| Author | Message | ||
     80rs427 |
I was so impressed with how Frank's white lightning project turned out, that I picked up a '98wl of my own to work on. It has a bit of damage, and needs a white front fender, white flyscreen & mounting tabs, tach & cup, and gauge housing. It also has a bubble in the paint on the tank, and a letter "l" is missing. Does anybody have a part or two it needs in a box in the attic and might part with them to get it back on the road? I'd appreciate your help.......   | ||
| Ratbuell |
Might have a line on a dashboard and flyscreen, I'll keep you posted. Not mine, but I seem to recall where some are living  Love the nuke blue frame. My white frame looks great...when it's clean. Those nooks n crannies get dark and dirty *quick*, lol. If you want a twintail setup, I have one brand new in the box that I'll never use, so I might as well sell it to someone who will. Ice White Pearl, tail section, seat, light bracket and hardware...I just have two other Buells with passenger seats and would rather keep my S1W as a solo bike  For the tank bubbles...you're just gonna have to get it resealed and repainted. Mine got leprosy a couple years ago, I lucked out and found one of the "goodwill" tanks that'd never been used and bought that. My original is going to get refinished locally when the budget decides to cooperate, lol. THANK YOU for saving another one - especially a "needs work" one - from the "chopper" fate! | ||
| F_skinner |
John, what happened to the front end? Did the seller give you any details? Check the tubes to make sure they are straight and the front rim. It is a good idea to go ahead and do the front tubes and all the isolators if you do not know the history of the last time they were replaced. If the dude was a wheelie king then they will most likely need to be replaced. +1 on what Ratbuell said. Thanks for saving another one. About the time I got mine a dude in Denver was selling some parts off of a 98 S1W that I needed. When I contacted him he was building a chopper. I offered to by the complete bike minus motor and front end but he wanted to sell the parts individually so he could make more money. That "Chopper Project" is for sale now and the parts to the S1W are scattered. I guess he figured out it was a lot harder to build a chopper than what he sees on TV and another S1W was killed in the process. When I was selling mine I had an interesting encounter with a punk that wanted mine as a parts bike for a chopper. I guess he thought it was ok to tell me that because I have a chopper frame in the garage. I ended up throwing him out. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress. Frank | ||
| 80rs427 |
Joe - I would appreciate it if you would check on the flyscreen & dash. Frank is also digging through some of his parts and he thinks he might have a dash. I always liked the white/white combination and REALLY liked the molten orange/nuclear blue, but when this bike came up I thought the white/blue was very nice. I just got it yesterday and I won't have it home to work on until the week of Thanksgiving. Right now I'm intending to keep the single setup, but I'll send you a PM and we can visit about the twin setup. Thanks for the advise, the offer to help, and the kind words. | ||
| 80rs427 |
Frank, the PO was a very straight up guy, middle aged and gave me lots of history on the bike. I think he was happy it was going to be put back to original rather than hacked up. The story on the front end was that he was riding some twisty roads following some friends. He got in over his head and put the bike into a plowed farm field, so it had a fairly soft landing. It broke the flyscreen and twisted the brackets, broke the front fender, broke the dash housing and crushed the tach. He clipped the tach wires and threw the stuff away. The rest of the bike doesn't seem to have had any damage from it, but you are right....it's probably a good idea to check the forks and rim for damage. | ||
| Bartimus |
If Frank doesn't dig up a dash, I think I have one also, that you can have... | ||
| Jstfrfun |
I'm kind of partial to eliminating the"american motorcycles" lettering on the fuel cell. It lets the BUELL stand alone. Besides the sticker is expensive. something to think about When I started my Redneck project, the bike I had in mind was a used up track bike,completely naked. This is NOT a "part out" candidate, and it'll be sweet when it's done I'm sure,good luck and godspeed! | ||
| 80rs427 |
