I ahve made up my mind today that the GS will be the first and last foriegn bike i own . Not trying to tick anyone off here but thats just the way it is. My bike was running a little screwy lately (lean conditions) so i took it in becuase its still covered under warranty becuase i baught it new in june of this year. The guy who i baught the bike from(my moms cousin) suggested an early 7k mile service (it has 5500 on it) this seemed like a good idea and he was probobaly right in making this decision. SO come to find out the valves are burnt. so im looking at it being a near full week at the shop for a valve job. granted, i dont have to pay for this but i still dont understand how a bike that was dealer serviced with 5500 miles could burn valves. So theres no way to tell if its just going to eat through more the next 5k i put on it. so i think a rejet is in order. then im going to sell it in the spring. anyone thats interested ill post it in the spring. and next summer ill be on a 1200 sportster or xb9sx.

Get ready to fix that one... a lot.

  -Anti 

not really.

my dad has 03 road king. that he hhasnt had any problems with. it has 18k on it now.

Buells, I'm talking about Buells. I like the XB1200's though, but I would never by one.

  -Anti 

Jap > american in terms of sport bike reliability. Buells are making headway but seriously, most sport bikes never die before thier owned wreck them. I saw a recent post of an 04 honda cbr turning 100k miles recently. If you were buying new i would definately buy a jap bike and still if buying used, i would buy a jap bike

I've been researching bikes for several months now. If my mind don't change my next bike will be a Buell XB12. (I'll be keeping the GS500f as a errand runner). But I'm not going to buy one with expectation that it'll be trouble free, nor have super dealer support. From the Buell forums I've been on, Buell has the worst reputation of dealer support than any bike out there.

But from what I've seen and heard, a lot of bike dealers are the same. I went to the local Suzuki/Yamaha dealer and told them I thought my bike was running lean after reading some threads on here. The mechanic looked at me and told me they don't get no better than how they're tuned from the factory, and said I had a dirty carb. I was gonna buy or at least order some larger jets, but they pretty much wouldn't even talk about selling me any. Later I ordered some online and rejetted, and it cured the problem. My carbs looked brand new inside.

My cousin has the same problems with getting his Harley serviced at his dealer. Last year they told him his motor needed rebuilt because it sounded like the thing was gonna fly apart. He took it home and was determined to find the noise it had began to make shortly after he had it serviced. He found a spark plug socket wrench they had left when they serviced his bike, and it had lodged on the engine and it was rattling at high RPMs!

I think whatever you buy will need worked on. But for me, that's half the fun. Just so long as I'm riding more than I'm working!

hnh

Go for a harley if you're up for low quality at a WAY too high price... JMO

Quote from: RobTheTyrant on September 05, 2007, 06:30:16 AM
Go for a harley if you're up for low quality at a WAY too high price... JMO

+1

I will NEVER EVER buy any vehicle car, truck or bike made in america 

i was there working on your bike owen,  to me it looked like lack of oil changes that did that to the valves.  you do have 6000 miles on it with only one oil change.

Humm, I really think that there is a new generation of Harley Davidsons, a guy I work with bought one two years ago, before he bought it I told him dont do it numerous times. Now I have to admit I was totally wrong the thing runs like champ. Where I live Harley is really big, Ventura has a huge population of Hells Angels types and unfortunately I live about 6 blocks from their headquarters. So, I see alot of Harleys here and the funny thing is that I used to see alot more on the side of the rode then I do now. Maybe the quality is alot better then we think, still mechanics can do alot of damage to a fine machine. Good luck with what ever you choose, but make sure you have a good friend that knows the bike.

owen i am going up to see you today and let you know what i saw in your more.  hopefully that will help you understand why this happened.  btw i am really sorry, i have had vavle problems before and it sucks

you know,  i'm happy with you saying i'll never buy a suzuki again...but another foreign bike? 

thats like having a problem with a ford focus and saying - hell - no more american cars for me.  not even a chrysler crossfire which shares a platform with a mercedes clk230.   or then buying a mazda 3...which is on teh same platform as a focus.  or then buyign a civic, that is built in indiana. 

i'm sure that triumph or BMW motorcycles have little to nothign to do with how well designed (in your oppinion) a suzuki is.  and i'm sure honda, ducati, aprilia and yamaha don't share much with suzuki either.

