A Rave

[kevie]

Well ....... bike (Boulevard) is back on the road again YAY

It developed a serious rattle in the motor (at 53K) so off to the shop .... diagnosed as cam chain problem, so .... off to the local Suzuki dealership,,,,,,,,, hhhhmmm "No parts in NZ .... can order them, about 10-14 weeks coming" aaarrggghhhhh and .... they said "cant do the job till at least late February".
Sooooooooooo I go online and order the parts from USA direct ... they were here in 11 days, then the task of finding a bike shop that can do the job like ... about NOW!
Honda Hamilton came to the party and said yep can start it next week... so Saturday, I get bike out to take it over..... flat battery ..... so on the charger and then rang them .. they said they can come get it for only $20 (couldn't take bike and car over there and drive car back for that) so they picked it up that Saturday afternoon, job done, picked up the bike on the Friday
The cost of Parts (2 each chains, guides, sliders and tensioners, and a full gasket set) was NZ$1277.40 and labor was $1392.04 total cost of $2669.44

Something that annoyed me is ....
1/ The huge number of Boulevards in NZ and the fact they are all going to need cams chains etc done at around the same kms and no parts in the country.
2/ the huge delay getting parts from Japan into NZ, when from USA can only take 10-12 days.
3/ The attitude that came across from Road and Sport (where incidentally I BOUGHT THE BIKE FROM!!) .... the call-taker said to me "Its not a Harley so we aren't really interested in looking at it" hhhhhmmmmmmm if I was considering a Harley as my next bike (which the thought was there) .... I'm sure not now!!!
And I thought it was only Harley owners that won't have anything to do with Metric bikes lol

BUTTTTTTTT bike was ready to do a ride with the MC to Rotorua, and an awesome day it was too and bike sounds better than it did the day I bought it.

Thumbs up to Honda Hamilton and also to Alpha-sports in the USA for their quick service and very informative steps to the shipment.

[SMOKEU]

That repair bill would certainly piss me off.

[Old Steve]

You've got to adjust that timing chain tensioner quite regularly. Check your handbook. It's the downside of a Boulevard.

If you don't adjust it then you'll be facing a big bill once you've done a few k's, probably around two and a half grands worth at about the 50,000 km mark.

Mind you, poor service from the shop where you bought the bike. And are you sure the supposed lack of parts wasn't just their excuse for them not to have to do the job on a non-Harley.

[Mom]

Well ....... bike (Boulevard) is back on the road again YAY

*snip* Big Bill... Thumbs up to Honda Hamilton and also to Alpha-sports in the USA for their quick service and very informative steps to the shipment.

Nice to read. Yepper these little lovelies of ours can cost a fortune if we are not blessed with the skills, tools or knowledge to repair them when they go poohs! I used to have a go with my old Blue Lovely/Bitch, would not attempt it on Millie.

May you have years of trouble free riding from here on in.

[kevie]

Y
Mind you, poor service from the shop where you bought the bike. And are you sure the supposed lack of parts wasn't just their excuse for them not to have to do the job on a non-Harley.

The disappointment on the seller of the bike was that they had sold it and now didn't want to know about it lol I appreciate it was traded in on a Harley tho so they were just flicking it off, but the tone and perceived attitude of the guy I spoke to was the off-putting thing, I appreciate R&S is a Harley dealership and may not want to handle all sorts of makes but there's a polite way of saying that eh... or have I been involved in customer service too long and expect too high a standard of customer relations lol

The delay in parts was from Suzuki themselves, and shops cant bypass the 'system' whereas I could.... and did meaning where I got the work done was much more flexable as I had the parts in hand.

[Katman]

It shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks for Suzuki NZ to air freight parts from Japan.

[Mom]

Replaced the top cam chain on my CB750 years ago was a straightforward fixup and just made sure I had the teeth position on the sprockets well marked prior to removal of the old chain. The old Honda workshop manuals were very well written in their day. I heard they don't sell workshop manuals to the public today.

Like I said, tools and skills. If you have them anything is possible.

[blackdog]

I think you will find that was a 'rant'.

A rave is generally about a good thing. Like when we took e and partied to house music in the 90's.

[Flip]

Maybee Road and Sport were just busy with the work they had and didnt want to take any new work in?

Jap bike parts are expensive and some times difficult to get. Hells bells $2.5k for a couple of cam chains sounds expensive to me.

[kevie]

I think you will find that was a 'rant'.

A rave is generally about a good thing. Like when we took e and partied to house music in the 90's.

Stands corrected ........ gets tired so sits corrected ..... aaahhhhhh bugger it ..... lays down

[kevie]

Maybee Road and Sport were just busy with the work they had and didnt want to take any new work in?

Jap bike parts are expensive and some times difficult to get. Hells bells $2.5k for a couple of cam chains sounds expensive to me.

yeh ... but as with modern way of doing things ....... they make the job as awkward as they can, in this case, the engine had to come out to access things .... which meant the exhaust .... seats.... instrument panel..... gas tank..... radiator..... etc etc etc in all a 12-15 hour job

If life was too easy we would have nothing to complain about on these forums hahhahahahahhahahahha