Bart, thanks for the offer, but I'm pretty sure Frank has a dash for me. Dave, I'll think about loosing the "american motorcycles" lettering, but I must admit that I rather like it. I lean toward keeping the bike mostly stock. I think I'll change the air cleaner and muffler, I'll probably go to a Wileyco muffler and a forcewinder. I also intend to go to a hugger rear fender, a small aluminum license bracket below the tail light, and return to stock mirrors. The tank protector has to go too. I'll put the CF fender away in a box, and I'm going to try and pick up a stock airbox, seat, and SS muffler for it. Thanks guys, for your help and encouragement. | ||
| F_skinner |
John, I was thinking last night (as I am trying to install cabinets in the garage) that if you do a tear down make sure you use a marker and plenty of plastic baggies. Put the parts in the baggies and label them for what they went to. It is also a good idea to take pictures to see how things went together. I use a cheap digital camera that I keep in the garage just for this purpose. I also use those plastic boxes to box up the big parts and to put all the baggies in. I will help during the rebuild. Everything comes apart a lot easier than it goes together. I have three more cabinets to make and install and after that I should have a good idea of what I have. I did see the dash and tach last night so when I get settled I will send it. I will be on mid shift for the next week and a half so it will be sometime after that.... Frank | ||
| Jstfrfun |
You'r right, that IS probably the ugliest rear fender I've ever seen. What DO they call that, a beaver-tail or a platypus beak? I've kept my X1 as close to stock as possible with mild improvements like painting the hugger, Al's foot controls, trimming the belt guard back, throttle lock cruise controll, Supertrapp exhaust system and a couple of internal goodies. Your bikes body style is IMO the coolest, and clearing the tank cover off will show off more of it...good call, more white contrasting the blue is good. My chopper project is all white with antifreeze green graphics, I like the brightness of the "mostly white" with color flavor. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The rear fender may be a little ungainly, but it definitely keeps you from getting "puddle stripe" up your back if there's anything on the road. The tail section of the solo S1 and S1W puts the taillight less than three or four inches behind the rear axle - TONS of stuff gets tossed up with a shorter hugger (ask me how I know - got a stock fender I'm rehabbing and getting ready to put on, so stuff stops thunking off the back of my helmet LOL). | ||
| 80rs427 |
I'm sure the original CF rear fender does a much better job for its intended purpose than the shorter hugger, but I have a hard time warming up to the styling. I prefer my bikes to be near-stock, so I limit my mods to those that can be reversed, and I try to keep the stock parts around. A question for you guys.....I was thinking about making the S1 stock. I can see retaining the rear fender, plus putting the breadbox and tractor muffler back on it. The trouble is, this bike has had lots of recalls/updates done, including front rotor, fuel tank, fuel tank vent, front isolator mount, sidestand switch, negative battery cable, rear shock, exhaust mount, battery mount, swingarm, and fuel tank retainer. Is stock (pre-recall/update) or stock (after recalls/updates) any better? Are both conditions considered factory original? I'm thinking for this bike, stock with recalls and minor (bolt on) accessories would be the way to go. I can't see making an attempt to revert to a pre-recall condition to consider it "original." If I came across a pre-recall condition, ultra clean bike, I wouldn't seek out the recall parts. Has anybody found such a bike, or put one back to purely original? | ||
| Jstfrfun |
Recalls are the engineers way of saying "oops I'll fix MY errors", albeit stock from the manufacturers point of view. Unchanged from the Designers point of view. Pre-recall or unimproved is retaining unsafe or unreliable parts or systems, not modifying from original design. | ||
| F_skinner |
John, pm me your address so I can get that Tach and dash to you.... I found it when cleaning out the garage and building cabinets. I still have a log way to go but half of the garage is done. I found some Buell blue raised letters that you were looking for but they are scratched up bad and have some type of glue on them so I will glue them to one of the cabinets. No way would I put them on a tank... As far as making a bike original I guess it depends on what you are going to do with it. If you are going to ride it and depend on it as transportation then make it as functional as you can. You can still retain the stock look. I do like stock or close to stock Buells but I also like customs. I went through this when I got my S1W. My original intent was to put it back to stock but I quickly decided since I wanted to ride it hard and fast that I would make it functional. I never liked that rear fender although I had it on my 97 S1 for 10 years before I replaced it. I hate those mickey mouse mirrors as well. Bottom line is its your bike. The S1W is not a collector bike but that is not to say it will not be in the future. Regardless, it is a cool bike. | ||
