| Author | Message | ||
     Floresa66 |
Wow. After reading a number of posts, I am surprised to see a number of Buell motorcycled with engine replacement because catastrophic damage.Is it their reliability that poor or it is only my imagination? I just bought one and now I am tempted to sell it right away... | ||
| Oldog |
The oldest of the tubeframe bikes with standard sportster engines do seem to exibit that trait BUT the newer buells do not, Like any thing mechanical for the most part they will remain reliable in part depending on the care that they recieve. That being said they are not as a rule GTO but, several riders on this board have over 100k on their tube frame sleds, more are approaching that mark. Mine has over 30K miles I have had to push it home once due to a broken belt [wheel standing attempt] If you are concerned see the KV for info on common problems | ||
| Eboos |
Natexlh has over 75,000 miles on his 99 X1, and these aren't easy miles. Don't sweat it. I race mine and so far the bike has proven pretty bullet proof. The XB series are night and day ahead of the tubers in the terms of reliability. The only issue that the 03's have had are with the belt which was upgraded the following year. You can switch to the 04 and up drive pulleys and the 06 and up belt if this is a concern. The total cost isn't much more then $300. | ||
| Swampy |
What are you asking for your unreliable bike? | ||
| Krassh |
It is your imagination. | ||
| Interex2050 |
I had my engine go on my XB12R, But as Oldog said, it boils down to the conditions I just had the wrong bike in the wrong climate and with the wrong driving conditions... Very slow moving traffic (stop and go) bundled with high ambient temperatures do not make that air-cooled engine happy... After two years of severe pinging (I would think so at least), the engine gave way... In fact I am surprised it lasted so long, so if anything these suckers should be bullet proof under "happy" conditions. With Buell you are not only getting a fantastic machine which will be able to make your heart race and leave a grin on your face, but you become part of the "family". And Buell takes care of family, and stand by their product. Hence that is why I bought an 1125R without ever seeing/hearing/riding one, and let me tell you they will not disappoint. | ||
| Bcordb3 |
It is your imagination. I'll second that motion. I've been lurking around this site for years and haven't read or heard of to many engine failures due to manufacturing flaws. | ||
| Swampy |
What about design problems like oil pump drive gears? | ||
| Aeholton |
What are you asking for your unreliable bike? Funniest thing I've read today!  | ||
| Blake |
Never mind. (Message edited by blake on December 17, 2007) | ||
| Oldog |
Perhaps some "self - examination" is in order ? | ||
| Swordsman |
Didn't they fix the oil gears years ago? | ||
| Bartimus |
Yes they did upgrade the oil pump drive gear. I changed mine out on my '95 S2 around 120,000 miles, it's still going strong with 155,000 on the odometer. IMHO, the sportster motor is bullet proof, it takes a lot to destroy one. It's a very strong, reliable design that had been around for years. Granted, there is always a couple that slip through the cracks, after all, they ARE built by humans. And humans make mistakes... With 5 tubers, and 1 XB, ALL my Buells have been very reliable and dependable. The only problems my bikes have EVER had, were created by the shops working on them. Pick your shop wisely! | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Unreliable, someone lied to you. | ||
| Smoke |
only problem for me is high compression, advanced timing, lots of time near the rev limit=reduced rod bearing life. oh well-it is fun. working on another one. tim | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
"Natexlh has over 75,000 miles on his 99 X1" Actually it's a 2000 and it has a little over 81,000 on it now. Stock top end too. If this house deal of mine goes as planned, I will have a new Uly in my garage next to it in spring. | ||
| Aldaytona |
I wish everything I bought had Buell reliability....................................... .................................................. ............................. Motorcycles are my sole transportation, I trust Buell/Harley-Davidson to get me there, and back. | ||
| G234146 |
As a fellow A. Flores I can guarantee that your Buell is a great buy.  | ||
| T9r |
Oil pump drive gear helped my 2003 XB9 engine to fail. Preventative maintenance would be to upgrade the gear to the brass one. This upgrade is not the simplest, requiring engine rotation. So how many drive gears fail per every 100 Buell engines, my guess would be in the single digits % wise. I had around 10k miles on the bike. The bike was not abused either, so it bothered me a great deal that it failed. Past that reliability of these bikes has kept me happy enough to buy other Buells. Maintenance is easy on these bikes too and relatively low. | ||
| Black_sunshine |
T9r......I'm pretty sure that is exactly what happened to mine. '03 XB9 15K miles sort of abused but kept in tip top shape with all services. Left a bad taste in my mouth. Felt like it shouldn't of happened. It gave me no warning while riding about 80mph and the engine locked up. R.I.P  | ||
| New12r |
Black_Sunshine, Your bike was pissed because you cleaned it too much! |
