| Author | Message | ||
     Natexlh1000 |
I was just curious if the newfangled XBs are ok in the rain. My friend complains that his XB12 sputters when it's raining hard. My X1 is fine like nothing's happening. Should we be looking for a problem? | ||
| Ginzero |
I rode through a thunder storm on a curvy mountain highway this past Sunday. The bike performed superbly.. no complaints at all. Highway 38, Big Bear CA | ||
| Black_sunshine |
Never had a problem and just last week I got stuck in a Southern pop-up Thunderstorm that looked like a White Squall. | ||
| T9r |
Just got home from riding in the rain, bike ran okay... maybe he needs his TPS reset on the bike. Good luck '03 XB9R | ||
| M1combat |
Mine seems to be fine... Is his air filter sealed properly? | ||
| Tomzweifel |
Between December and July I think I've put in about 10 hours or so in the rain, maybe 5 minutes in hail. It did have a problem similar to what you are describing: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/32777/123879.html (Message edited by tomzweifel on July 27, 2005) | ||
| Davefla |
Just a week ago, I rode through a downpour that had me gasping - 'cause I couldn't see through the visor and thus raised it - so much water was going straight into my nose & eyes. The bike never hiccupped through ten minutes of that, while never exceeding 30mph and mostly below 3000RPM. | ||
| Hogs |
Natexlh1000, I Do Not Know For Sure :-), But my 12 has about 12000 miles on it and just last week I washed the Baby and when I went to go Hmmm Not Good, I let it warm up abit longer , After abit it came around and then drove it back to my shop,also noted a little miss it in before when it was wet out, Later that night Pulled off the plug wires and In my case the front spark plug wire was Wore from rubbing on the frame, Got a new set right away washed bike again No Plms.. And none since tell ya buddy might not be in his case but worth the check anyways...! | ||
| Typeone |
i'm getting rained on every ride lately... 2hr downpour, 1hr insane downpour and a 30min downpour in past few weeks... XB marched right on through, even with a swiss cheesed airbox. tons of sand in there though (outside filter) when i checked it yesterday. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Neither rain nor snow has made my XB hiccup. I would say I probably have atleast 20 hours of rain duty on it, 3 of it in snow thanks to an unexpected snow storm in the mountains and the slower going. What should have taken an hour and a half well, doubled. | ||
| Canadianxb9sl |
Rain kills my XB9S. Heavy down pour just two weeks ago. Second time its done this. First starts to sputter, then I loose one cylinder, and have half power. Then if I keep on riding I loose the second cylinder and the bike dies. Let it sit for about 5 minutes and things dry out and it runs fine for just awhile and repeats. Its going in for service soon, and I'm getting it checked out... | ||
| Buellj79 |
I did the spars yesterday in the rain just didnt shift alot. Ran like a champ. Later J | ||
| Dbird29 |
My '03 front plug wire chafed because the boot was not seated on the plug. Vibrated a hole right thru the outer jecket. Dealer gave me a new one that looks like a better design. | ||
| Max |
I had same problem I had to pull over rev it up little.It was ok after I did that. Was little puzzle about it at first.It was ok not sure why it did that. | ||
| Truk |
Been in the rain, mine is fine | ||
| Bbstacker |
Southern California got a prodigious amount of rain this past year and I rode my 9R in it everyday. I did note a drop in idle speed, but no stumble or miss. Made sure plug wires were on tight and well packed with dielectric grease and short of all the SoCal cagers that lose their freakin' minds as soon as the rain begins to fall...no problems at all. BTW lose the dunlop tires in the wet...if you haven't already. Mark | ||
| Hanses25 |
On our trip this year we followed a storm from Billings Montana to Mitchell South Dakota. XB9 never missed a beat. | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Like Mark said. Make sure the plug wires are on tight and elec. grease wouldn't hurt... I rode from Camp Pen to the Sunrise Hwy in a complete deluge at 70-80 mph on the freeway. Then I hit snow at the casino... No probs with the Bolt! | ||
| Izzinya |
