| Author | Message | ||
     Mbsween |
Loki I'll be at the cleveland show, also trying to take in the faster movie (if its showing around cleveland anyways). I'll ping you offline with numbers and such Matt | ||
| Rex |
Maybe in 2005 we could plan a Buell Homecoming in Europe...England, or somewhere. Get all of us USA folks time to plan and save, and we could all come over and see you in Europe....Erik, Buell President,etc.......Just a thought...rex | ||
| Ccryder |
Loki: I'm ~100 miles west of Louisville, in Evansville. For 80 days we should be able to find some riding weather. Just drop me aline. Neil S. | ||
| Mdl76 |
hello all... im new to the site, so be nice. got a question. i searched the site but found nothing. I want to polish all of my engine like the sides and heads come from the factory. I have done this with auto throttle bodies. can this be done? it would be beautiful. yes... it would take time. | ||
| Loki |
Bomber, will keep it in mind, can you pop me some info. the canundrum is which show to do..... both are 350 mile drive. Mb, pop me the info, if it is the Cleveland show I will be driving up friday after work. plant my carcass for the night and spend sat at the show. Cc, One good reason to own a trailer.....it comes equipped with a S1. Not to bad of an option when looking at trailers. Although it does add some to the cost | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Loki you have to love the rolling garage  | ||
| Ara |
Mdl76: We're nice, we're nice. What year/model of Buell do you have? Does it have bare alloy engine cases or did it come from the factory with a blacked out engine? If it has bare alloy cases the only thing I've ever used is Semichrome polish. Lots of elbow grease, but you can make the job quite a bit easier if you use a moto tool (Dremel) with a variable speed and small polishing wheels. Regardless of your method, it'll take multiple passes to obtain mirror-like results. Anybody else use something different than Semichrome? I went to the International Motorcycle Show in Atlanta last year and there must have been a half-dozen booths demonstrating the "best" alloy polishing compound. | ||
| Bomber |
Loki -- yer comcast account's got mail, sir ARA/Mdl . . . Semichrome is good if the surface is already pretty smooth, otherwise it's like sanding a fresh-cut log with 2400 grit wet and dry . . . .it'll do the job, but take much longer than necessary . . . .most of the stuff I've seen at the shows have been for smooth surfaces that only need a final polish . . . . if the surface is a little goobered, or painted or power-coated, starting with a grittier compound is what I'd do polishing is both an art and a science -- Caswell and Tarheel site both have a weath of data available, and good products .. . . so does eastwood | ||
| Mdl76 |
thanks ARA and Bomber. ARA, Its a 96 S1, it has the cast look to it. No black Paint. Yes, the semichore sounds good for the final polish if I understand that product correctly. But it does sound like the polishing can be done. I have a dremel with the right wheels. I thought about getting a bench mount polisher but I dont think it would be of much use with the motor. | ||
| Ara |
Mdl76, You're right, the bench mount polisher won't help you unless you remove the parts that you want to polish from the bike. A variable speed dremmel with a flex drive would be ideal. At 20,000, rpm a single-speed dremmel just flings off the polishing paste - you need to slow it down. A flex drive helps with the tight quarters on the right side of the engine under the exhaust tubes. Bomber, can you provide the web addresses for Casewell, Tarheel, and Eastwood? Always willing to learn... | ||
| Bomber |
Ara -- can't seem to put my fingers on Tarheel, but here's the others . . .. . http://eastwoodco.com/ http://caswellplating.com/ aerosol carb cleaner will take the powdercoating off the cases (don't ask me how I know, but it's why I'm bidding on a primary over on ebay) . . . that's likely what you've got on your S1, Mdl . . . don't try removing it with polishing (although it would work, over time) . . . also, be careful with the dremel . . .. aluminum is soft material, and it will be easy to polish dents in the parts, or polish the edge right off the casting . . .. . I think you'd be better off removing the parts, and polishing on a bench-mounted unit (although there are many who have done wonderful jobs with a drill or dremel) . . . .. . you'd have a great opportunity to chek on everyone inside the cases, and trim that cam cover down (ever notice how a simple update leads to weeks in the garage?) | ||
| Ccryder |
