2003 LeMans FeedBack after long trip - BAD

[Guest Texas Boy]

My wife and I just returned from a 2500 mile trip from Dallas,TX to Sedona, AZ. She drives the LeMans. Here is how the bike performed:

 

1) 500 miles from home the speedometer cable broke

 

2) Around 1200 miles the left side upper faring mount broke - which left the left faring flapping in the wind (ever so slightly)

 

3) Around 1800 miles the crossover exhaust pipe worked so loose that it was rocking back and forth banging against the engine. I tried to tighten the pipe clamp, but they were as tight as they could be.

 

4) At around 2000 miles the exhaust pipes cracked at the point where they connect to the engine - both of them. Actually one split so bad down the middle that you could hear exhaust leaking as the engine backfired whenever the throttle was let off.

 

5) Left rear turn signal lens broke and fell off. Luckily I noticed this and was able to tap the housing back to the turn signal stock.

 

Of coarse my BMW 1200 RS ran fine without one single problem. Unfortunally, my wife was on the Guzzi. Luckily, the bike made it back from the trip and is at the dealer waiting for parts. I am very dissapointed that this bike had so many issues. The LeMans had about 2200 miles on it before the trip and no problems at all. I am just glad the engine, held up.

 

I would be interested to know if anyone else has had comparable problems.

 

Ride Safe,

Jeff

[Guest John T]

 

1) 500 miles from home the speedometer cable broke

 

This one is just bad luck, about a $30 part. (warranty for you)

 

2) Around 1200 miles the left side upper faring mount broke - which left the left faring flapping in the wind (ever so slightly)

 

Fairing mounted wrong, too tight, too loose? Maybe it got bumped? I don't have all that plastic so hard for me to say.

 

3) Around 1800 miles the crossover exhaust pipe worked so loose that it was rocking back and forth banging against the engine.

 

Is this tha stock unit or aftermarket? The front crossover or the one under the tranny? Always take a wrench to these things before and occasionally during a ride.

 

4) At around 2000 miles the exhaust pipes cracked at the point where they connect to the engine - both of them.

 

Never heard of this one! The only thing I can think of is the loose Parts caused the rest of the system to be stressed. Or if the bike is running hot (very rich or lean) this will cause much stress and failure. Are the head pipes blue? (HOT)

 

5) Left rear turn signal lens broke and fell off.

 

Either bad luck or maybe it got bumped? (hint, go to a Buell dealer and get the whole part for about 5 bucks)

 

 

I would be interested to know if anyone else has had comparable problems.

 

No, once sorted, Guzzis will go far without troubles, just try to keep up on things before they become problems.

[gthyni]

I have a BMW car it is very reliable (and fun too for being a car that is)

BMW motorcycle are reliable AND BORING

 

As for detail quality and reliability the germans are clearly

superior to the italians. Italians motorcycle (and car) makers

make suberb motors and chassis then they seems to loose

interest.

 

As a "weekend warrior"

I want a motorcycle to love not to rely on.

I love my V11 and it's quiet reliable too ,

as for the old Beeza, it's unconditional love

[al_roethlisberger]

Hi Jeff,

 

Wow, that's quite a list.... sorry to hear about your problems. We've actually heard very little in the realm of complaints for the 2003's, so this is a bit surprising.

 

But it is odd that all of these gremlins showed up at the same time. Do you think they are related somehow?? ...especially the exhaust??

 

 

I've never heard of the headers failing in the way you describe on any V11 variety over the years(not to say it hasn't happened though), so maybe the suggestion that the loose x-over conspired to stress the headers could be relevant. Perhaps the exhaust headers, x-over, etc were installed incorrectly ad stressed. Over time, or sustained vibration, this could lead to the more systemic failure you describe I guess. Very odd though.

 

As far as the speedo and tail-light, I'd have to agree that although you have every right to be disappointed... just chalk those up to leaving the house without the blessing of "lady luck" The lenses are attached with a single screw, and plastic tab. So if it wasn't "clipped in" fully, it's conceivable that over time it could come out from vibration, or someone could have knicked it. I occasionally make sure to check that the phillips fastener is tight as well, as I've found them backed out over time from vibration. I'd put loctite on them, but since it's plastic and the screw is kinda cheapy... I just choose to check them every few months. But yes, they are literally $3 at your local Buell dealer, and they almost always have them in stock!

 

Now, the fairing mount.... yep, I guess that's just simply a manufacturing anomaly.... a defect. I've not heard of that happening on *any* LeMans yet(although we may have simply not heard of others). So I guess you just got a lemon fairing sub-frame . Make sure they replace the whole thing for you, not just re-weld it.

