As I was riding at 40-45 MPH I noticed a battery light come on. Short time later my display read (system voltage) within minutes everything on my bike shut off including engine abruptly neatly tossing me off the bike. Thankfully, I managed to stay on and safely (only because drivers were paying attention) was able to gain control and stop. My bike at this time had 3800 miles. Harley repaired the issue that they said was a burnt stator thus depleting my battery of any power. I'm great full I wasn't on the freeway! After some research this has happened to 100% of the 2009 1125cr's and r's. This is a dangerous issue and shame on harley davidson for not caring and doing the right thing! Also shame on the federal safety agency for not protecting the consumer!!! What more is needed??? 100% of these stock bikes have this issue!!! Wwhy is this not recalled??? Is it cause harley is a multi-million dollar brand??? Protect the consumer, do your job!!!!!!!!
The worst 2009 Buell 1125CR problems
Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.
Problems by type
Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.
- Electrical41
- Engine13
- Lights7
- Fuel system2
Specific symptoms reported on the 2009 Buell 1125CR
Recalls 1
Engine and engine cooling
- What is wrong
- Buell is recalling 140 my 2009 1125cr motorcycles. These motorcycles can experience a premature failure of the rear cylinder cam chain tension guide (part number f0020.1am). This can cause plastic debris to block the oil pump screen, possibly leading to oil starvation and engine seizure.
- Risk
- This condition may allow the engine to seize, resulting in rear wheel lock-up. This could result in a crash, which could cause injury or death to the rider.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the rear cam chain tensioner. The recall began on october 20, 2008. Owners may contact buell at 1‑414‑342‑4680.
Recall number 08V554000 · Recall details
See all 1 recalls for the 2009 Buell 1125CR
Defect investigations
Motorcycle Stalling
ODI opened this investigation based on 25 allegations of subject motorcycle stalling, without warning, due to charging system failure (typically involving the stator).As part of this investigation, testing was conducted to assess whether there would be areasonable warning prior to stator-related engine shut-down while underway.A memo describing this testing may be found in the public file for this investigation.Given the relative frequency of alleged stator failures involving Buell 1125's, it is apparent that customers may not be satisfied with their motorcycle.An example of a manufacturer responding to this type of dissatisfaction is found in the Harley Davidson December 7, 2009product improvement campaign to address the stalling issue.However, current test data does not establish that this customer satisfaction issue is also a safety defect that results in an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.In the absence of a safety defect trend related to Buell 1125 charging system failures, this investigation is closed. The 62 ODI complaints we cite may be found by entering the following ODI investigation numbersat www-odi.the federal safety agency.dot.gov/owners/Searchreference:10373814,10386008,10397985,10406939,10406967,10406969,10407046, 10407318,10407511,10407672,10410524,10411954,10429450,10429467, 10429481,10429488,10429530,10429531,10429964,10429970,10429985, 10429987,10430176,10430736,10432169,10432891,10445118,10452480, 10457062,10457815,10457829,10462420,10462439,10462834,10463008, 10463483,10463664,10465165,10465225,10465226,10466505,10470386, 10470415,10470428,10473664,10474136,10474363,10479428,10484793, 10494949,10495197,10496446,10496804,10497643,10496127,10496088, 10496048,10496022,10496018,10495355,10495331,10495307
PE12035
Sudden fuel expulsion
We opened this PE based on a single complaint of rapid fuel expulsion while re-fueling from the owner of a Buell 1125CR.After opening this PE, we contacted other owners, Buell dealer service departments and monitored activity of various Buell-related web forums.While Harley Davidson (Buell was a subsidiary) has no owner complaints, it did receive four warranty claims related to this issue.Two involve the fuel line check valve, one a pinched fuel vent hose, and one saturated charcoal cannister due to over-fill.Currently, the data does not indicate a trending safety defect exists.We will continue to monitor this issue and take action as appropriate.
PE10004
Technical service bulletins for the 2009 Buell 1125CR 4
Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.
- Market specific battery introduction
- Buell motorcycles: certain MOTORCYCLES-1125R and 1125CR 2009-10 and 2008 1125R have been refitted with a...
- Buell motorcycles: may experience a premature failure of the rear cylinder cam chain tension guide
- Buel motorcycles: a defect relating to motorcycle safety of certain 1125CR
What 2009 Buell 1125CR owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Electrical system overheat situation, burnt stator due to over heating on a poorly designed charging system. I'm not the first and definitely not the last with this issue that harley davidson chooses to overlook instead of fixing the problem. For the few owners that had this repaired under warranty, hd only changed the burnt parts with the identical replacement which fails again on nearly all repaired bikes. Erik buell racing has come up with a partial fix but, that cost ($455) comes out the owners pocket, not the manufacturer. Plus the cost of other parts, stator rebuild, gaskets, specific tools needed to complete the repair properly.
Motorcycle lost power and stalled at intersection upon acceleration.
Prior to the first incident the motorcycle had been running for about an hour traveling at a conservative speed behind a leader of a pack of riders. The vehicle was parked at a location where the air temperature was roughly 45 degrees f for about 30-45 minutes. Upon attempting to start the motorcycle, power would successfully cycle and the electric starter switch would produce cranking with the operating switch engaged and key turned to on, but the vehicle had a considerable amount of trouble getting to an operational idle state. The electrical system's ability continued to deteriorate, resulting in more delayed starts and severely impacted operating integrity. During moving operation, the motorcycle's lcd display backlight would extinguish along with the headlights. The RPM needle would regularly drop to 0 and stay there, making it difficult for me to keep the motorcycle around 5000 rpms (recommended operating RPM to preserve life of notoriously defective stator). The vehicle presents a bucking and jerking motion while operating at conservative speeds (under 6000 rpms accelerating very gradually), resulting in sporadic accelerations/decelerations and reduction of operator control. The motorcycle has completely lost power on 4 separate occasions in dangerous environments, and 7 times with relatively safe surroundings. The motorcycle is currently in a state of solitary non-operation (needs external power source to start) and I do not feel responsible riding it. This is a widespread issue and something needs to be done on the manufacturer's behalf in terms of recalling the stator assembly and other electrical components that are well-known for their failure. Buell forums online clearly reflect this, they can be cited upon request.
