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Crusty
| | Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 - 09:19 pm: | 
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Abe said that the problem was mainly water incursion caused by defective/damaged seals. Most of the bearings they inspected had seals that were damaged in installation. I'm a bit unclear if he meant when the bearings were installed in the wheel, or if they were damaged when the wheel was installed in the swingarm. At any rate, the new bearings have much better seals, and Abe seemed pretty positive that they will be the solution. |
Dbird29
| | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 12:34 am: |
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Jim's Uly didn't seem to have any problems when he stopped by in Utah!
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M_singer
| | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 08:29 pm: |
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FB wrote:
"Look at it this way:
Add up all the chains, sprockets, valve adjustments, coolant flushes, extra set of brakes for the second front rotor, as well as the price differential for the exchange rate. Assume there is nothing else that went wrong with your "other" bike (charging system, yosh box, etc.).
Subtract the price of belts, fans, stators, voltage regulators, batteries and bank angle sensors, and I'd bet you are far ahead of the game.
At 40,000 miles the belts and sprockets alone would be between $700 and $800 just for that alone (at one replacement per 10,000 miles). How much do valve adjustments cost at one per 10,000-15,000 miles? How much is a coolant flush once per year?"
Yeah Uly's only use one set of brake pads but in my experience they wear out that one set of pads about 4 times as fast as my Bandit went though a pair of pads. Lets not even mention the "wear item" warping rotors of the ZTL set up!
ZTL works well and is very trick but I think it is an expensive system to maintain compared to more conventional twin disk set ups.
When I traded my Bandit (a heavier and much more powerful bike then the Uly) it had nearly 29k mile on the original, cheap, stock, chain and sprockets. They had only minimal signs of wear. If I would have kept it long enough to need to replace the chain/sprockets I would have bought quality parts that would have out lasted the cheap OEM parts.
I'd say that the operation costs between chains and XB belt drives are about the same. Both will need replacement at some time and millage will vary.
Belts are more convenient and have less lash but are far more likely to leave you stranded far from home.
Go to any chain drive bike forum and see if you can find a "best way to store a spare chain" thread. You won't find one b/c a "sudden" chain failure on a well maintained bike is all but completely unheard of. Chains don't sound so inconvenient any more!
Checking the valves on my Bandit never cost me a cent b/c I did it myself. Unlike changing wheel bearing it doesn't require any parts or special tools.
I love my Uly for:
Comfort
handling
innovative features
luggage carrying capability
ease of maintenance
Rough road ability
So far my Uly is the most enjoyable bike that I have ever owned. That said when I see other owners post about the problems that they are having with low millage bikes it makes me question decision to by the Uly.
I know that all makes and models of motorcycle have their issues but what I am seeing reported on Badweb is leading me to believe that the Uly is probably the most likely Bike of this decade to leave its owner walking home.
I hope that Buell resolves the known walk home issues with the Uly b/c it is otherwise a truly awesome machine! If they don't, mine will be for sale when the warranty runs out. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 09:35 pm: |
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Let’s see, 6xxx Ulys built, (don’t have Fuell in front of me for the exact number), yet the number of people here that have had failures that left them stranded are by my estimate, 50.
50 is only 0.83% of 6000. Obviously not every Uly owner is here, so let’s multiply that by 4. Now you got 3.32% of Uly owners have been stranded. That number is a hell of a lot lower than the BMW 1200s with their final drive failures, and about the same if not lower than most other bikes that I can think of.
My point is, the internet makes things look worse than they are, because you only hear about problems. I don't go and post. "Hey everyone, today my Uly got me to work. I got up to 72MPH and enjoyed the nice breeze. Too bad this bike is so reliable, I love posting about rare events like belt failures or deer attacks." |
M_singer
| | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2008 - 09:57 pm: |
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Froggy look at it this way. You can go to other internet forums for bikes with WAY higher production numbers and way more forum members and not hear of people being stranded like this.
I very much doubt that 25% of all Uly owners are active Badweb members. Even if your numbers are in the ball park, 3.32% of owners being stranded by a bike that has only been available for 3 years is way too high!
When owners feel the need to travel with spare wheel bearings and belts there is a problem! |
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