MDL76: You can get polishing wheels to fit your drill. If you are doing anything larger than 2-10 sq-in's, then a Dremel will take FOREVER! Somewhere I posted my whole polishing process, but I can't find it now (and I have searched BWB). RALL's 96' S1 has polished cases so I'll bet so does yours. Touching up can easily be done with FLitz, Simichrome or the like. One word of caution, Mother's Al polish is a lot more abrasive than most. I'll see if I can find a copy of my polishing act at home tonight. Time2Work Neil S. | ||
| Smoke |
don't know about the cam cover, but the primary is clear coated along with the rocker boxes on my 97s1. i sanded the primary smooth wit 600 grit and then polished with mothers. nice gleam, but many imperfections(pinholes) in the casting. requires occasional polishing to prevent corrosion starting.(white powdery stuff) will polish rocker boxes next time they are off. don't know when i'll take the cam cover off. tim ivanoff | ||
| Loki |
bomber, got the echo, thanks again. just need to make those tough choices.... all depends on the work schedule. Loki | ||
| Captainkirk |
Hey all, I've had good luck with plain old wet or dry sandpaper, start wet sanding with 320 and work down to 600 or so, finish up with Flitz. Haven't tried it on cylinders though. Looks great, and Flitz leaves an anti-oxidant so you only have to touch it up maybe once or twice a year.  | ||
| Ccryder |
Maybe there is a M/C God check it out: Spike TV To all Happy holidays and a great New Year. Neil S. | ||
| Bomber |
Loki understood, sir . . .. . know you're welcome | ||
| Court |
Gorgeous Night in New York City. . . .  | ||
| Rkc00 |
Court, Will you be going to the M.C. show in the city this weekend? I will be going on friday. | ||
| Ccryder |
Court: Nice pict, too bad it wasn't sunny like EVV was today. BTW: Anybody know the part number for the rear shock mount for an S2/S3 to use the shorter (newest) rear shock? TIA Neil S. Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night. | ||
| Tripper |
Neil: New Front Shock Mount - K0407.01A1 DaveT | ||
| Firemanjim |
Great link to polishing your aluminum bike parts. http://www.suzukihayabusa.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005389#000000 | ||
| Firemanjim |
Rear shock mount is swingarm,only the front is changed. | ||
| Sandblast |
There is a newbie question in the lubrication section if anybody is feeling patient tonight... myM2rocksmyM2rocksmyM2rocks | ||
| Sparky |
CCryder, Congrats on the pic of you & X3 Red Striper on the cover of Riderwearhouse's 2004 catalog. Happy New Year Badwebbers, Sparky | ||
| Bartimus |
FIREMANJIM, check your email, you have money waiting for ya... | ||
| Jim_witt |
Art, Just to let you know, I finally was able to get a hold of my cop buddy. After 2 years of trying, he finally sold the parkway blue S2T last month. If you bought DAve(s) S1W, you got a sweeet ride dude (wish I could of).   -JW:>  | ||
| Bartimus |
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !  Jim_Witt, I am in the process of getting the S1W, money in hand, waiting his reply. It is a beautiful bike, and will look good next to my S2. My S2 will be salvaged, and repaired. All is well in my little world. (finally) Thanks to all for your support!!! edited by bartimus on January 01, 2004 | ||
| Smoke |
HAPPY NEW YEAR from south Louisiana high 62 yesterday, 72 today YEEHA stay safe tim | ||
| Ferris |
from the Quick Board... ...BTW, happy f'n new year to you all. Maybe we'll get it right for you one of these days, but some days I doubt it. --Anonymous Anon, i would say that you've already gotten it right for most of us. in my garage sits three motorcycles. one is a '98 Honda VFR Interceptor, polished to the max, and at 55,000 miles still tight, quick, fast, smooth, composed, and competent. the VFR is, by any measure, one of the greatest motorcycles ever made, and i'll consider myself lucky if, in 10 or 20 years, i still get to ride it. i know if i do it'll still be one of the sweetest machines on the road. right next to it sits the Thong, my '98 S1W White Lightning, a little bundle of Molten Orange attitude with a wicked sense of humor and a hair-trigger. earlier this year i was looking for another Buell, as i missed the whole "thing" that riding a Buell brings to the party, and stumbled across what was being advertised as simply a low-mile S1. turns out it was a White Lightning, the owner didn't know it, i didn't tell him, and 30 minutes after i first saw it i owned my second Buell. it's a brick compared to the VFR, in pretty much every measurable way, rough, raw, trash-talkin', pretty much indifferent to you, the rider, unless you adopt and adapt to it, and not the other way around. yet why does the Thong make me giggle every time i even THINK about lighting it off (which i will be doing later today, in spite of the snow in the forecast). and brick or not, in two BattleTrax’s this year it kicked enough “better-built” imported moto-ass to park two more BX trophies up against the “I love me” wall in the garage. and... ...and on the workbench in the garage (on several benches, actually) resides my first Buell, the one responsible for much/most/all of who and what i am today, a stunningly gorgeous '96 Ice White Pearl S2 Thunderbolt, affectionately known as the BLURR. after a lifetime of owning bikes, and coming off of four back-to-back Harley-Davidsons, the BLURR was the machine that spoke to my innermost soul, and showed me how much a big-inch American v-twin stuffed into a nasty little sportbike chassis could shred one's envelope. i have, from the day i first rode my brother's tote-goat (we're talking something like 40 years ago), been passionate about riding. make that PASSIONATE about riding. i’ve owned some pretty nice hardware along the way, but NOTHING, including the sublime VFR, has ever made unrelenting love to my senses like the BLURR did during its first life, on the order of 70,000+ miles, and two trips to Sturgis, and three (four?) Blue Grooves, and riding in the Sierras (and Santa Cruz, and Mount St. Helens, and Taos, New Mexico) with Erik Buell himself, and countless BRAG Adventure Rides, and BattleTrax’s, and SPLASH, and the Border Raid, and on and on and on, hopefully right up to the day i can't pull its trigger any longer. These days the BLURR sits, dormant, patient, waiting, victim of a leaky intake seal and a high-speed summertime blast across the Mojave Desert. i finally got home that day (the next day, actually) at 2:30 in the morning, with the BLURR strapped in the back of a buddy's pickup, the rear cylinder and bottom end a fragmented mess. the intake seal was MY bad, not Erik’s. i got lazy on the maintenance, and paid the price. yet despite the fact that the BLURR has not uttered a sound in over four years, IT is the bike that i dream about. make no mistake, my VFR has been a joy, the first machine to let me discover what 150 m.p.h. feels like, the machine that delivered me 3,700 trouble-free miles during Laguna Seca, Four-Play, and SPLASH this summer, the machine that STILL uses not even a single drop of oil between changes despite two laps of this planet. and yet... and yet, it is a Buell that whispers to me my every waking moment. it is a Buell that has taken me places i never knew existed. it is a Buell that brought to my tiny little world a universe of fellow Hooligans, equally as passionate as i am when it comes to The Ride. it is a Buell that prompts me, sometimes against better judgment, to sit at the computer for an hour (or three) and put emotions into thoughts into words, sometimes with eyes misted with passion and enthusiasm and appreciation. such a time as now. there are faster motorcycles out there. and quicker ones. and more sophisticated ones (arguable, perhaps, when speaking of the new XB's). let's face it, this is an unprecedented time to be in love with motorcycles. you name it and it does it. they're all good. they're ALL good. yep, even Buells. yep, even the old ones. and especially the new ones. it's human nature, i suppose, to criticize. it's the easiest thing in the world to hammer someone when they're up against the ropes, bleeding, dazed. hit him again, sucker, sit down at your almighty keyboard and wail away, who's gonna stop you and your bad self, who's gonna have the balls to tell YOU, self-proclaimed GOD of all things motorcycle, that you're wrong. well, me. Erik has done, and continues to do, something that no one else has done, sometimes against longggg odds, and has done it well. there are plenty of folks out there who've lost the vision, and that's ok. it seems readily apparent that a Buell wouldn't/shouldn’t be for everybody, and i'm not dismissing the problems that some have had. but the bigger reality is that there are many MORE people who have hung on to Erik’s vision than who have come and gone. sometimes, however, those who HAVE said good-bye speak with louder keyboards. i digress. -------------------------------------------------- so to Anonymous above, thank you for your wonderful post, and know that we are still here. we still believe. we still admire. we still appreciate. and we still ride. a Buell. Happy New Year to all. the weather outside is settling in. i can't see the tops of the mountains beyond my office window anymore for it (good thing, as it blocks the view of the snow that fell last night). it's c-c-cold (yes, even here in SoCal), and not exactly what you'd call ideal riding weather. however, there's a certain White Lightning downstairs that's itching for a fight, and after breakfast and a shower i think we're gonna go looking for some trouble. Erik, please keep showing us the way. Ferris Bueller Lake Isabella, California, USA 01/01/2004 |
