| Author | Message | ||
     Nottooold |
Hey folks, just picked up a 99 S3 with less than 17,000 miles. Always kept in a heated shop. looks great. Changed tires, new rubber, Michelins, new clutch, dropped all the fluids and made sure the belt was snug and good to go. I got about 1,000 miles done before the snow came and I am very glad to have bought the bike. It rides like nothing I have even ridden before. I do however have a couple of problems. One the left mirror has been broken and it appears that I am in need of of a replacement, any used parts out there? second item, the exhaust bracket broke on the last ride. Should I weld and repaint? or again, any used parts out there? Three, any idea if the throttle cable is the same as the 1200 Harley of that year? Hope there are some ideas out there and looking forward to working on the bike and bare roads again. Thanks folks. Nottooold. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Welcome! Glad you found your bike. Sounds like it's in great shape, not all of them are at this point! I'm sure a few people will jump in to tell you the belts are supposed to be "scary loose". They should definitely have a little more play than you expect. Can't help with the mirror. I believe the Harley throttle cables are a bit longer than the S3 cables though. I'm sure there are other Buell cables that would work, I'd assume the X1 and later M2, but I can't say for sure, I've got an older carbureted S1 so I think I've got different cables entirely. Which exhaust bracket is it that broke? Do you have the stock exhaust, or is it aftermarket? Assuming it's the rear bracket, you can most likely weld it. Someone here made a batch of new rear mounts out of stainless a little while back, but I haven't seen him around the forum much lately, I don't assume there's any of those left. I made replacement rear mounts for my stock exhaust out of mild steel and painted them, working fine. If you go that route, do yourself a favor and weld a few nuts onto the back of them so you're not fighting with extra wrenches in that tight space. | ||
| Normthenomad |
Please make sure not to over tighten the belt.Which exhaust bracket do you have? The flat steel or the dogbone? PM rtill he's got a ton of parts for these bikes. kmbuell might help too. | ||
| Nottooold |
Thanks for the info. The belt I sat on the bike with weight and worked the adjustment so the tension on the belt moved about 1/4 to 1/2 inch? The exhaust bracket is the rear with the stock exhaust. The bracket is flat steel. Not sure about dogbone. Great idea about welding nuts on the back for the future. | ||
| Nottooold |
First ride with the new bike}  | ||
| 34nineteen |
Here is good ole Lafayette's instructions for setting belt tension. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/476 23/783993.html?1461625872 | ||
| Nottooold |
wow... now those are instructions. Guess I know what I will be adding to my list of things to do over the winter. Sorry to hear that he past in 2016. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
The key is making sure the belt isn't over tensioned when the front and rear pulleys are at their farther points. At one point when I had my rear shock disconnected I took the opportunity to lift up the rear wheel/swingarm and get everything in a perfectly straight line, then set the tension and knew I didn't have to guess as to what was right. Other people have said things like how there should be enough deflection that you can push the belt up to touch the bottom of the swingarm, and some other ideas. I know at one point when I was trying those my belt ended up loose enough that it was slipping a little when I would accelerate, so it'll let you know if you go too loose. Beautiful bike by the way. The deep red color is gorgeous. | ||
| Nottooold |
Thanks for the info. I feel very lucky to have found the bike. Left the bags at home that day. I guess the bike is really a S3T. | ||
| Victory |
Get a Barnett Clutch cable. My 2001 X1 came with a metal lined cable. POS with a 12k new price tag! The Barnett is Teflon coated cable. 50% reduction in effort. If you add the Muller Assist the clutch is the a bicycle brake.  | ||
| Thunderrat |
Congrats on the new to U S3, Nottooold. She's purty  | ||
| Nottooold |
Thanks for the info. Lots of winter projects. | ||
| Nottooold |
Looking forward to dry roads. As you have probably heard before, these Buells ride like nothing else. |