At around july 24th, 2011 I was riding my 2009 buell 1125cr home at about 1am from easton, pa. As I crossed into nj my battery light came on so I proceeded to head home with about 20 miles to go. As I got to my exit off the highway (1.5 miles from home) the bike shut off and system voltage appeared shortly before. I managed to get off the highway after the rear tire locked up causing a sudden skid of the rear tire. I found that the bike had not been charging due to a burnt out stator and failed charging system. 8 months later around the middle of may, 2012 I had taken a trip down to florida and after 2,000 miles the charging system failed again as I was stranded in daytona. I managed to get my bike jump started and ride to the nearest harley davidson/buell dealer where I had to spend $300 on a new battery and charging relay. This was at about 14,000 miles on the odo. Since then I have been having continuous issues with the charging system and removed the recalled charging harness which seems to have fixed the issue for now. But I am still worried it will happen again in the future.
Just before turning southbound on h 75 in dewey oklahoma, my motorcycle died completely. Had I committed to the turn and entered the highway, I would have been left without power with oncoming high speed traffic. The problem turned out to be a failed stator in the electrical system. My motorcycle had previously been serviced by route66 harley davidson in tulsa to install a corrective wiring harness to fix this known problem, but apparently the corrective action was ineffective.
The stator and electrical system started giving me issues since I have owned the bike. I first had my voltage regulator go out on me. I then had the warranty harness upgrade which was supposed fix the electrical problems, but it didn't. Prior to my stator failing, the voltage would not go above 11.9 which is too low. The stator eventually over worked itself and melted internally. The bike started backfiring loudly, lights and electrical systems got very dim and the bike was extremely hot as it was not running properly. I stopped the bike for a minute for it to cool down. After I did that the bike would not start and stranded me on the road 20 miles from home. This is a known electrical issue for 2009 1125cr motorcycles. The fix and labor cost for this was well over $1500 and quite the pain and hassle.
On february 21, 2013 at 10:40pm, I was travelling north on interstate highway to work when my instrument cluster which reads my speed and vehicle gauges turned off and my low-beam headlight bulb flashed and burned out, causing me to lose sight of the roadway temporarily. I switched my high-beam headlight switch to have light to see the roadway and a second later, it also flashed and burned out, as if my electrical system was faulty, again. This happened at mileage 4551. I just recently had this system serviced with another voltage regulator at mileage 4488, which means I only travelled 63 miles on the new voltage regulator. I was almost involved in an accident at mileage 4480 when my electrical system turned off during operation and nearly had another vehicle strike me from behind when vehicle electrical system turned off and stalled vehicle in traffic. This is a safety hazard and needs to be repaired by manufacturer. This is the 2nd safety issue I have been involved in and luckily no accident had occurred. I will be sending vehicle to maintenance shop for a 2nd time to try and have this safety issue repaired, again. Any help that the federal safety agency can do to help solve this safety issue is greatly appreciated.
I have had two failures of the stator/rotor charging system in my bike, one at approx. 8200mi and another at approx 15,000mi both while riding. Initial failure was during the summer time, bike began to sputter and I lost all electrical and lights, it then suddenly stalled while travelling approx 45-50mph, causing the rear tire to skid before I pulled the clutch and put it in neutral. This forced me to pull over on the narrow shoulder of a busy highway and wait for a tow company to retrieve the bike and myself. I spent two hours waiting on the hot tarmac and had to hand push the bike to a safer location in order to load it up on the trailer without blocking traffic. Dealer replaced stator under factory warranty, cause due to overheating of stator unit. Date approx 7/24/2010, mileage approx 8200mi second failure was during later summer/fall, bike again started to sputter, I happened to be in town at the time and fortunately, managed to get to a local dealership where it promptly and suddenly stalled as I rolled to a stop in the parking lot. Dealer replaced stator and rotor under extended warranty due to heat related failure. Date approx 9/25/2013, mileage approx 15,000mi.
I was traveling south bound on a highway, at 50 MPH with a steady throttle, which the power to the motorcycle cut out, and I was forced to coast to the side of the road. I was almost rear-ended due to the power not being on and the brake lights not having power. The bike was able to be re-started and finish my journey home.
Compare the 2009 Buell 1125CR
Other model years
2009
Questions about the 2009 Buell 1125CR
Is the 2009 Buell 1125CR reliable?
Owners have filed 44 complaints about the 2009 Buell 1125CR, close to a typical 1125CR model year.
What is the 2009 Buell 1125CR year score?
The 2009 Buell 1125CR scores 75 out of 100 (average). The score compares it with the other model years of the Buell 1125CR: 75 is a typical year, 50 means twice the usual complaints, and serious complaints and recalls lower it.
What is the most common problem with the 2009 Buell 1125CR?
Electrical system, with 41 complaints, typically around 4,705 miles. Next is engine (13).
How many recalls does the 2009 Buell 1125CR have?
1 recall, covering engine and engine cooling.
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