i live in washington and my buell is my MOST day rider... i am also a tech >>>MECHANIC (hate the term tech) my bike does that when it rains HARD!!!! i have pulled the airbox cover and found a puddle of water. water in an intake = not good LOL dont know what to do to correct this .but i have had the problem also i have a desnorkeled(de-uterused) race kit so nothing out of the reg stuff i think its the intake track (redesined in 06 wonder why???) 05 xb9sx Izzinya | ||
| Justice |
Got caught about 20 mins away from home on my '03 XB9R when it started to rain tonight (hard).  No problems with the bike. My riding gear, on the other hand, is definatly not waterproof.  | ||
| Nadz |
My XBR runs highways in the rain just fine due to the vertical intake path. In fact, it laughs at me, since I'm getting the worse deal. I wonder how that new intake scheme will deal with water... gotta see how the airbox is cut, and if there's provision to shed water. So who's gonna be the first to buy one from Dave and post a picture? | ||
| Krassh |
My XB9S used to stumble in the rain or if heavy moisture in the air. Turned out the plug had rubbed through and was arcing. | ||
| Two_buells |
Bad plug wires! been there, fixed that! | ||
| Cyko_bob |
My bike (XB9S) runs fine in the rain, but riding in the rain can allow water into the primary. Now how does that happen? Here's how...The short front fender throws water right onto the clutch cable cover (rubber boot directly behind the front fender)...collects water...waters leaks down clutch cable to primary. Imagine my surprise when I drained the primary and the oil was milky...where the heck did the water come from? When I pulled up the rubber boot, water poured out of it. Once I put a wire tie on the top and bottom of the boot, I have not had anymore problems with water in the primary. | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Cyko, Thanks for bringing that up to the group, I'd forgot. Fill the boot with grease. That was a good fix suggested here. | ||
| 2hogs |
All, Check unconventional electrical connections. I'm not familar with the Buell setup, just Twin cam. If the above doesn't solve it, start checking things like the connection to the ignition (if it could get wet), connector to voltage regulator (not sure how Buell v. reg is, but Twin Cam (FL and softail) are on downtubes). Cheers | ||
| Rubberdown |
No problems in heavy rain with my 12S | ||
| Gearhead998 |
My '03 9S does that from time to time. THe stock plug wires are CRAP. moisture actually gets inside the boot and shorts it out. Throw some dielectric grease on the plug, in the boot and I also put some on the wire were the boot starts. That should take care of it. I am looking into getting new wires | ||
| Buellin_ri |
Lost a cyl (i think the rear one) once on a rainy day. Gas from the dead cyl ended up washing down my oil causing the oil light to come on. Come to find out there are new updated wires . Put em on with new plugs,a little dielectric grease, oil and filter no problems since. | ||
| Steve_a |
The new Dunlop D616s for the Ulysses should be spectacular rain tires, and will fit all XBs. | ||
| M1combat |
"water in an intake = not good LOL" "i think its the intake track (redesined in 06 wonder why???)" Water in the intake can add a good deal of power if done right... The new intake tract setup seems like it would allow MORE water into the area under the airbox cover. It's not the intake tract. It's something electrical. Probably the lack of dielectric grease in the spark plug boots or something to that effect. | ||
| Xring |
I rode my '04 XB9S through a bad rainstorm last week for about an hour, in NC. It was one of those storms that had a lot of cars pulling off the road...dark as night at 6 PM. I continued on cautiously at first, gained speed as I went. No problems with the engine or the new Scorpion Syncs. On the other hand, once I had just washed my bike and took it for a spin to dry it off...it missed for a couple of miles. Good luck, Bill | ||
| Buellenator |
My 04 XB12R with K&N filter does not like hard rain or the spray of other vehicles - it will sputter and cough, once lost power completely and sounded like it was running on 1 cylinder. So I use a different bike on rainy days... | ||
| Bbstacker |
I have a carbon fiber air scoop on mine. It is a little flatter on the bottom. I would think this allows water to drain out the rear without getting sucked into the intake. | ||
| Cataract2 |
I've been in Florida torrential rain falls on my XB9SX with no problem whatsoever with it. |
