[Richard230]

I had to replace my first bolt yesterday on my 2011 B5.  It was the bolt that the rear of the sport muffler that I installed earlier this year hangs from.  I installed the bolt without thread locker and it just vibrated off while I was riding.  The odd thing is that I never noticed the missing bolt, even though the muffler was just stuck on the end of the exhaust pipe and wagging in the wind.  So I replaced the bolt and nut with a new one with a nylon locking insert. I also glued the head of the bolt in place to keep it from turning just for fun. Then I went around the bike and checked all of the other bolts and fasteners that I could reach, including the engine mounting bolts.  Not a one was loose.  As near as I can tell, not a single factory-installed bolt has loosened since the bike left the factory.  I guess the A-Team built my bike.

[phoenixt]

I also glued the he I guess the A-Team built my bike.

I think a lot of it has to do with the dealer that preps the bike. Where did you purchase yours; if you don't mind saying?

Steve

[Richard230]

I think a lot of it has to do with the dealer that preps the bike. Where did you purchase yours; if you don't mind saying?

Steve

I bought mine used from a local BMW dealer for $3,000.  The bike only had 1K miles on the clock.  It is a California model and my understanding was that it was purchased new from a dealer in Florida and shipped to the west coast. Don't ask me what a CA model was doing in Florida.    But at least that made it easy to be registered in the state as non-CA motorcycles have to have at least 7,500 miles on the clock to be licensed here. 

BTW, I have a friend who bought a Buell Blast from a riding school in Florida and it only had about 3K miles in it.  Fortunately, for him it has an electronic speedometer/odometer and he was able to design and assemble an electronic device that could add miles to the bike's odometer so that it displayed 7.5K and therefore he was able to register it here. I might also add that the Blast had a bad transmission and clutch and he had to rebuild the entire engine from the crankshaft and gearbox up.  Those riding school bikes apparently live a hard life.

We traded bikes and I rode the Blast around town for a few miles.  The thing had a scary clutch and I didn't care for the handling all that much.  But the engine was pretty smooth once the revs were up.  I liked riding my B5 better and it certainly looks a lot better, too.   

[mrunderhill1975a]

Is It really that bad..................I can tell you my story, I purchased my Bullet with 58 miles on it.  I just turned over 30,000 miles last week. 30,000 miles on original piston, rings, valves, pumps etc.  The repairs I made, Rectifier......10,000 miles, replaced with Radio Shack bridge rectifier $3, ......front fender stay 8000miles, $10,.....fork seals $15, ........rear sprocket bearing, $40 at Napa (sealed this time)....Three electrical shorts, one at battery, one inside nacelle, one where wire bundle rubs on headset $0.0.........Headlight regulator $15 twice, a few bolts have vibrated loose, I switched from left foot shift to right shift at 18,000 miles due to worn left shift. New clutch shortly thereafter due to my placement of inner dish plate "in" rather than "out"during reinstall.

Still starts first or second kick, burns 2ml oil per mile, 60mpg average, I may change the piston and valve regrind this winter, will have to talk with ACE.

[Guaire]

Now you're talking!

[Kevin Mahoney]

Any Bullet can be made to be a solid runner that is actually at least semi-reliable. It is a question of going over the bike bolt by bolt, connection by connection, wire by wire and putting everything right. A good dealer will do much of that for you, but if you pick up a used bike at a good price you can take care of all of it's past sins cheaply. Parts are cheap and as the guy that sells parts I can somewhat sadly say that RE's don't really eat parts. We sell far less than you might think. They do however require a great deal of maintenance to be kept in top shape. I would not be afraid at all to buy an old iron barrel that I knew nothing about since in a day or two I would be able to make is a reliable steed

[rtillery02]

Well, I've got 2, a 2002 iron barrel 500 4spd ks & a 2012 C5, mostly upgrade expenses on the iron barrel as preventative measures & personal preferences add-on expenses on the C5...so far. I have very good results with the large twist-tube of GEL BLUE LOC-TITE, I'd recommend keepin some of that "on deck". Mostly "elbow grease" & P.M. measures has paid off for me & mine.

[mattsz]

original poster firecaptp7... I'm wondering, are you gleaning anything from this discussion?

[mattsz]

Boy, do I understand about wishing there was another one nearby!  I went through almost all of my warranty period without laying eyes on another UCE to look at and listen to, never mind ride.  The first time I rode a fully-broken-in UCE other than my own, it was a real eye opener!

As for the chain... assuming you've got everything adjusted and tightened properly, then it's very possible that your OEM chain (is it OEM?) is stretching.  They're notorious for dying a quick death... again, on some bikes.  Maybe invest in a good-quality chain?

[fxrskrsa]

“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[mattsz]

Mattsz - An eye opener HOW? Can you elaborate?
Jerry

Well, the long-timers here are probably tired of listening to me whine, but since you asked...

This other UCE I sampled had a quiet (relatively) valve-train and decompressor; relatively vibration-free operation, including at revs up toward the red-line; smooth, steady idle with no habit of stalling at idle, or coming off idle with throttle application (i.e. the GT stalling problem), no pinging under normal load...

What you'd expect, or hope for, of any of these bikes, I guess... except all that is the exact opposite of mine...

[The Old Coot]

I get to take a friend to the shop Saturday to get his new bike after warranty work was done. There's a recall on the clutch and the saddle bags fell off (and were damaged) due to bad fasteners. This is on a $30,000 HD BTW. That bike is only a month old and you'd think they'd done all this before it rolled out the door.

Makes a loose motor mount bolt or a broken battery terminal on a $4,500 Enfield look like a cakewalk doesn't it?

[Richard230]

Speaking of H-D, I heard a news report today that their sales are down 40% so far this year.

[The Old Coot]

I hadn't heard that BUT I do see a lot of HDs for sale when I'm out riding.

[stevew]

2000 miles on mine,
1 x broken OE silencer & that was a good thing 'cos it's now got a smaller more elegant one that actually sounds like an old English single.  So now it looks & sounds like a classic 

Oh, & .............................................nothing else 
Great bike