| Author | Message | ||
     Matchanu |
The tires on my Uly were in bad need of a change, so I figured I'd change out the belt and bearings at the same time. Issue number 1. The jack point on this bike is just plain stupid. A round surface to put the jack to lift the bike is assinine. A couple of flat tabs welded on the muffler would have been easy and would not have taken away from the looks at all. It's something I'll be doing myself pretty soon. Issue number 2. Changing the belt is FAR more involved than it should be. Good God, you have to remove so much crap, I'd hate to have to do this on the side of the road somewhere. Issue number 3. Taking the front tire off should be pretty easy, but no, you still have to remove part of the front fender and chin fairing. A lot of un-nessesary work. For that matter, the oil filter should have a better access port so you don't have to remove the chin fairing. On the upside, bearings looked good. The factory grease is complete crap, some blue chunky stuff that feels a bit like old jello. I cleaned them out and packed in some decent molly grease, no need to change them. Belt was fine as well, but I wanted to have a spare just in case, better to keep the old one since it is quite a bit looser. New belt feels much stiffer, almost plastic like coating, kinda weird, much tighter, easier than I thought to get it on, (besides having to dissassemble the swing arm/foot peg bracket.). Unfortunatly, I went with the Shinko 009 Raven tires. Feels much different than the Scorpiens for cornering, rolls and locks is the best way to describe it. Not bad, but I'll have to get used to it. The unfortunate part is now it gets a random "wiggle" in the bars around 80mph, like riding on a graded highway. Could have been the wind, or new tires setting in, so I'll have to keep tabs n that. Overall I still love my Uly, but there are some really poor design flaws on this bike. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
+1 to greasing your bearings. Do it once per year and they will last unless you like to power wash or ford streams. | ||
| Invisible_monster |
1) I agree with you on the rounded surface of the muffler. Makes it interesting lifting it up with my jack until I get a tie down or two on it! 2) You don't have to take everything off that the manual says you have to remove to get the belt on/off. There are a couple of threads here on it. Knock wood, I hope I never have to change it on the side of the road! Much more pleasant changing it in my garage with a beer in my hand. 3) I only remove the fender to get my front wheel off. Leave the chin fairing on. Takes a little practice but I can do it pretty quickly after a few times now. | ||
| Gamdh |
You should check this thread.. it has a template to create 2 wooden cradles for the jack that will hold the muffler nicely. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/159410.html | ||
| Froggy |
If you are jacking it up by the muffler, you got the wrong jack. If you have a $1200 aluminum exhaust, you can't use the muffler jack anyway. The rear grab rails, swingarm, fork tubes, steering neck, and frame all make great lifting points. The belt is easy to change, the SM asks you to remove more crap than you need. I can't recall how the stock fender affects removing the front wheel, but it shouldn't need to be removed. The oil filter can be accessed with only removing the 3 right most screws on the chin fairing. Or get lazy like me and totally leave it off.  Sorry to hear about the tires, now you know why they are called Shitkos  | ||
| Etennuly |
You have never worked on a Honda ST or GW or a lot of BMW models, if so you would have been smiling about how much easier it is to access these things on the Buell.  | ||
| Matchanu |
For the front tire to come off, it had to come up first to clear the caliper, unless to want to remove the caliper. My point about the jacking point for the bike is it's supposed to be the muffler. 4 tabs welded on the muffler so it can stand on the lift without tipping over would have seemed a logical conclusion. It's just a very poor design. Certainly you can "make your own jack stand" or whatever, but it's un-nessesary work. Both wheels off maintenece gets pretty exciting otherwise. The Shinko have good reviews by other Uly owners, thought I'd give them a shot. They are brand new so I'll put a few miles on them before I post a decent review myself. I wish the D616's had better reviews, I like the way they look. Still, this bike is far and away easier to work on than a 74 Honda CB750 or a KLR650. I think if the engineers on this bike had just worked a bit more on this bike, it would have been just about perfect. The Uly looks great with the Drummer exhaust and no chin guard, but looks like ass with the stock muffler and no chin guard. I'm not going to shell out the cash for a Drummer, nor do I like how loud they are. I may have to build my own set up. } | ||
| Tootal |
Matchanu, You just have to remove the right side of the fender mount. (Four screws) With the wheel turned to the left you jack the bike up. As it goes up just roll the wheel toward the bike until your caliper clears then rotate the caliper to the side and roll your wheel forward. Basically you have four torx screws, two clamp screws and the axle. | ||
| Yamafreak |
Issue number 3. Taking the front tire off should be pretty easy, but no, you still have to remove part of the front fender and chin fairing. A lot of un-nessesary work. NONE Issue...Jack up the front pull axle remove wheel..Did it last night | ||
| Matchanu |
I'll try that next time when I have to take off the front wheel, hopefully not for a long time. Shinkos felt much better this morning, still a bit slick because they are new, but felt road response is really good. Still a little wobble but much better than the first day, I guess they are still setting in a bit. With the tighter belt I can definatly feel more vibration from the engine when under power, not bad a bad thing, just different. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Bike on kickstand. Jack under muffler, at rear for rear tire. Jack up slowly so your three contact points change from front tire / kickstand / rear tire, to front tire / kickstand / jack. Remove wheel. Replace tire. Reinstall wheel. For the front wheel, move the jack to the front muffler point. Jack until the bike is sitting on the rear wheel, kickstand, and jack. For the belt - pull the front pulley cover and any belt guards that are in the way. Pull the swingarm bridge. Pull the rear axle out enough so the taper part lets the wheel slide forward. Remove belt. Install new. | ||
| Dr_greg |
+1 on the template. Best woodworking project ever. I use tie-downs from my garage door supports down to the bars to stabilize the bike left/right. Works great. --Doc |
