Yamaha TRX850 fork tube?

[beauchampd]

Hi,

My TRX850 has pitted fork tubes which end up chewing fork seals.

Does anyone know who can regrind and rechrome them?

[FROSTY]

Do a search back on here --this has come up before.

[Pussy]

Hi,

My TRX850 has pitted fork tubes which end up chewing fork seals.

Does anyone know who can regrind and rechrome them?

Engine Components, Hamilton airport.
Aviation grade hard chrome. Get them to repair the legs, and they will be better than new

[beauchampd]

Thanks, I will give them a call.

[cs363]

Engine Components, Hamilton airport.
Aviation grade hard chrome. Get them to repair the legs, and they will be better than new


+1 on that, seen some of their work just the other day and it was bloody good! From memory it was around $400 for two (conventional) fork tubes though obviously may be more if the pitting is severe.

[beauchampd]

Well I sent my fork tubes to FE1 suspension ion Hamilton to get rechromed at a quoted price of $400 for both forks. They sent them off to Aerospace Industries in Hamilton to get the work done.

First problem was that the price was wrong, even though I double checked, and they wanted more cash, almost twice as much. Then when the forks came back they had destroyed the inside bushes so they had no damping. They knew they had done this but did not tell anyone.

It has taken me 12 weeks of hard slog to get them sorted and even then I am now left with forks that are barely adequate. They have rebuilt the bushes but they are not to manufacturers spec and so they do not perform the same.

All I can say is that FE1 only seemed interested in getting payment and Aerospace mucked about for weeks with the forks. I have now missed a summers riding also.

So be warned, do not deal with either of these guys. There must be some good motorcycle suspension companies NZ that still believe in good customer service so try one of them instead.

Darren

[cs363]

Well I sent my fork tubes to FE1 suspension ion Hamilton to get rechromed at a quoted price of $400 for both forks. They sent them off to Aerospace Industries in Hamilton to get the work done.

First problem was that the price was wrong, even though I double checked, and they wanted more cash, almost twice as much. Then when the forks came back they had destroyed the inside bushes so they had no damping. They knew they had done this but did not tell anyone.

It has taken me 12 weeks of hard slog to get them sorted and even then I am now left with forks that are barely adequate. They have rebuilt the bushes but they are not to manufacturers spec and so they do not perform the same.

All I can say is that FE1 only seemed interested in getting payment and Aerospace mucked about for weeks with the forks. I have now missed a summers riding also.

So be warned, do not deal with either of these guys. There must be some good motorcycle suspension companies NZ that still believe in good customer service so try one of them instead.

Darren


Firstly, who the hell are FE1 suspension?
I've never heard of them and as I'm in the trade (and have been for many years) that rings alarm bells already.
From your comments I would hazard a guess that the problem was with them rather than Aerospace (and don't you mean Engine Components at the airport?) as I know many reputable suspension and bike shops that use them with no problems at all.
Be careful not to paint both companies with the same brush - Engine Components do a fantastic job and there are plenty of people on here who have used there services with no issues at all.

[Pussy]

Firstly, who the hell are FE1 suspension?
I've never heard of them and as I'm in the trade (and have been for many years) that rings alarm bells already.
From your comments I would hazard a guess that the problem was with them rather than Aerospace (and don't you mean Engine Components at the airport?) as I know many reputable suspension and bike shops that use them with no problems at all.
Be careful not to paint both companies with the same brush - Engine Components do a fantastic job and there are plenty of people on here who have used there services with no issues at all.

Russell Emery at Engine components has done two sets of forks for me over the years, and did a great job. He's a motorcyclist, too.
I would be VERY surprised if he stuffed anything up

[Taz]

Probably means F1 Engineering.

[cs363]

Russell Emery at Engine components has done two sets of forks for me over the years, and did a great job. He's a motorcyclist, too.
I would be VERY surprised if he stuffed anything up

With you on that Pussy, besides (and you'd know) isn't Pacific Aerospace just making planes now and not doing any stuff like this? I can't think of anyone else out at the Tron airport that does hard chroming.


Probably means F1 Engineering.

In that case that would be a double big surprise, I've never dealt with F1 Engineering personally but know heaps who have - everyone sings their praises and I know Steve is a clever bugger and very particular so doesn't sound like the sort of thing he'd do.

[Taz]

Wonder what new yamaha tubes were worth?

[cs363]

Wonder what new yamaha tubes were worth?

According to this: http://shop.wemoto.com/index.dyn?oid=2147986

95 quid each (including 15% VAT) so about $247 each, at least in the UK....

[Robert Taylor]

Well I sent my fork tubes to FE1 suspension ion Hamilton to get rechromed at a quoted price of $400 for both forks. They sent them off to Aerospace Industries in Hamilton to get the work done.

