Crisis of Faith

[MnBueller]

[mad]
Hello Buellers. I have officially reached the limit of my "Unique is Cool" infatuation.
Don't get me wrong...I love riding my Uly. It may be the most fun I've ever had on a bike, and I've owned quite a few of them. All Japanese until the Buell, because I wanted something different. And American.
And now, one year and three significant mechanical issues later, I am ready to sell this thing to the first person with a checkbook. It is truly the most disappointing piece of crap I have ever owned. Buell's engineering is brilliant. His execution is criminally poor. He, and I suspect many of you, will likely blame Big Brother H.D. for not really getting on board with his little experiment. True or not, I am embarrassed for him that he allowed bikes like this to leave the factory with his name on them. And embarrassed that I fell for it. I wanted to love this bike sooo bad!
I continue to be impressed by the support the brand gets here, but I suspect the vast majority of you are tinkerers and actually enjoy puzzling out the weekly failures your Buell serves up. Not me.
I enjoy riding my motorcycles, and this one seems determined to squash that desire at every opportunity.
My 20 mile ride home after work tonight involved the bike quitting twice, and the discovery that it is still leaking oil. At least the headlight stayed on all the way home.
My apologies if I have offended you here, that is not my intention. I am just venting, and who better to vent to? My wife certainly doesn't get it...or much care. I really do appreciate the support I've gotten here.
And I am serious about selling this lump. Interested? Let me know.
I know...I write quite the compelling sales pitch, don't I?

 

[oh9bolt]

What a sad story

GLWS

 

[buellxb9rs]

you just had a lemon i guess, or it just wasn't taken care of. Many of us have the first gen xb that supposedly had all sorts of issues and we have 40-100k miles on them. I'll give you $500

 

[UMDterp13]

Where's this at? MN.?
Mileage , info on the bike would be great. Never had issue with any of my Ulysses other than a TPS reset

 

[Theycallmecrash]

Meh, your wife gets it, she doesnt wanna hear you whine like a women about your bike, she would rather you man up, get dirty, tinker with it, fix the damn thing, and enjoy the ride. Then when you get home from your manly exploits as a man on a bad ass machine that you fixed on the side of the road, cause you are a MAN, you take her to bed and ravage her like a MAN! Not this come home bitch that the tow truck guy laughed at you, cry in her arms, then post on the forum that you hate your bike. Time to sell, think your bike needs a man.

 

[MnBueller]

2007, 9800 miles, New Scorpion Trails, New Tall Seat, New Rider Comfort Kit, New Tall Smoke Windshield, New Hawk Modified Muffler, K&N Air Filter, Ear Cannon Air Horn, Black with Custom Orange Reflective Striping (Looks Good), Side and Top Cases, Aprillia Mirrors, Heated Grips, Shop Manual, ECM Spy Cable, I'll even top it off with Amsoil.
Was in the 2008 Buell annual gathering brochure and even signed by Eric himself. ( He liked the striping)
$5000 and it's all yours.

 

[Shawns]

It's not just Buell's, every manufacturer has problems from time to time. I myself like to tinker, but I still have a local shop work on mine as well. They are machines, and require maintenance. I'm not saying you haven't taken care of your bike, but maybe the PO didn't. What can I say....Shit breaks it doesn't matter who makes it. If you sell maybe the next one will work out for ya no matter the manufacturer.

 

[thrstrmech]

Have owned my '03 for 8 yrs and she's got just shy of 67k, had my issues with her, but nothing that would discourage me to the point of selling and ran her with the original belt 'til this past Friday.

Now what are the issues with the bike? Pick one to start with and let's see if we can help you fix that. Then the next...get the picture?

Oil leak, let's start with that...clean the area well, either let her sit 'til she's good and hot or ride to reach that point, then check the suspect area for fresh oil signs. Fix it! Now the next issue...and that is?

 

[user_deleted]

New Tall Seat, New Rider Comfort Kit, New Tall Smoke Windshield

the bmw GS sites are flooded with "son of a bitch let me sit again" musings as well. i'm on my 9th XB and have found all of them to be quite reliable and mechanically robust. i pamper them.
having said that i'll trade you a 300 mile factory stock clear Uly wind screen for your tall tinted and pay the freight.
PM me if interested. thank you.

