| Author | Message | ||
     Draklor |
Howdy all, I've been lurking around for a while since I bought my 00 M2. I've got a few questions that I've been searching for answers for. Finally the taxman gave me a break this year and after buying another car I'm in the position to use the wet season here as an opportunity to work on my bike. For a while it was my daily rider (including riding in 3 months of solid rain) and it really needs a pretty good strip down, fuel lines replaced etc, and cleaned up. 1. Does anyone have some links or got ideas/methods to (partially) weather proof my bike? The temperatures up here sit at about 30-38C (86-100F) all year - lots of humidity, lots of dust etc in the air. I got lazy after being hit by a taxi and didn't clean it for a little while and the scum on it has "motivated" me to be pro-active about protecting wires, lines etc. 2. Suspension - I'm a fat arse (well not all fat, but hey gotta have some meat on you when you hit the deck...) - 120kg (I think about 240lbs). I've never been anywhere at all happy with the suspension set up - am I just to goddamn heavy for the OEM stuff or can it be sorted with some good tweaking? 3. Replacement tail sections. Basically what is the best way of going about a hillbilly conversion? I've seen images of the slimmer M2 tailends etc, but really I want a short 1 seater with an eliminated fender. Looking at Bomber's Buell, I was thinking I could just do the seat straight to the subframe with no cutting, but I'm still not decided. Would it be reasonably safe to cut it short and re-weld in some bracing etc (or cut out a section and re-weld the end back on)? The welding would be done by a friend who does aircraft welding for a living so I'm confident on his skills, but I don't want to drastically change the way my bike handles for the worse. Adding onto this would the Banke Fender Elimination kits work ok without any of the tail section fairing , and / or with a modified sub frame etc? I can't find any good pics of it so I'm not sure how it is exactly built. 4. Dash. I currently have the single speedo and I an unsure of how to modify these. I like the small simple dash with the small fairing, and I have decided that twin lamps like the XB's are not my thing. Can you get bolt in replacement lamps of a different style (sure I saw someone with a v-rod lamp somewhere), or is it not really worth the hassle/money to change this? Does anyone have some interesting tips/ideas as to how to modify the dash? I've seen some awesome streetfighter ones from Germany/Europe but I'm not sure that my customising skills could make a good looking minimal dash like those guys. 5. Forward Controls. I hate my mirrors. I don't like the fading plastic controls. Could someone point in the direction of pictures/info on replacement ones (I have seen the lane splitter type, not sure how they would look in real life). Please feel free to simply point me in the direction of other posts on this forum if I've missed it. I've had a look/search but a lot of the time I can't seem to find exactly what I'm after. On a side note where I live my "official" Buell dealer cost me a HUGE amount of cash after a service (major gearbox problems, didn't put the right jets back in, caught them doing burnouts on my bike, was dropped and the shifter/pegs/tank got slightly damaged, told me to f off etc etc) so I'm stuck with the awesome guys at my local bike wreckers (a lot of experience with performance/drag Harley's but never really dealt with Buell's before and not official dealers). Does anyone have some contacts in Australia or overseas that would ship parts to Australia? Things like getting Banke Fender eliminators, rear sets, minor mods etc? I can't seem to get to the American Sport Bike website, I'm assuming it's down or they have closed up shop? | ||
| Rex |
shock. I went to a works performance shock. I weigh 262 at the present and was up to 300 once. Put my recall shock on the s2. dash. buell made a tach kit for the m2. holds both the speedo and the tach. windscreen to match. look at ebay. rex  | ||
| Draklor |
Hi Rex, Thanks for the info - I'm tossing up whether to just grab the tacho kit, or just bite the bullet and fabricate something myself. I'll trawl ebay and see what I can find. I'll have a look around for a WP one. Cheers, Tim | ||
| Jackbequick |
Tim, I added the factory tach kit to my 2000 M2. It came with the dual mount and fit behind the stock fairing. It was easy to install as the wiring plugged into existing harness connectors and the tach signal from the ECM is already in the harness. That kit was about US$150 or so and well worth the money. Worked perfect and looked good too. Jack | ||
