a non-safety-related repair. and goes on to explain its only an upgrade. We are not stupid and realize the bearing on a bike could be serious but not to that degree especially with low mileage. The letter gave no indication the bearing could possible fail and did not mention not to ride your bike until the upgrade was performed. I just did not want some else to read their letter and put this off thinking it was only a upgrade and not a possible safety issue. I have contacted Buell and they are going to investigate along with the Dealer to see if it is a safety concern and its related. I was only giving them feed back so they could research it. Feedback is important to companies so they can work all the bugs out. I felt I was doing them a favor by reporting the incident thinking maybe they do not realize that the bearing can fail and it should be investigated. I thought is was interesting that a letter was sent about the bearing and they so happen to fail. Also I am not say to everyone that I know its a safety issue I just wanted people to be aware and do not take the risk we did. Not to mention the damage is much more $$$ than the upgrade which means this might happen to more customers who do attend to the upgrade sooner. So hopefully I have cleared up any smell you have. I ride a 2002 V-rod (sweet ride) with 1200 miles on it and it even broke on the same trip as well. (bad luck I guess) The speed sensor had to be replaced while we were in Myrtle Beach. Its a new bike and things are going to happen until its been around long enough for all the bugs to be worked out. No big deal just a pain in the @$$ because we were out of town at a bike week. | ||
| Mikej |
 So even the V-Rod is prone to speed sensor failures. Simply amazing. I'm thinking Harley-Davidson needs to spend some clothing money on sensor corrections.  | ||
| Tripper |
Sorry Hippie Dave, am hearing many good things about your efforts from the KCMob. Topeka stocks the right items, and my next call was to Modesto. The rest of em stink. How's that? | ||
| Josh_ |
>Maybe that's the case at some Buell dealers, don't lump us all together. Know what happens when you order unusual parts that no one stocks (isolators with new bolts and washers, plus a white kickstand from an 01 X1WL) from DaveS? You get 'em delivered to you in (I think it was) 6 business days. 4 of those would have been shipping, plus 1 day turn around at Waterloo means Buell got it out in 1 day. What I've found is that many dealers only order parts once a week, like say Mon morning. If you order the part Mon at noon, it won't get ordered until the following Mon morn. Hell, 2 of my local dealers took *months* to place orders that I called them about weekly. Know what they both said? "Yeah Buell parts are slow." (Message edited by josh_ on May 21, 2003, %time) | ||
| Sicemm |
MikeJ, The V-rod still isnt quit running right. I have to take it back to the dealer next week. Even after the speed sensor was replaced it still cut off a couple of times when having to stop but not like it did when we were in Myrtle Beach. I dont know if when we had to sit in Bike Week traffic it had anything to do with it. Its ok to ride as long as your riding and you dont have to stop and go. Its strange because when you start the bike it would just cut back off. You would have to hold the throttle in order for it to keep running. Of course it now dont do it everytime. At this point I dont know what going on with it. The Dealers in Myrtle Beach and Jacksonville Florida work very well together to get me back on the road since I was out of town and needed to get back home. Both service managers are great guys in helping. I went in to detail about all of this hoping someone might know somthing or experienced something. This bike is so new that even some of the techs are sure. I will say this I love the way the bike rides and its as smooth as a buell. I love my bike it has a hot paint job on it too. I ll have to post a pic. the wife | ||
| Mikej |
Try reading a little in the carb/fuel injection section of the knowledge vault on the site here. There are procedures to follow to help the Buell fuel injection computer reset/recalibrate itself or when someone runs out of gas. There may be a vacuum or intake leak, especially since the bike is fairly new as parts sometimes settle in a little during the initial 5000 or so miles. Or it may just need a reset at the dealership, but if the techs are new to the bike then you may be better off heading to someone who's a little more knowledgable. Maybe someone in one of the local groups can direct you to a more current shop? http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=37&post=161280#POST16 1280 http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=37&post=168308#POST16 8308 | ||
| Court |
Some dealer don't place orders until they hit a threshold $$ amount. If a dealer tells you that "Buell parts are slow", they are lying. Quote me, and my 15 years of experience as you leave. If they'd like to call me, I'd welcome the chance to speak to them. Call Dave Steuve, Dave Chall or Modesto and get your parts pronto. Buell, to thier credit, has worked hard and made extraordinary improvements (somehow without the benefit of DaveG and I) in parts delivery. You can expect most Buell parts to ship within24 hours of RECEIPT OF ORDER at Buell. And...to quote a famed philospher.."Dat's a fac Jak" | ||
| Blake |
You might want to call our sponsors... Iowa HD, SportTwin, or High Country HD/Buell before calling Modesto or Dave Chall, whoever he is. Mrs. Sicem, Thank you for clarifying things. Bearings, ANY bearings can fail for various reasons. As they do, they generally give indications of their impending catastrophic breakdown. I agree, it sure sounds like the bearing "upgrade" should have been classified as a safety recall. Yours is not the first to suffer complete bearing failure with low mileage. I'm confused, if you were riding your V-Rod, how were you also riding on back of the XB9 when the bearing failed? (Message edited by blake on May 21, 2003, %time) | ||
