| Author | Message | ||
     Bomber |
approximately once a week, some Bueller posts about having difficutlies removing TORX headed fasters from his or her scoot Most of these posts are answered with size-specific suggestions on allen head replacements I'm sure there are good engineering and manufacturing-driven reasons for using the aforementioned devices, and that no one in East Troy is actually trying to think up ways to frustrate Buell owners, but I believe it may be worth a 30-second conversation in the lunch area about doing away with these vile devices thanks! signed an ignorant petrol head who loves his Buell (p.s. -- I equate these things with the phillips-head screws that Honda punished us with in the 60s -- jus punishment, pure and simple -- I'm sure I deserve said punishment, though ;-} ) | ||
| Road_thing |
My torx haiku... rt | ||
| Blake |
I must be blessed. Torx are my friend.  | ||
| Road_thing |
Blessed? Mi amigo, if you think Torx are your friend, you must be insane!  rt | ||
| Bomber |
which, of course, can be it's own blessing, yes? | ||
| Sparky |
Friendly advice regarding seemingly over-tightened torx fasteners: I was told by the service writer at Bartels' HD/B that to properly unscrew the torx screws, one should always But regardless, don't try to use a worn out torx driver. Ah, but you probably knew that. | ||
| Lowflyer |
They make special drivers for those? I always just use a phillips.  | ||
| Greenlantern |
"They make special drivers for those? I always just use a phillips." I tried that but the bulb keeps breaking...Maybe I should try a Sylvania!?  | ||
| Lowflyer |
For those of you who need a lesson in PhotoShop, take a look at this thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142838/160063.html?1142447491#POS T548639  | ||
| Hogluvr |
Haven't been on here in ages, just wondering if anyone has experienced a similar problem, or knows if I stand a chance in you-know-where of getting any help from the factory? I have a '98 S1, bought used in '01. A couple of years ago, I finally experienced the dreaded blistering decals on the gas tank. After a lot of coaxing because the dealership I went to didn't want to bother with my bike (they have since dropped Buell), they did the goodwill warranty for $100, and replaced the tank. Well, all was well and good, I've gotten more riding time on her this year than any year past, and after running some errands yesterday, stopped to top her off on the way home. When I left, I noticed a little bit of gas seeping from the ring that surrounds the cap. I didn't fill it any fuller than normal, & it just seemed like an odd thing to do. By the time I got home (about 5 minutes), the paint had completely blistered around the filler cap! I feel something like this should not have happened so quickly, and am a little disappointed in the quality and finish of the tank they replaced my old one with. Do you think customer service will listen to me and do anything about it? And does anyone have a number or email for customer service, there was absolutely nothing on their website? It just seems a shame that I have defended these bikes since I first got familiar with them, even through all the recalls the early ones went through I feel they are great bikes, and I really love mine. I'm just sadly concerned that the company isn't going to do anything to follow up a warranty issue on an 8-year-old bike. Thanks, and sorry for the long vent... | ||
| Court |
Hogluvr: Sounds like you've already written this off as a bad experience. If you want to explore positive resolution, Send me a note with your contact information. Court | ||
| Hogluvr |
Sorry for the negativity Court, you would think at my age I would learn to step back and take a breath before I speak (or is that type?). Sent you my info, thanks in advance for any help into this matter... Mike | ||
| Xbduck |
Would someone from the factory (Erik Buell) make a trip to Orange Virginia and find some way to bribe Mr. Don "Hoss" Waugh to add Buell back to Waugh Enterprises Harley-Davidson. They were at one time the number three dealer in the nation with the brand. It seems his biggest beef is the way the recall with the tubers hit him. Mr. Waugh is probably one of the best customer service oriented dealers in Virginia. I truly believe adding him to the Buell dealer group would be a positive step forward. PLEASE!! | ||
| Ulendo |
'06 CityX, 16000km in 6 months - a couple of constructive observations, and one glitch 1) re: factory City Screen 1/2 cover - love the cover, and being able to fit it without having to wait for the pipes to cool down but its a real drag not being able to use it with the semi-soft bags that would seem to go part-and-parcel with the CityX's commuter bike status. my suggestion would be to add a couple of elasticated gussets so the existing screen will fit both the bare bike, and be capable of stretching over the luggage.( as far as I can figure the numbers, it would add 2 strips of 2"wide elastic ~16"long to the upper rear seams) 2) regarding the semi soft luggage. the velcro is great for fast on-off, and easy installation, but after ~2000 km, it starts to get dusty, and gum up, leaving the bags flapping. (especially so if the bike is used on anything other than relatively smooth asphalt) I've tried cleaning it, but the loops seem to have just worn out. suggestion would be to go to double D ring fasteners in place of the velcro. not quite as fast/ simple as velcro, but much more durable, and secure under any / all conditions. THE GLITCH: at ~10,000 km, I started experiencing random fuse blowouts. I'd assumed it was from my rough use of the bike, but have recently traced it to the forward under-seat strap on the Buell smei-hard luggage. On the CityX, the strap chafes, and puts pressure on the harness right at the ecm. With the stock straps, there's not too many options on where / how to route things - an alternate strap setup, or maybe a shield for the harness might be in order to prevent this from becoming a chronic problem for other riders. hopefully this gets passed on to the factory at some level in a constructive manner. thanks Chris aka ulendo | ||