| Preybird1 |
I have a stock white fender off my 01 x1w let me know if you still need it, I finally got my carbon one on! | ||
| Littlebuggles |
John, Good plan to stick with the recall updated parts, most if not all of those are based on improved safety. Good looking bike. One of my favorite paint schemes ever, there are even some of us, however small a group, that like that stock fender (I like the way it looks, and it would be nice to keep the mud off). Enjoy your project! | ||
| 80rs427 |
Frank, I sent an email with my address. Any chance you want to come to Iowa and clean another couple garages?? Russ, I'd love to have your X1W front fender. I don't know if the colors are the same between the two, but I could at least get the broken fender off. I sent you a PM. | ||
| Court |
I'd absolutely agree. If you are working toward collectible, simply document all the recalls and archive the recall documents in order with your files. I'd also, if I were working toward collectible, include the correspondence (all the letters to and from the manufacturer and the feds are there) that preceded the recall with NHTSA. | ||
| Kuuud |
John, Congrats on the new bike. My S1W is triple white, although I always LOVED the nuke blue frame look. I too limit myself to the 'easily reversed' mods. I was lucky enough to find a 2-owner bike a few years ago. It was located a the original dealer (Schaeffer's HD) who had all the maintenance records. I feel it's already a collectors bike, and will keep it forever! Bret | ||
| 80rs427 |
Bret, that's quite a lineup in your profile, you've got good taste. Your S1W looks very nice. The originality thought only came up because I can see varying degrees of originality in these tube frame bikes, from "out-the-factory-door true original" to "original with factory recalls" to "original with factory recalls and updates" to "original with factory recalls and updates plus reversible mods." Court, I appreciate your input regarding the recalls. The PO gave me a file with maintenance receipts from St.Paul H-D starting in 2002. The recall work is documented, but I'll look around for additional information. I'm not shooting for a collector bike status, but I do think that an S1W is special, even more so than a standard S1. I was just curious what level is most desirable to the BWB community? As an example, if I found a 1,000 mile S1 or S1W in a lady's garage for sale, I think I'd be more excited to find an "out-the-door condition" bike than an "original with updates" bike. | ||
| Jstfrfun |
Well John If you did find an out the door O/E, you'd just end up having to do at least some of the recalls yourself...Unless of course you want to deal with the problems they posed. Or just drain, clean and relegate it to a giant Zip-Lock bag. But what fun is that? you're supposed to ride-em! You John have a very enviable collection yourself, it's a beautiful stable. | ||
| Court |
The S1 and S1W, almost more so than Miguel Galuzzi with his timeless Monster design, was the embodiment of "minimalist". The S1 Lightning and S1W White Lightning were made for nothing but "urban assault" riding. They never pretended to be anything else . . . just motor, frame, bars to steer with and tires to tie it to earth. The 1996, like the good old Mustang that was killed 9 times at Ford and a group had to sneak away off site and morph the 1963 Falcon and force it down some folks' throat, was one of those vehicles that it it had spark, gas and compression . . . it ran. I confess, as I cruise along with 37 digital inputs "voting" to decide what the correct thing to do in that given nanosecond is, that there are days I miss running out of gas on a Sportster . . . . tipping it to the left, counting to 30 and making the 5 mile sprint to the gas pump. Alas . . . I'm glad, looking back, that I saved every shred of paperwork, notes from Erik, files, printed out all the on-line CompuServe forums, got copies of all the catalogs and documents and stashed them. The S1 will join the S2 as bikes that shaped the sport. | ||
| F_skinner |
