| Author | Message | ||
     Sheridan_bueller |
2140 miles, middle of the night, leaving a stop at an intersection, didn't make it across the centerline. In fact, didn't have the clutch completely engaged. Walked the bike 5 miles before Wifey rescued me at 4:30AM. (reminds me of that commercial... 'and daddy just had to have a bike...') One dealer says 'bring it in we'll warranty it.' Another dealer says 'Not a warranty item but we have one in stock...' So, at 2140 quite easy miles, which dealer is telling it true??? I quite understand the belt not being a warranty item normally but with so few miles, I feel there should be some sort of remedy. Jebus, even my '03 XB9S got to 10K before I worried. And most of us know the story with 'those' belts. JJ (Message edited by Sheridan_Bueller on March 11, 2008) | ||
| Krassh |
It is a warranty item. | ||
| Bueller_bjorn |
do you have your belts guards in place? just a question b/c i had to remove mine b/c both upper and lower were rubbing pretty bad on my belt and showed wear on the edge after just 200 miles on it. so riped those babies off a week ago but haven't been able to ride it due to weather. when i bring my bike in i am going to complain and maybe get a new belt out of this. | ||
| No_rice |
just what i need, 2 bikes that snap belts... but on that note, are you sure nothing got lodged in the belt? rock or such? | ||
| Olinxb12r |
I wondered if the belts would be a problem on the 1125. I have broken 2 belts on my 12R. The original 04 belt lasted 7K, and my first 06 belt lasted 5K. The first one was replaced under full warranty, and the second they asked me to pay $50 and not come back.... | ||
| Spike |
Unless something has changed, belts are covered by the factory warranty as long as the OEM belt guards are in place. | ||
| Court |
JJ: Not enough facts but sounds like it sure warrants putting and ear to the wall of fact. Be certain to call BUELL CUSTOMER SERVICE. Be polite, courteous and honest (if you removed the belt guards or spent the last 3 days doing and enduro on gravel, let them know ) and ask their help. They ride and I'll bet they can fix you up pronto. Court | ||
| Dave_bogue |
Wow, this pretty much kills an 1125R purchase for me. One of the big attractions of the 1125 was a high performance V twin with a maintainence free drive train. I ride on Sunday mornings with other sportbikers, usually in the 200-300 mile range. Chains have worn, but never outright failed. I am not the greatest rider, so I have to ride hard to try to catch the fastest in our group. A belt failure would be devastating on a Sunday ride........perhaps a hundred miles from home. Perhaps Buell should consider a reliable chain drive for the Rotax engined 1125. Dave SV1000 ZX-10R | ||
| Doerman |
Buells have never stranded me with belt issues (knock on wood) including my 1125R with over 4K miles. My Duc's chain broke once though. (Message edited by doerman on March 11, 2008) | ||
| No_rice |
that might be a little bit of an over reaction(in my opinion anyway) one broken belt on the street wouldnt deter me from a purchase. there could be any number of reasons for it that have nothing to do with it being a bad design. there could always be more that we havent heard of, but this is the first one on here i know of anyway. | ||
| Jdugger |
> Wow, this pretty much kills an 1125R purchase for me. > One of the big attractions of the 1125 was a high performance V twin with a maintainence free drive train. My personal opinion is this is a big over-reaction. The belt drive system on my 1125r, and many others, is just fine. In fact, it has been fantastic so far. I love how there's no drive line lash, and no up-keep, either! The analog of judging the 1125r by this board being alike judging humanity by a doctor's office is soooo true. Is the 1125r a Honda? No... it's not that refined. But it's a damn good bike, and certainly every bit as reliable as any other "exotic" V-twin you might be considering. (Message edited by jdugger on March 11, 2008) | ||
| Clutchless |
belts snap, tires go flat, oil leaks out. just like pens miss-spell words. Take it in to your dealer that said they would fix it no questions asked, after your bikes warranty is up they might not be so nice. but still none the less, this shouldnt happen, those damn belts last for decades on sportys. | ||
| Blake |
"Chains have worn, but never outright failed." The Aprilia RSV1000 I passed and then helped push back to the pits after it suffered a broken chain would contradict that statement. Who's to say some jerk didn't slice the belt with a knife when it was parked? | ||
| Jos51700 |
Not buying a bike because of broken belt? Wow. That's pretty harsh, IMO. Belts do break. Don't forget that all you hear about are the ones that break. If everyone created a thread for belts that haven't broken yet (Me, and I ride like a friggin' idiot), would that change you're opinion? | ||
| Court |