| Wintermetal |
I always hate it when people gripe. I can't stand it when people make posts that illegitimately bash others and their ideas, and ways of doing things. And please, don't get me wrong, I like my buell. I like buells in general. I want buell to be a successful corporation. But,... I don't understand Erik at all. He creates an excellent platform, the XB, with which he is able to make great bikes and a good name for himself. Then, essentially, he declares war on the other sportbike manufacturers, in saying that his way is the right way (implying that they do things the wrong way), and how his bikes are better. He emphasizes new ways of doing things, engineering capabilities, etc. Ok. Then, he just stops. Where are the new ideas? We have so many XBS models to choose from that it's hard to remember them all. We have a couple models of XBR. We have a 500 cc bike that is a dinosaur (yes, i enjoyed my blast very much when I bought my first bike, but others who own 500 cc bikes laugh at how slow the blast is). I get so tired of hearing that there's a new buell model, and getting my hopes up that he's come up with something new - something that the American public wants to see - something that utilizes superior engineering quality - something that is BETTER, only to see that they've modified an XBS, and given it a new name, and called it a new bike. Over all the years of the XB platform, we have gained no horsepower, no torque, no throttle response (the xbrr cannot count, because it is not a bike that we can ride - it is race only, and gets so hot you can cook on it, anyway). How much power/torque have the metric bikes gained over the last four years? 20-40 horse? and what do we have to show? When someone asks what size my bike is, I get tired of having to explain that my bike is slower than every other liter-sportbike, having to make excuses as to why we claim to use new technologies, but still stick with outdated ways of doing things. Erik, buddy, I'm with you on the ideas of thinking outside of the box and finding new ways to do things. Better ways to do things. So let's see it! Let's get rid of the conventional monotony. Let's question "authority" and push forward to that which is new and better! What i'm saying is this: Is the pushrod motor superior to an overhead-cam engine in any regard but ease of maintenance (which is practically too simple)? Is the jet-engine-whine that we hear after we turn-off our bike enjoyable? I think we can all agree that a little more room would be nice on our lightnings - maybe a little storage room? I think it's plain to see that our XB's are getting left behind when it comes to holeshotting through town, or out of town. True, the metric bikes can't get away from us in the corners, but they frikkin SMOKE us if the road is straight at all. If you look at people who ride sportbikes (outside of the buell owners already), what do they want? These are the people who are potential customers. These are the people who are potential money-makers for the Buell motorcycle corporation. These are the people who can make the Buell corporation grow to something larger than what it is. So how do they see buells? "They're kinda cool, as far as the engineering goes, but they're way too slow". "They're alright. They're different. I just think they're slow. And they're small, too". That is exactly what they say (and think). Erik, I'm not knocking you at all. Handling, torque, bad-a$$ looks, American muscle - these are all great. So lets see some more! I think it's safe to say that an aluminum fuel-framer with even a modified V-Rod motor would be frikkin BAD to the BONE! We wouldn't be getting left behind, we wouldn't have scalded legs on hot days of hard riding, etc. So what I'm saying is this - Erik, buddy, let's see it! Let's stay ahead of the game and create the standard by which other sportbikes/streetfighters are judged! Let's see the bike that my friends would be jealous to own! Let's give them what they want, and more! Let's hear the other sporbike companies say, "Leave it to Erik to mess up our mojo!" Let's see an open-mindedness. Renovation, rather than redneck-ism. Let's see what you can come up with, my friend! | ||
| Bradman |
I reciently recieved my notice in the mail about BRAG being phased out .I thought this was a good idea and saw the instructions on how to renew my FUELL subscription . I went to do this and found Canada does not have a owners link to be able to get the newsletter ,so I guess I am screwed arent I ! Well Eric and the boys at Buell , I want to thank you for making this Canadian Buell brother from North of you for making me feel like a unapriciated second class citizen in the Buell Family . It makes me wonder would Ducati or any other motorcycle company discard there customers as easily over a little postage?? Maybe my next motorcycle purchase will test that theory | ||