did you get the first service done at 5,500 ? or did you get the factory recommended service at 600, and the other increments? there is a valve adjustment including in the 600 miles maintenance  http://gstwin.com/initial_service.htm  if they were out of adjustement for 5,000 miles i can see them being blown. 

regardless of what bike you get, it's goign to be more maintenance than a car and not following that maintenance seems to be very bad. 

i also work with a guy who supports digital engineering environments, he says he has personally seen Buells, and would never ever buy a buell after seeing their engineering environment.  to each thier own though.   Harely is trying to erase the stigma that they are poor quality so they're trying to turn thigns around.  and the new Buell 1125R is pretty bad radical

 

Quote from: scottpA_GS on September 05, 2007, 06:44:07 AM

Quote from: RobTheTyrant on September 05, 2007, 06:30:16 AM
Go for a harley if you're up for low quality at a WAY too high price... JMO

+1

I will NEVER EVER buy any vehicle car, truck or bike made in america 

Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota, BMW all have assembly plants in the US. Would you buy an "imported" brand assembled by an American?

The quality of the product not only is determined by the design but also by the assembler. Same thing is true for service. The work is only as good as the person doing it.

Quote
The quality of the product not only is determined by the design but also by the assembler. Same thing is true for service. The work is only as good as the person doing it.

+1 Definitely.

Quote from: scottpA_GS on September 05, 2007, 06:44:07 AM
I will NEVER EVER buy any vehicle car, truck or bike made in america 

The last two foreign cars I've had (Honda and Subaru) were made in America.  So good luck.

What's this ? Don't blame the cause for the affect ?

If you failed to follow the recommendations, how can you blame the entire BRAND ?

And by the way, failing to maintain a suzuki is MUCH cheaper than doing so with a HD. The initial outlay is far greater for a HD.

By the way, just fixing and maintaining your current machine will pan out much much cheaper than outlay for yet another machine, and then following your current method of upkeep.

Quote from: ohgood on September 05, 2007, 01:24:41 PM
If you failed to follow the recommendations, how can you blame the entire BRAND ?

He didn't blame the brand.  Be blamed the NATION, and every other nation that is not the USA. 

Oh, yeah.... I'm a patriotic bastard, but I wish my damn country could build a motorcycle, or a computer, or unleaded baby toys.  Back in the 50's, a heap of ore would get shoved in one side of the GM plant, and cars would roll out the other side.  We're so far away from that it's scary.

Quote from: Dan02GS on September 05, 2007, 07:35:41 AM
Humm, I really think that there is a new generation of Harley Davidsons, a guy I work with bought one two years ago, before he bought it I told him dont do it numerous times. Now I have to admit I was totally wrong the thing runs like champ. Where I live Harley is really big, Ventura has a huge population of Hells Angels types and unfortunately I live about 6 blocks from their headquarters. So, I see alot of Harleys here and the funny thing is that I used to see alot more on the side of the rode then I do now. Maybe the quality is alot better then we think, still mechanics can do alot of damage to a fine machine. Good luck with what ever you choose, but make sure you have a good friend that knows the bike.

The Harley's are getting better al the time, japanese pistons carbs etc,......gn gn gn

frankie. i had pat change the oil in it at the intial service. then i changed it at 3000 and used synthetic. the book says every 4500 miles and i it has 5500 on it now. so its only been 2500 miles since the last change. and the oil seemed pretty clear to me.

Chuck said:

If you failed to follow the recommendations, how can you blame the entire BRAND ?

He didn't blame the brand.  Be blamed the NATION, and every other nation that is not the USA. 

Oh, yeah.... I'm a patriotic bastard, but I wish my damn country could build a motorcycle, or a computer, or unleaded baby toys.  Back in the 50's, a heap of ore would get shoved in one side of the GM plant, and cars would roll out the other side.  We're so far away from that it's scary.

Ya, I know the feeling man. I see management pushing shaZam! out the door 'to make this delivery deadline' and it's a shame. Another 2-5% of the total time and effort on the job would make a good product, instead they consistantly ship shaZam!.

I'd love to believe chevy made a good truck, and buy a big plasma tv made here, but I'm afraid that day will never happen. The japs (japs meaning those really smart people that build dependable awesome products) figured it out long ago.