Yeah .. I'd say that's an over reaction. Look . . . my wife bought a new Mercedes-Benz last year and the power steering pump went out at one week. Anyone want to summarily cast the net over MB? Years ago folks didn't know how to deal with unusual things so the House Joint Committee on National Nomenclature held a summit and developed the phrase "shit happens" to describe the events. Working on a similar project, to manage the reaction of Americans, were a group of the New Zealish who came up with a procedure to insure a uniform and effective reaction when these things occur. They were called the Help The Folks Understand committee and to this day the fruits of their research and hard work continues to be known as the HTFU Doctrine. I'd call BUELL CUSTOMER SERVICE. Be polite, be honest and be respectful. They are good people and their job is to facilitate your (quoting a HD VP) "uninterrupted ownership experience". Court P.S. - you might not want to toss my name around.  (Message edited by court on March 11, 2008) (Message edited by court on March 11, 2008) | ||
| Mcgiver |
Haven't broke the original belt on my '98 or my '05. I have broke chains in the past. I know they both can break, but on the street, I'll take a belt anytime thank you! Brian | ||
| Fulgur |
Sorry to sound like "a word to the wise" and stuff but no one has mentioned that if you have a belt (or a chain) snap then you should really check out the bearings at the front tensioner and back wheel. I wont even go into this story, just trust me. Not to also sound melodramatic but your life may depend on you (or your dealer) checking this. .....Fulgur. | ||
| Sheridan_bueller |
Here's the facts; 2140 miles on the bike. Winter time with lots of rain and, thru Jan., lots of sanded roads. All belt guards were in place until I took them off yesterday (after the original belt broke) anticipating putting a new belt on today, (isn't going to be here until tomorrow  ). After which, they will be replaced. I am a believer in guards. Checked the belt and sprockets each time I wash the bike. No indications of any problems. Sprockets without the belt have no indications of rocks or other noticeable damage. Belt has always tracked perfectly, no rubbing on guards or riding off of the rear sprocket. Broken belt, after inspecting for a possible cause of failure, shows cracks on the inside between almost every cog but no rock damage is evident. The cracks resemble weather checking on an old tire. The broken belt is supple as it should be, no indications of overheating or slippage. If I let the local dealer do the work they will warranty the belt, no problem. If I do it, I buy it. Again, no problem, that's what I'm going to do 'cause I can't be without my main transportation for a week or so it would take them to do it. If it's a warranty item if they do the work, why isn't it a warranty item if I do the work. I have the broken belt should they require to inspect it themselves. I know I've worked on bikes longer than the Buell techs there, they're almost half my age. (not whining, just stating the facts) Thank Eric the 1125R isn't a Honda!! or any other make for that matter. In my experience, my Buells are at least as reliable as any of the other bikes I've had over the years. But now that I've taken the Buell test, I'm not in any way interested in any other make or model. I LOVE this bike, with or without a belt. The belt can be replaced. Either they do it or I do it. No big deal. The fact that the 1125R belt cost me 191.31 bucks plus 45 for overnighting it to me is a bit difficult to swallow but another beer will probably get it down. Having it warrantied would cost me 2 days pay, at over 200/day, it would take way more beer to keep that down. Sometimes warranties aren't the cheaper way to go. Never been off road and it's been more than 300 miles since the last gravel driveway it's been on. The belt didn't snap, it simply came apart. Aside from the kevlar strings hanging out about a half inch on each broken end, it's as clean as if it had been cut. I am going to call CS but want to give the local dealer a chance. It would be nice if I could get the belt warrantied and keep it for a spare since I've already bought a new belt. I don't mind working on it. the local dealer has only sold one 1125R and it wasn't to me. Anyway, I'm not trying to be a whiner, it's just at this time better for me to do my own work on my bike. Makes me feel like the dealer is calling me a liar not being willing to warranty something simple like a drive belt should I do the replacing. JJ | ||
| Brad1445 |
when the belt broke on my Ulysses the last thing on my mind was be polite. But yes Court, you are right the "golden rule" is best! | ||
| Spatten1 |
Try to get Buell CS to mail it to you under warranty to get you back on the road ASAP. Tell them you need the bike for transportation, not just recreation. If I'm Buell, I'd look at it this way: Want to turn the sportbike world off to the 1125, then get people talking about belt problems that may or may not really exist. Take care of any belt issues quickly and painlessly for marketing/PR reasons. | ||
| Dalton_gang |
Can you post a picture of the belt? Also how mean (aggressive)are you to the drive train? | ||
| Reepicheep |
I have 18k on chain drive bikes, and had to replace one chain due to wear ($60 for a cheap one) and one due to total failure ($50 for a cheap one). Both times I should have replaced the sprockets, but didn't. My current chain drive bike has significant swingarm chewage from a previous owner and an obvous chain failure, and this is a bike with 9k miles on it. I have 50k miles on belt drive buells, and have had zero failures and zero maintenance. I bought a "I want chain drive" take off 05 belt for $50 here on badweb to hang on the garage wall for the wife to grab and bring to me if necessary. Unknown handling history, so it may have a short life, but it will likely get me home. There was nice picture on advrider today in the faceplant section, where somebody talked about the crash they had because the chaing broke and locked up there rear wheel. The picture was of a track bike that shot a chain up and through the rear seat cowling. Ouch. | ||