| Cyclonemick |
I contemplated putting on the tach kit on my M2 but all the miles I put on it I really don't need to SEE when to shift. Plus I think the single spedo adds character. I guess I just like to Kick it Old School. (no pun intended). | ||
| Rex |
Items done to my m2 -Powder coated engine cases, swing arm, front forks. -Works shock -Jagg oil cooler -Dual perimeter front brakes and wheel. -S3 tank -S3 Fairing and dash. -Different windscreen -Added Clock -New plug wires -X1 chin fairing. -Six speed tranny -S1 cams -Thunderstorm heads and pistons. -Mikuni carb -New aircleaner -Painted the original airbox to match the bike. -Powdercoated back wheel -Banke shifter and brake lever, and powder coated. -California smog off of the bike. -Corbin seat -S3 bars, powdercoated. -x1 blinkers. -Carbon fiber tank protector -Carbon fiber tank ring -American Sport Bike sliders. -steel braided brake lines for the front. -VAnce and Hines exhaust -ceramic coated header -New head and base gaskets. -umbrella valves drilled. -European gearing   | ||
| Jackbequick |
I thought having a tach more suited the character of the Buell. It just seemed like something that should have been there from the factory. Also, that Buell was my first experience with H-D V-twins. I only had a general idea as to where I was at in the RPM range unless I hit the rev limiter (a very rare occurrence for me) or the engine was obviously being lugged. But it pulled like a tractor from right above idle and my first "tach like thing" for downshifting was a vibration in the bars as the speed dropped. But having a tach was nice if you are the least bit curious about the details. After a couple of months with the tach I realized that I rarely ever wanted or used anything above 4,500 RPM and that 2,500 to 3,500 RPM was the "happy" area for around town riding. My personal preferences for the M2 would have had low gear just a little lower and spread the difference across the ratios if you insisted on being able to red line in top gear. If I had been going to keep the M2 forever, I probably would have played with the primary gearing, taking one tooth or so off the front sprocket. Jack | ||
| Ceejay |
The 97's and 98's M2 tail and seat will bolt directly up, but to get an S1 type single on you'll have to do some cutting/welding, which won't/shouldn't affect handling but will/should affect comfort. The 99-up M2's were the most comfy, save for the S2-3's-don't know as I've never ridden. S1 singles look tits but that seat doesn't offer much over a bicycle as far as comfort is concerned-unless you go with aftermarket which helps greatly from what I've gathered. So guess it depends on what your after in that regard cause as others have stated most anything can be done with a bit of time, creativity, and money.... | ||
| Draklor |
Wow, thanks for all the replies guys! I'm thinking I'll get the tacho kit, and see if I like it. I guess I could make some custom mounts etc so it doesn't look totally stock. Personally I don't need the tacho for shifting etc, but like Jackbequick said, it is something that feels like it should be there. Hmm the S1 seat looks awesome, never seen a S1 in real life before. I'm not too concerned about comfort, got plenty of personal padding plus it is no longer my daily rider. I'm glad to hear messing with the subframe a little won't damage the integrity - I'll either make up my own seat, or look at the S1 swap if I feel lazy.  That is sort of the look I'm going for, bare bones dash, short seat etc. Thanks again for the help. Cheers, Tim | ||
| Boxxer3 |
 Here is a picture of my 99 m2 These are great bike to customise Ive cut and rewelded the back subframe, and made a seat. | ||
| Jayvee |
Hey Rex, no steel braided line for the back, what's the deal? Just kidding that's an awesome bike. But what do you mean by "european gearing" do you mean pulleys? I would love to do the six-speed on mine too, from what I read here, it accomplishes about the same thing JackbeQuick was saying. i.e. lowering low, but gives a higher high. (Just what I always needed!) | ||
| Draklor |
Wow, nice bike Boxxer3. Love the polished swingarm/pulley =) As for "european gearing" I believe they were sold with slightly different sized pulleys/gears to pass emissions test in certain countries, I don't know any specifics unfortunately. | ||
| Rex |
went with different pulleys. lower rpm at higher speeds. along with the six speed, you really cannot use sixth till 70 or so. rex |