John, I hope to get your package in the mail today now that I am off of the mid shift. If they give me an estimated delivery time I will let you know. Frank | ||
| F_skinner |
John. your tach and dash got mailed out yesterday. Lynn did not get a delivery date but you should see it soon. I look forward to seeing pics of your rebuild. Frank | ||
| Jos51700 |
Has anybody found such a bike, or put one back to purely original? Done both. My S1W has had no recalls done, and I am locating (Or, trying to, people don't really get back to me much) pre-recall parts for another. | ||
| 80rs427 |
Frank, as soon as I get the beast home and can do some tinkering, I'll add a few more pictures. So Jos, I for one would love to see a few pictures of your virgin S1. Have you been able to run it with an original tank with original decals and no bubbles? How have you been able to deal with the unique battery...I thought they weren't available anymore. Have you stayed with the original tires (were they 204's)? I'm not going there with this bike, but I think it is neat that you have worked to preserve an S1 in "that" condition. | ||
| Jos51700 |
No original tires, although I have 2 used front D204's, and I used to know of a new one, I've been trying like hell to find a new rear D204. What sucks is, I know where a ton of the original recall stuff and OE parts are: In the Springfield MO dump, where I sent them when I replaced them years ago.  My tank had one very small bubble in it when I last looked. There may be more now. I'm waiting for Court to get back to me on that one. The battery update kit doesn't make a permanent mod, so I did it. Ironically, those batteries came from a battery plant in my hometown. When I was in college (1996-7), I took a DC Circuit analysis course, and can you guess what powered all those DC circuits? They were a pallet of "outdated" batteries from Hawker, donated to the school. I didn't recognize them then.... I've updated mine enough to ride it and blow the cobwebs out (swingarm and shock), but not enough to make it permanent. None of the recalls are "officially" performed, and nor will they ever be as long I own it (till I die). In fact, just last night I found the two original dealers that had my bike, and it's ship date and birthday. Neat stuff! I'm still looking for ANY original S1/S1W photos, specifically pre-recall ones. I'd really like to know what brand/size/style zip tie came on the fuel tankvent hose before the recall was performed, and also I need photos of the original pre-recall from motor mount bracket. And, I'm ALWAYS looking for pre-recall parts if anyone wants to sell them. | ||
| Preybird1 |
I really like the 98 tank style i may consider getting one just because i like it so much!! Hey john i got your fender all boxed up but i got no money to ship it until Tuesday when i get paid. Hope you don't mind pm me if you want. | ||
| F_skinner |
John, a little thread hijack. My blue dash and gas cap ring... Frank  | ||
| 80rs427 |
Frank, I like your use of blue on various parts of the bike. Did you powder coat or use paint? I finally got the S1 home today (thanks Joe) and had a chance to look it over a bit closer.  \ It definitely needs a new gasket someplace. I assume it's the primary cover, but it could be leaking down from the rear base gasket (I hope not).  \ The tank has some serious bubbling on the right side under the letters, and when I removed the tank protector, I found some marks in the rear of the tank just above the front of the seat. I'll try to get a picture of them. It looks like the tank is going to need repainted. Do the plastic tanks need to be sealed on the inside to prevent this from returning? The handlebar controls just clear the tank at left lock, but they touch the tank about where the "L" is missing when turned to the right. Do you guys have much clearance both left and right? I guess my bars could be tweaked a bit.  \ It has the long recall shock, and it has a dark ring around the rear portion. It most likely is leaking oil, but it could be coming down from an oil line above it.  \ The rear tire is getting pretty low on tread, and it has a slow leak. I'll probably try to find where it's leaking and get it stopped, but I'd like to pick up a set of Pirelli tires if they run the 2-for-1 promotion again. I've got Frank's dash and tach that I need to get installed, and a couple of original mirrors from Eric. Russ has a front fender on the way, and Joe is going to do some scrounging for a flyscreen. Thanks again for your help guys. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it, and I'm looking forward to working on it. |