| Reepicheep |
That's been my experience. If I order parts from a local nameless Cincinnati Harley dealer (cough tricounty cough) I may get them in 3 days, I may get them in two weeks. But they are nice about it, and they will eventually get the part. If i order from the other Cincy dealer (cough eastgatebuell cough) they will not order them, tell me they did, tell me they are on the shelf waiting for me, and they will have mysteriously dissapeared with no record of ordering them when it comes time to pick them up. Or at least thats what happened with my recall shock. F&S Buell in Dayton? On the *one* instance I have needed a part they did not stock (a black dot front exhaust pre HCR cam for a 99 Cyclone... not something anyone would be reasonably expected to stock in the first place), they had it in 3 days. They even had the oil pump drive gear *in stock*. So add F&S Buell in Dayton to the "good guys" list. | ||
| Blake |
Dealers? Hmmm... isn't there a topic page specifically created for that subject?  Custodians running amock! | ||
| Tripper |
This topic was the intended one, the factory needs to know that their dealers are bad mouthing the mother ship. I wasn't doubting Court's statement in the least. Josh's comment is on the mark about who is slow. | ||
| Aaron |
"So add F&S Buell in Dayton to the "good guys" list." As a plus, F&S also offered a major piece of assistance to Team Elves when we were running the 1000cc bike. If you see Gary Stolzenburg in that place, tell him thanks, he made a big difference. | ||
| Sicemm |
Blake, I was just adding a note at the end of the response that I sent you that we had bad luck with both of our new HD bikes. We live in Jax Florida and took a few days off to head to Myrtle Beach bike week fest. Had a great ride up there a little wet on the way no big deal. The first day my bike (V-rod) broke down which was Friday morning and couldnt get it back till Saturday night. Had to leave by Sunday Morning again the service dept went above to get me back on the road. Then to top it off The buell broke. We almost made it home. When we stopped at the Florida welcome which is only about 40 miles from the house to take off the helmets then at that time saw the bearing thing and so on. Already rode about 320 mile and got hammered in the rain too. At one point it was so bad cars were pulling off of 95 south. You know those kind of ride you try to avoid. So just one of those time where is just seem to all go wrong. Over it and moving on. Just ready to get the bikes back on the road. I called today and they still havent got a chance to take it a part. The service guy keep telling me about some tool that is on back order that they have to get from HD in order to work on the Buell. I dont know what he is talking about. He just said another dealer was going to send him theirs NDA to borrow. I figured he would need that tool cause when I dropped the bike of they mentioned that the amount of damage they could see right away looked like the whole back tire / Rim would have to be replaced. I dont know so I just waiting to see and find out what they find out. Do you know of a V-rod site like this one. I like to learn and know as much as I can about my bike Mrs. Sicemm | ||
| Blake |
No sorry, I don't know of any V-Rod sites. If you want to start one, feel free to make use of the Quick Board. If it takes off like the BadWeB Buell site, we'll give it it's own complete discussion board. Sounds suspiciously to me like your dealer is not being 100% honest with you. There are no special tools required to remove the rear wheel. If he is referring to the bearing replacement tool, he should have had that months ago. | ||
| Sicemm |
Blake, I asked the Service Manager at the dealer again and he said they has to have that tool in order to take the bearings off. He keeps telling me they do not have that tool. He said that HD told him it was on back order until June 20th. I am pretty sure there is more damage to the wheel than just the bearings being replace. I asked could'nt you still start to take it apart so you can start ordering the parts you will need to repair the bike. He said since its warranty work they would still remove the bearings. I guess they have to evaluate all the damage if any. I don't think we will be getting the bike back at least for another week. Mrs. Sicemm | ||
| Mikej |
Mrs. S., Call Buell Customer Service. Relate in detail what your dealership told you. Be courteous and kind, with just a hint of frustration, and point out that your V-Rod has had problems recently as well. Maybe mention some events you were hoping to attend with your bikes. Then ask if what the dealer is doing is the proper way to do things. Then expect a telephone call from the dealership shortly afterwards if all goes well. | ||
| Blake |
Customer Service # is... (414) 343-8400 | ||
| Sicemm |
Mikej, Thank you for the advice I will try that. Mrs. Sicemm | ||
| Mikej |
This path does two things: 1. It keeps Buell and Harley-Davidson aware of problems customers have with dealerships. This may or may not lead to improvements with that particular dealership's customer service. It may lead to that dealership becoming better informed and may open up a line of communication to issues that the dealership was unclear on. It may also lead to the dealership being invited to sell their franchise. 2. It gives you a little clout and backup. This will tell the dealership that you won't simply roll over for them. It also tells the dealership that the dealership is not your only option. This is not to make enemies, nor punish someone. This path is to find a resolution to get you and your bikes back on the road where they can be enjoyed to their fullest experience. |