| Blake |
My good buddy Ian has a 750SS Ducati that broke a chain. The chain trashed the left side engine case. Busted a big ol' hole in it. He had to purchase a new engine case to repair it. He went ahead and bought a complete engine instead. You wanna complain about a broken belt? | ||
| Wolf102 |
i had my rear tire lock up on me on my first bike because something got caught in the chain. i would rather have a belt break than a rear tire lock up because of something getting caught in a stupid chain. | ||
| Ccryder |
Back in the 70's I had my 750 Ducati chuck a brand new Reynolds chain and lock up the back wheel for about 5-8 seconds doing 65 or 70mph. Considering it was in rush hour traffic in STL I still feel that pucker!!! I swore off chains until I began my addiction to Buells. FWIW, my ST1300 and V50 II both have a nice drive shaft. Yeah belts can break but, usually don't do any more damage to the M/C. Later Neil S. | ||
| Alans |
JJ, have you or the dealer spoken with anyone at the factory, regarding the failed belt? I can see the dealer treating a 'broken belt' like a routine thing. That would probably be their approach, in the absence of an overt impetus to treat it otherwise. But I would think with it being a newly released bike design, the factory would take a keen interest in any outright failure related to the bike. Especially so, at this early stage of its release. If it were me, I'd contact Buell CS and discuss the issue. I'll bet they'd be interested in seeing that belt...(I would sure hope so!) | ||
| Sheridan_bueller |
I'll try to keep this straight... First thing I checked was the broken belt for signs of physical damage that would have caused failure. Nothing visual is apparent. Checked the sprockets for the same. No visible damage. Checked the belt tensioner, shiny and bearings are perfect. Checked the rear wheel bearings, excellent. Checked the swing arm bearings, as they should be. The Gates belt on my 03 XB9 (remember those?) literally ripped apart, like a damaged belt should look when it fails due to damage. The bike hasn't seen red line yet. Break in was by the book aside from the 3 oil/filter changes during that time. Due to the weather since I've owned it, I have been taking it quite easy. I believe I've been over 7500RPMs on only one ride 2 weeks ago when it was sunny. I haven't called CS yet due to really wanting the local dealer to have a chance at this. They haven't had any opportunities to work on one yet so Alans is thinking like I am so far as to them treating it like a routine broken belt issue. I have also had to replace cases when chains broke and piled up on the sprocket. The belt is the best thing ever, it just lays down on the road without even making any noise let alone hurt or scratch anything. Dalton, I am trying to figure out how to post pics. Not to this post as much as onto my computer from the camera. Wifey usually takes care of such things. I am always polite to the dealers, they have to order parts for me. This is new to them as well. I'll most likely call Customer Service tomorrow. I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks Fellows, JJ | ||
| Zac4mac |
Hey Johnny - I already replaced my original belt too. It was my own FU tho, not BMC's. The belt is still intact, but thinner, after the "muffler bolt" that goes thru the idler backed out and locked the idler for about 8 miles. I didn't use Loctite, won't make that mistake again. At first it looked like warranty, but I realized it was my bust and let them off the hook. I was also told "all warranty repairs are done here", but since mine wasn't warranty, I got to take the belt and do it myself. I wonder what happened... Zack | ||
| Jos51700 |
The fact that there is no evidence of damage should be even more of a reason to send it through warranty. The others are right, BMC will probably want it back, and through the dealership is how that typically happens. I know it's frustrating to wait on the belt to be installed, especially lining up transport to the shop and all that, but if there is a problem with the belt itself, it would benefit everyone to have it go through the warranty channels. If you have the belt in your hands, the dealerships should be able to do it while you wait. I mean, jeez, how long does it take? Are they really that slow? | ||
| Court |
CALL BUELL CUSTOMER SERVICE. It is not Buell Customer Service against your dealer it is Buell Customer Service WITH your dealer. They have the resources, knowledge and experience to have you back on the road by tomorrow. There is no need to hold "court" here and try to guess and what happened. Regardless of the root cause it is an unusual and unexpected premature failure. They will work WITH your dealer, will likely overnight a belt today and it COULD be in Arizona tomorrow. Be polite, respectful and honest and have all the information when you call. They'll be waiting for your call. Court |