 

[chief_of_smoke]

im headed up to buffalo city this afternoon. my have to come check it out.

 

[konarider94]

I know all about significant mechanical issues. Rebuilt it and its been good. So I had the engine apart twice in 2 years. Im really good at removing it now. I wouldnt let a few problems discourage you if you really like the bike.

I am starting to get tired of the lack of power though after 5 years. Considering something else for that reason.

 

[captain chaos]

So what kinds of problems have you had?
Oil leak? no biggie there and hardly worth getting rid of "most fun I've ever had on a bike" for.

Obviously you've had other problems? Stop for a second and think though; is the laundry list of issues you've had simply the same SINGLE problem that was never diagnosed and fixed right to begin with. Ofthen times a "lemon" is nothing more than an average bike that was brought down to "unreliable" status by a less than competant mechanic (one of the MILLION reasons I do all of my own work)

 

[go cytocis]

I am starting to get tired of the lack of power though after 5 years. Considering something else for that reason.

As I'm sure you're perfectly aware, horsepower is a double-edged sword. Sure the XB's a bit underpowered for authoritative passing & keeping up with superbikes on the straights, but it's at least as much fun at street-legal speeds & it's less risky to your driving record.

I purposefully 'downgraded' to an XB12 from a litre bike once I realized it was literally impossible to utilize its potential on the street, & after I wound up in court arguing for my license.

Since the addition of a baby to my family, I've further downsized to a 650 making ~55 hp & I don't yearn for any more at all.

Having said that, if you do decide to step up to something more powerful, I congratulate you on getting there progressively on a less powerful bike first!

Regardless, as they say, it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow!

 

[go cytocis]

To the OP, I might just add that as someone who's also had his share of Japanese bikes, I sympathize & agree that I found the XB a bit less reliable. On the other hand, it also offers a lot of features like belt drive, hydraulic lifters & air-cooling, that probably make the total repair & maintenance commitment about the same.

 

[MnBueller]

Hey guys,
Back after a few days of cooling off. Thanks for all the words of encouragement and talking me off the ledge. I'm better now, and will tackle these damn gremlins as I know I can. Oil leak may be simply a matter of some remaining oil I just didn't get when I did the rocker box gaskets, it seems to maybe have cured itself.
The quitting/not starting I am still working on, going to try a new ignition relay next. It sounds like the ECM is losing power, and yes I have tried every wire and cleaned the hell out of all connections and grounds. I will get there.
It must be the pressure of a big trip coming up and these problems possibly keeping me home.
Thanks again everyone.:[smirk]

 

[go cytocis]

It must be the pressure of a big trip coming up

You know, as much fun as these bikes are, & as generally reliable as they also are, the fact that they use a mix of metric & imperial fasteners makes it more challenging to pack a decent tool kit on long trips. Never mind bringing a laptop for diagnostics & TPS resets too.

My home-assembled tool kit must've weighed 15lbs my last trip!

 

[chief_of_smoke]

im over in brownsville for next coulpe days if you.need some help.

 

[MnBueller]

Back to working on the electrical no run issue. It really seems like I am losing power to the ECM, so after checking all wires/connections at the ECM I am going after easy/cheap ideas. I am going to change the Ignition Relay as it's only $5.00 and easy to change, plus it supplies power to the ECM. I have noticed though that the numbers on the top of it don't exactly match the numbers on the other three relays in the fuse block. Does anyone know if they are all the same relays? They look exactly the same. My Harley dealer couldn't help much as his parts book only listed the other three identical relays; no listing at all for the ignition relay. [confused]

 

[user_deleted]

your stock relays are indeed all the same. rated at 20 amps though the etching on them is faint at best to read it. any 2005 ford focus a/c relay is the same as well as 2003-2007 full size chrysler cars a/c relay. you can match it up at any h-d dealer or auto parts store by taking in your old one and precisely matching the 6 spade feeds to identical relay. don't worry about the color of the casing of replacement relay. a non-issue.

 

[sprk_sprd]

I purposefully 'downgraded' ... from a liter bike once I realized it was literally impossible to utilize its potential on the street

Wisest words ever typed on a motorcycle forum.

The other phrase I enjoy hearing: "It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast, than a fast bike slow." Not that Buells are slow. Just sayin'.