| Crusty |
In 1996, I rode my FLHS to Daytona for Bike Week. While there, I test rode as many different motorcycles as I could. I was getting tired of the dresser, and was thinking about something totally different. I rode an S2, and it was O.K., then I rode an S2-T. The T felt perfect! On a short, flat ride, I fell in love with Buells. The bars were the right height, the pegs were in the right place; everything was RIGHT. I even liked the 1” bars. Having just finished a 1200 mile ride, I knew that I could easily do a 600 mile day on one. All that was lacking was power; and I knew that there’d be an S1 engine in that chassis soon. The next year, Buell released the S3-T. While it did have more power, and it was drop dead gorgeous (I still think the S3-T is the most beautiful motorcycle ever built), it wasn’t quite as much of a perfect fit as the S2 was. What I would like is a Sport Tourer with the ergonomics of the S2-T and the reliability of my Ulysses. I don’t need unnecessary things like ABS or Cruise Control. (a thumb screw throttle lock works just fine). As long as the seat height is reasonable, you’ll sell at least two of them. One for me and one for my wife. I suspect you’ll sell a lot more; BMW sells boatloads of their Sport tourers, and they aren’t even close to the motorcycles that Buells are. | ||
| Ceejay |
I was wondering if Buell does special orders. Basically I want a TT with a 9 motor. It should be pretty easy to do, but was hoping they could do it for me. It may come out for next model year I guess I was just wondering, as it is what I want for a starter package...I tried CS but I'm sure that wasn't the right place to look or ask... | ||
| Court |
Buell does not do special orders. This comes up from time to time, usually with the "factory delivery" option as a sidebar question. The commercial reality is that to sell a vehicle there is a lot of certification and approval required. This involves about 4 pages of tasks that range from a bill of material and service parts for the range to writing the specific time codes and procedures for service and training. There have been, ranging from the fun Police Pursuit S-1's to the Peter Max painted S3-T, some pretty interesting stuff spit out the back door. The bad news is that these can't be sold, by law, to the public. When you say "starter" are you just wanting the 9 motor with less power? | ||
| Ceejay |
What I was hoping to do, is I really like the 9 the few times I have ridden with one, and later on I may punch it out, but for the most part I just like the smaller motor. The starter kit is less related to the motor and more related to a few other things, which if you get to look at the drawings you may see but I doubt will win As usual I forgot about the red tape, emissions control, DOT regs, etc. Still would be cool Thanks for the answer Court, I called CS before I wrote the above about it but apparently they are some of the lucky ones as they were already on holiday break. Hope you, them and everyone else has an excellent christmas and great new year... | ||
| Babired |
hello, I have the X1 Racing Stripe 2000, another Badweb buddy said there was some kind of history linked to the racing stripes put on the Buells. Talked to Jason at the DC Cycle World show at the Buell display he told me to post it here on Bad web Any info would be cool Thanks Kathy | ||
| Sarodude |
I notice something interesting in the Online Blast manual at http://www.buell.com/om/99476-07Y_en/file-5.asp. It mentions something about skip spark.
I didn't think the Blasts had skip-spark. Is this a recent addition or is it a mistake? -Saro | ||
| Joey |
My Blast has done it since 2001. | ||
| Sarodude |
Where is the CHT sensor? I've had Blast heads off from various years and have never stumbled upon a temp sensor. -Saro | ||
| Dhalen32 |
Saro: I think they are talking about a rev limiter that interrupts the ignition as opposed to the high temp "skip spark" you are thinking of. Dave | ||
| Sarodude |
Uh, wow... I musta been on some awesome dope. I was totally seeing something different than what was written. I was reading about overheating, break-in, then saw the words skip-spark which I've associated with anti-overheating measures on some tube-frame ignitions. 30 lashes with a wet noodle and a trip to detox. -Saro | ||
| Dave |
While at the IMS at Atlanta this weekend I met Frank and Bruce (in person) from the factory. Bruce has helped me out a few times and he's one of the Buell factory all-stars. Frank gave me some candid insight on the testing that goes into these bikes. All i can say is Wow! They KNOW their bikes and they speak Buell. Thanks for the T-shirts! (Note: Those "larges" are hardly big-mediums hahahaha) DAve | ||
| Court |
That's an accurate statement. | ||
| Ceejay |
saro-care to share | ||
| Hogluvr |
Court, Are you still around? I've been trying to get in touch with you about the tank situation with my S1, haven't heard from you in a couple of months now and Spring is hopefully just around the corner. I think maybe your email doesn't like my email, or something?  If you see this, please get in touch with me at my other email address hogluvr1340@yahoo.com Thanks, Mike |
