My new Empulse R Broke

[werm_works]

At 649 miles at the freeway on ramp I down shifted and it felt like it went in between gears then caught up and locked my rear then next thing I know I have lost power and am hearing a grinding noise, anxious to get out of a hairy situation where there are accelerating cars behind me I try to hope trying another gear would engage but trying up shifting or down shifting didn't help, my shifter was stuck and I'm on Nuetral so I braced myself for a rear end collision but thank God the speeding car behind was able to slow down fast enough when he noticed I had a problem so I coasted to the freeway shoulder to find my chain, shifter shaft and some other stuff are broken then to top it off my tranny started leaking


I'm really sad this happened and to top it off I know my Empulse will be out of commission for at least a few weeks and the sad thing is I loaned my Enertia to my co worker and my only other bike that runs is my wife's honda spree. I miss the days when Brammo had Dave Harvey who was always nice enough to lend me his Enertia when my Enertia was being serviced

[00049 (AKA SopFu)]

Did the chain break? If so, consider yourself lucky that the damage wasn't worse. I've seen chains completely destroy engine blocks.

That's crazy to happen at that early mileage, even under total abuse conditions. Probably caused by a mistake installing the chain. I am sure Brammo will get you riding as soon as possible!

[Richard230]

Chains breaking was a real problem with the early Honda CB750's.  The chains of those days could not handle the power of the new Honda 4 and would break, damaging the gearbox case and sometimes locking up the rear wheel.  Honda responded by reinforcing the front sprocket area and convincing chain manufacturers to improve their designs and manufacturing processes.  Fortunately, chains very rarely break any more, as long as the proper size and type chain is selected.

I am sure this is just a fluke.  It just wasn't your day.     Good luck getting quick repairs and getting back on the road soon.   

[werm_works]

I wish it was just the chain but by the looks of it either they spend so much hours opening my tranny and replacing the shaft or completely replacing my tranny plus my swing arm and sprocket that is all scratched up

Sad and funny that both bikes on the trailer have the chain off, although the issue on the other bike is the engine mount broke and caused the engine to shift and the chain to pop off

[Shinysideup]

Bummer. Like Richard says, probably a fluke.

Don’t know where you’re located, but the trailer plate shows “California” so your fairly close to Brammo headquarters and they WILL take care of you.

My bike had a weeping seal around the shifter shaft. Nothing dangerous, just a few annoying drops on the garage floor. Brammo had Scuderia change out the tranny and I was up and running the same day. Your dealer may have a loaner, too. Keep us posted.

[werm_works]

Yeah I'm in Los Angeles, my bike just got picked up on its way to Bartels HD, unfortunately Alli who will work on the hike won't be back till Tuesday so my bike will be out for a while.

And it's not just a tranny, I noticed that my swing arm is really shot and so was my rear wheel and and some other stuff so we shall see

[Jeff]

Holy shiiiiit, that is crazy.  I'm glad the damage was limited to the bike.

When my Empulse was out of action, Scuderia graciously requisitioned a used V-Strom for me to ride around on for a few days -- I hope Bartel's takes care of you!

[Richard230]

I have to admit, there are some really exceptional motorcycle dealers in the U.S. and Scuderia West is one of the best.  Brammo was very fortunate to sign them up as a dealer.

Good luck at Bartel's. Let us know how they treated you and what they had to say about the chain failure. 

[BrammoBrian]

Wow! Very sorry to hear about this.  I know the Service guys at Brammo are on it with Bartels, so hopefully they get you back in action shortly. 

A couple of questions:

You mentioned you were downshifting while getting on to an on-ramp.  What gear were you going down to?

Was the 600 mile service performed by the dealership? 

I've only seen a chain break on a bike once or twice, but these were prototypes, not production bikes.  Crazy.   

[werm_works]

I was on 5th down to 4th then 3rd when it happened.

I did the service my sell at 586 miles and the oil was silver and the magnet plug was Like a porcupine ball full of metal shavings but when I told Alli of it she said that was normal.


I'm a Motul dealer so I used the synthetic Motul Transoil and I even flushed it with half a quart of Transoil till I couldn't see any metal shavings come off.

Alli of Bartels won't be in till Tuesday so unfortunately I'm without a bike since this happened and with my Bartels experience, to be honest it was that good when they were trying to figure out what was wrong with my Enertia that was pretty much down for 3 months. I'm hoping the case with my Empulse is different since I bought the bike from them 3 weeks ago but by the looks of the damage my bike won't be an in and out thing. Just by what I could see the morning after I would need the tranny, swing arm, sprocket, wheel, shifter linkage bracket and that fin looking guide by the tranny's counter sprocket, and those are just what I have noticed

[werm_works]

Typo about the Bartels experience, I meant "wasn't"

[werm_works]

No loaner bike for me and they said to wait a couple of days before I get any news about the bike

[tkthompson]

No loaner bike for me and they said to wait a couple of days before I get any news about the bike

Sounds pretty shitty since the bike is practically new.........

[werm_works]

Still no word from the dealer.... Any inputs from your end Brian?

[BrammoBrian]

Still no word from the dealer.... Any inputs from your end Brian?

I'm sorry to hear this.  I can't imagine what the hold up is, but I will inquire with the service group today.