First problem was that the price was wrong, even though I double checked, and they wanted more cash, almost twice as much. Then when the forks came back they had destroyed the inside bushes so they had no damping. They knew they had done this but did not tell anyone.

It has taken me 12 weeks of hard slog to get them sorted and even then I am now left with forks that are barely adequate. They have rebuilt the bushes but they are not to manufacturers spec and so they do not perform the same.

All I can say is that FE1 only seemed interested in getting payment and Aerospace mucked about for weeks with the forks. I have now missed a summers riding also.

So be warned, do not deal with either of these guys. There must be some good motorcycle suspension companies NZ that still believe in good customer service so try one of them instead.

Darren

Let me add a little perspective from a dealers / specialists point of view;

1) There is always immense pressure to pre-quote on a job and that is dangerous because all too often there are cost over-runs beyond anyones control.
2) What was actually destroyed was the internal check plate system, parts that are not available seperately and are encapsulated in place, usually by the ends of the fork tubes being rolled over at the ends. I cannot answer directly for TRX850 as its a while since I have viewed such forks. I happen to know about this problem as Steve rang me to seek my advice on how to sort it out.
3) So someone failed to blank it off or it may have been thought that the system was sturdy enough. Frankly its very easy to overlook that and in an ideal world the tubes would have been replaced with new parts inclusive of the once only check valve system.
4) BTW there are no manufacturers specs for the clearances on that system as its considered a non replaceable part excepting if you replace the fork leg.
5) Many businesses get incredibly busy and run on very tight margins. When I was working on my own I used to constantly have a 7 - 8 week backlog. Theres always immense pressure to ''do the job now, do it cheaply'' That is not always possible, reality. If there are customers that take that mentality to an extreme, let someone else have them!!!

If someone has screwed up yes thats regretable but what I do find VERY OBJECTIONABLE is your statement ''do not deal with either of these guys''. They may not be aware of your post and the ''Kiwibiker kangaroo court '' mentality that often happens. In fact both companies do a great job at least 99.99 % of the time, fact.
Back in 1990 Eddie Lawson had a huge testing crash that injured him, because the front brake pads in his YZR500 were installed back to front. He always insisted thereafter that the ''offending mechanic'' always instal his brake pads because he knew he would never make the same mistake twice.

[beauchampd]

Obviously this has created a bit of a stir.

I must emphasis that the quality of the work is not in question. The chroming has been done to a very high standard and the internals replaced after they were damaged. The bike is now fine as far as I can tell. Motorad in Wellington put it back together and are happy with it.

I also fully understand that mistakes happen, however what makes a good company great is how they deal with those mistakes. The issue has been sorted and I believe well, however I had to chase both companies a number of times to get this done. It may have been a simple communication issue but I should not have had to do this.

On the matter of wanting a cheap job I could have freighted the forks to Aussie and had them done for $120 a fork. Or I could have bought brand new replacement forks for $400 form the Aussie company. In fact I chose these guys because they had a great reputation. My issue here is that I got a quote for $400, rechecked the quote again just before I couriered the forks and then got told after the work that it was too low. If F1 Suspension had simply called the chromers and checked when I asked to confirm the quote then I could have had a accurate quote and made another decision (like purchase the after-market replacement parts) or not been surprised with a much bigger bill.

So to reiterate, no issues with the quality of work from either company I just wish they had been more careful with the quoting, initial work and then let me know what was going to happen to fix the issue.

[Robert Taylor]

Obviously this has created a bit of a stir.

I must emphasis that the quality of the work is not in question. The chroming has been done to a very high standard and the internals replaced after they were damaged. The bike is now fine as far as I can tell. Motorad in Wellington put it back together and are happy with it.

I also fully understand that mistakes happen, however what makes a good company great is how they deal with those mistakes. The issue has been sorted and I believe well, however I had to chase both companies a number of times to get this done. It may have been a simple communication issue but I should not have had to do this.

On the matter of wanting a cheap job I could have freighted the forks to Aussie and had them done for $120 a fork. Or I could have bought brand new replacement forks for $400 form the Aussie company. In fact I chose these guys because they had a great reputation. My issue here is that I got a quote for $400, rechecked the quote again just before I couriered the forks and then got told after the work that it was too low. If F1 Suspension had simply called the chromers and checked when I asked to confirm the quote then I could have had a accurate quote and made another decision (like purchase the after-market replacement parts) or not been surprised with a much bigger bill.

So to reiterate, no issues with the quality of work from either company I just wish they had been more careful with the quoting, initial work and then let me know what was going to happen to fix the issue.

Many businesses are averse to quoting because of unforeseen issues. And they do happen, especially with labour time. Sometimes its better to lose the job than be pressured for a quote and then feel the heat later.