 

 

But here's a "silver lining".... if you read through my various bi%$h threads, in the current and old forum, you'll see that I and various owners had a handful of nits and failures right from the outset, and they seemed to show up in the first 5k miles or so. Yes, they were disappointing and frustrating, but once they were fixed, that was pretty much "it". Everything seemed to settle down at that point. It seemed like "if it was going to break", it did right away. In some ways, that's not really a bad thing

 

So your "silver lining" is that maybe you just found basically all your major defects on one short trip... and after this, it's smooth sailing I hope so anyway

 

Good luck, and let us know about the exhaust failure. I'm very interested to know the root-cause once determined. That's an odd one for sure.

 

al

[Guest Texas Boy]

Thanks for the information and your thoughts. My hope is that after this "break in" the LeMans won't have many more problems. In general, the bike performed very well. She always started right up and didn't burn any oil. We should be making another trip out to Colorado in the fall and this will be a good test to see if any of these problems creep back up.

 

On the real plus side, the bike is easy on the tires. The LeMans got almost 5000 miles on the stock BT020s which is much better than any of my other bikes get. The wear indicators are just now popping out. I have heard of some of the guys getting 6500+ on these tires, but I think we ride a little faster than most (usually cruise on the open highway around 95mph - it is awfully lonely out in the middle of New Mexico and Arizona). I am using new Avons sport/touring (can't remember the number) on my 1200RS and after 2600 miles they still look almost new.

 

Thanks again for your thoughts,

Jeff

[sws626]

I've just completed a hard 1500km ride from southern Germany to the UK on a V11 Scura. Though I sympathesize with Jeff's frustrations and experienced some similar trouble along the way, on the whole, the journey went without a hitch.

 

The only problems I can point to are:

 

1) the mysterious disappearing turn signal cover. I don't know where it went or how. But I rang up MG and easily found a mechanic/dealer in Freiburg who gave me one off his own bike.

 

2) tach still fogs up all the time -- just plain annoying.

 

3) clutch has gotten a bit noisy -- need to have that looked at.

 

4) I need to lose a couple of inches from my legs or learn to take more frequent breaks.

 

5) Hard luggage would have been nice, but the Oxford softbags are not a bad alternative (see pic under naked bikes) -- it is a pain to take them on and off and they don't lock, but they do hold enough for one person on a long journey and do keep out most of the water in a downpour.

 

My overall impression is very favourable and I would not (will not) hesitate to take this bike out on even longer trips as soon as I can steal the time from work.

 

Stuart

 

[al_roethlisberger]

2) tach still fogs up all the time -- just plain annoying.

 

 

... if you drill a small "vent" hole in the plastic cup behind the tach, this is supposed to clear that up.

 

Mine stopped fogging after the first few days though.

 

al

[twhitaker]

Hepco Becker makes a nice saddlebag system with mounts for spine frames. Ian Johnson has some nice pics at http://www.obairllann.net/~reaper/bmw-bike...ies/lemans-bags

[dlaing]

too many lllllllllllls in oberllllllllann.

try

http://www.obairlann.net/~reaper/bmw-bike/...es/lemans-bags/

[twhitaker]

OOPS! My bad.

 

I can take the bags off my '96 1100i California and put them on the LeMans in a jiffy.

[Orson]

2) tach still fogs up all the time -- just plain annoying.

 

Call me kooky...I kinda of think the foggy tach syndrome is a bit endearing in that "Italian character" sort of way. It's a little harmless trait that separates it from the world of Japanese bike perfection. It makes me smile and makes me recall the decaying factory in Mandello rather than the spotless Japanese factories. Vitto in oily coveralls rather than a production line welding robot.

I know everyone has different tolerance levels.

[Dirtybill]

2) tach still fogs up all the time -- just plain annoying.

 

Call me kooky...I kinda of think the foggy tach syndrome is a bit endearing in that "Italian character" sort of way. It's a little harmless trait that separates it from the world of Japanese bike perfection. It makes me smile and makes me recall the decaying factory in Mandello rather than the spotless Japanese factories. Vitto in oily coveralls rather than a production line welding robot.

I know everyone has different tolerance levels.

EXACTLY why a I'm on my 2nd Guzzi

 

The amount of character this bike exudes is 10 times more than any Japanese bike I've owned, which at last count was around 40.

 

It reminds me of owning a classic/vintage bike but with a warranty and some of the good things that progress has brought us.

 

Even the 4 week wait (so far) for my broken oil cooler mount hasn't been frustrating.