| Author | Message | ||
     Indy_bueller |
During the Ulysses chat I submitted a question: "Is it possible to "safely" polish the frame and swingarm?" Less than 30 seconds later, a "Customer Service" chat window popped up. You can read my surprise in what I said. It totally blew me away! Here is the chat transcript: b]Customer Service[/b]: Hi, how can I help you? [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: Uh, you have me at a disadvantage. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: I dont remember asking for help [b]Customer Service[/b]: It is not reccommended to polish the fame and swingarm. [b]Customer Service[/b]: I mean frame. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: I assume it is possible to permanently damage the pieces? [b]Customer Service[/b]: That is correct as the frame is the fuel tank and the swingarm is the oil tank. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: Yes I have a 2003 Firebolt [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: What about powder coating?' [b]Customer Service[/b]: That is not reccommended either. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: Ok [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: One more question [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: Is it ok to powder coat the wheels? [b]Customer Service[/b]: They are powder coated. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: Yes, but I'd like to change the color. There is some disagreement on if the heat will damage them. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: And i understand they already are powder coated [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: So that confuses me [b]Customer Service[/b]: I would be more concerned with stripping the old powder coating off than the heat damaging the wheels. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: So the blasting process could damage the wheels then. [b]Indy_Bueller[/b]: Who is this anyway? :-) Customer Service has left the session Thats all I got. I thought it was really interesting that they would choose to directly answer that question in that way. Other than that, I had a great time on the chat! I'm still trying to figure out a way to save that transcript as well, since it doesnt show that option. | ||
| Stevem123 |
Damn is it over? I've signed up and could never get anything to show up??? Been trying for an hour on the homepage and nothing ever showed up to go to the chat..... Guess I'm stupid. | ||
| Broodwich |
It would be great to see that chat. | ||
| Broodwich |
I had the same problem I think they turned off the sign up feature this evening. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
Did you have a popup blocker on? Mine was giving me fits. | ||
| Diablobrian |
they limited it to 150 people. I was trying to log in starting at around 8:25 I guess several badwebbers got lucky and got in.  I saw a lot of familiar names in there. I could not figure out how to log the chat (sorry) or I would post the whole thing here. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
Yea I couldnt find a way to copy it, since it was in a Java window. I got lucky with the "Customer Service" chat, there was a "copy" button on the toolbar! | ||
| Blake |
I posted the part of the chat that I was able to catch atop THIS PAGE.  (Message edited by Blake on December 05, 2005) | ||
| Indy_bueller |
The dialog between Erik and Tish was priceless.  | ||
| Nadz |
Kinda like DaveS and Kandie, heh heh. | ||
| Davefla |
My question never showed up - and thank goodness, the ones from the rest of you were MUCH better! I did have to disable popup blocking in Firefox before I could see ANYTHING. And the "network connection was lost" message showed up about five minutes in, but clicking the link on the Buell page restarted my session. | ||
| Henrik |
I tried to sign up and never got to a point where I could even create a profile. Tried both Safari and Explorer on Mac OS X. Any other Mac users that made it in? Yep, disabled pop-up blocker as well. Henrik | ||
| Vfrbart |
I had no problems after disabling popups in Safari. Mac OSX 10.4 | ||
| Madsx |
Macs RULE! | ||
| Henrik |
Hmmm, may be my firewall at work and home ....  Henrik (yep, life's too short for Windoze ...  ) | ||
| T9r |
The customer service adds mystery to the whole event. I was on there... it took me a minute to realize it was CDT not EST. Fun times! | ||
| Broodwich |
I had issues with Safari but I did not try to turn off the pop up blocker. I coudn't create a profile in Safari. I used Firefox on the Mac and I was able to create a profile. I didn't get any further than that but I only signed up about 5 minutes before the start. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
I personally thought that the whole chat thing was a really groovy idea. How many rice-rocket riders have ever had a chat with the design team of thier bike? How many of them could even tell you the names of the people whe designed them? BTW, Tish just killed me. lol | ||
| Pwnzor |
I had my wheels and rear pulley polished out, no problems at all. as for polishing the frame, i don't think i'd do that even if for no other reason than the fuel goes inside.  | ||
| Citified |
what confuses me is when we build an engine we polish the con rods to make them stronger, they dont crack as easily. just a thought. I bet they say it just because they dont want us to do it. | ||
| Prior |
The con rod is a casting and have a longer life and are stronger because of a better surface finish, which doesn't promote crack growth as much as a rough surface. I'd suspect that the main reason that Buell does not support frame polishing is that many guys who do it also grind the welds down too. You can seriously shorten the life of a weld by doing this. Alex | ||
| Blake |
Even on a forged conrod I believe the same is true. And in so-polishing your rod, you don't remove anywhere near the amount of material as in polishing your frame. The factory simply would never be able to make any kind of statement approving polishing of frame or swingarm; to much liability risk. Has anyone considered shot peening their frame or swingarm? Might be a cool look. Improves fatigue strength too. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
Dang Blake, yer smart. I hadn't thought of that. | ||
| Fullpower |
MISATO has a fully mirror polished frame and swingarm. VERY pretty, and quite labor intensive. | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
ok this is kind of weird cuz if you look at the 2005 buell cd in the section that says mania then click on the part that say do try this it shows sevral cosomized xb's with polished frames | ||
| Indy_bueller |
I'm sure that its a liability issue. If they said it was ok to do it, then somone wiped out on thier XB and it exploded because the fuel tank cracked open, they could be sued. | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
but in a way on the cd it does say its ok | ||
| Indy_bueller |
I wont argue that. You are right, if they don't want people to do it they shouldn't include pictures of XBs that have been modified like that in official literature, etc. | ||
| Court |
>>>in a way on the cd it does say its ok Inaccurate. The CD makes quite clear that those are stunt riders, simply riding Buells. Polishing a frame actually makes it stronger (ever wonder why your not allowed to in certain racing). In racing, this can tempt some to use a lighter, yet polished frame to shed weight. The problem is that polishing, like so many things in life, gets dicey if done wrong. If the factory says "polish away" and you, shy on the SAT scores, polish out a weld, well it WWF Tortmania Knockdown. The bikes depicted under "product" represent what the factory certified with the good ol United States of America. Court | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
court not the part that says dont try this im talking about the part that says do try this were they have a bunch of cosomized bikes and it says "costimization is as much a part of riding as the road its self so go ahead strip it, stripe it or style it for show alone. you wont hurt Erik's feelings." and like 4 of the bikes in the pics under that frase have polished frames. | ||
| Hooliganxb9s |
Well you don't need to blast powder coat off. Actually there is a much easier method and thats to use Airplane paint stripper. | ||
| Bigsherm9r |
Can someone post the pics of the customized bikes on the CD? Thanks. Sherm | ||
| Bigsherm9r |
Um, please? Come on, folks! Sherm (editied to remove vulgarity)} (Message edited by reepicheep on September 03, 2005) | ||
| Indy_bueller |
Hang on Sherm, I'll see if I can pick them off the CD. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
Sorry Sherm, I can't find the pics on the CD. They have them buried someplace. |
