Evil doings afoot

[avrflr]

Some of you may be aware that I binned my bike the other day due to the engine spraying oil all over the rear tyre.

I have just received disturbing news regarding the history of this bike from an anonymous source. Apparently this bike has suffered the exact same failure before and was not ever meant to be road registered again.

There is speculation (from the anonymous source) that the oil filter was cross threaded after it's first service and soon after sprayed all the engine oil out from the oil filter. (The oil filter was the source of the oil in my accident, also.) Someone has stuffed up badly by putting this bike back on the road and selling it to me and putting my life in jeopardy.

The question is: who to sue? The obvious target is the guy who converted it to a road bike. But I find it difficult to believe he would have knowingly put my life in danger and exposed himself to criminal and civil liability for the sake of a few thousand bucks.

I think it's more likely he just didn't know. Opinions?

[The Beast]

That is shithouse mate, hit the person up who sold it to you and see what they say. It may have been an honest mistake, but you don't know unless you ask.

[imdying]

If you're going to get serious about that, you need to contact your lawyer. Only they are truly qualified to comment, and they're worth the money if it turns into a shit flinging contest

/edit: tone :/

[gav]

If the person had known, it wouldnt be that hard to safety wire the filter in place would it? Guess its a bit of a give away that its an ex race bike then, but could have saved this circumstance. As for who to blame, was it sold with any warranty? Who did the last service or replaced the oil filter? Frankly think you've got no show of getting anywhere with this but again got nothing to lose. Good luck!
In one of you're threads you mention the guys riding with you noticed it smoking for a while, did they try and wave you down to check it out?

[ZeroIndex]

Good luck at getting money from whoever you can... it sux to get ripped off in any way, especially when your life can be at such risk like that...

[avrflr]

In one of you're threads you mention the guys riding with you noticed it smoking for a while, did they try and wave you down to check it out?

They only saw it start smoking seconds before the accident, and I was giving it a bit on a bigger faster bike so they had no chance of waving me down.

[onearmedbandit]

Is your 'source' willing to go on record? Have you got anything other than hearsay at the moment?

[avrflr]

Is your 'source' willing to go on record? Have you got anything other than hearsay at the moment?

By the sound of it my source most definitely isn't willing to go on record. However, he quoted me the chassis and engine number and other details he provided convince me that he knows what he's talking about.

[2much]

I'd check it out for yourself first (or atleast get the shop to) before you go anywhere. A crossthreaded filter mount won't be hard to spot.

[Motu]

What's being an ex race bike got to do with an oil filter being stripped? Like,that only happens to bikes that have been raced.....I kinda think it might happen to bikes that have their oil filter changed.Dunno what sort of oil filter retaining system the bike has - how about some photos of the offending article so we can make an informed decision,rather than one just based on hearsay?....

[Pixie]

If it's a spin-on filter fitment,how difficult is it to replace a stripped filter stub?
To dispose of a bike for such a minor fault seems strange.

[Mr Skid]

If it's a spin-on filter fitment,how difficult is it to replace a stripped filter stub?
To dispose of a bike for such a minor fault seems strange.

Erm.. I think the bike has more than a 'minor' fault now?

[avrflr]

If it's a spin-on filter fitment,how difficult is it to replace a stripped filter stub?
To dispose of a bike for such a minor fault seems strange.

After the initial accident the bike got sent back to Suzuki NZ who then stipulated it was never to be road registered. So whatever the damage was, it was difficult enough to repair that they only used the bike for spare parts until it was sold on to the next guy.

Yes I will investigate the offending oil filter further and hopefully post pics. This evening I just needed to vent my moral outrage.

[pritch]

After the initial accident the bike got sent back to Suzuki NZ who then stipulated it was never to be road registered.

That seems pretty radical. Apart from Suzuki buying it back I don't see how they can stipulate much at all. Of course I could be wrong.

The best suggestion yet was the request for a photo.

[avrflr]

Apart from Suzuki buying it back I don't see how they can stipulate much at all.

There's the rub. It sounds like, to fix the problem definitively, they would have had to do an engine block transplant - massive amount of work. So what happens is Bill from Suzuki says to Dave the race mechanic "look, just use that bike as a christmas tree but don't race it and for god's sake don't let anyone road register it." So Dave puts a sticker on the tank as a reminder. At the end of the season maybe Dave is no longer with the team, maybe he forgets. Maybe the sticker fell off. The bike is sold to another racer, who races the bike without incident. He then buys a new bike, tries to sell the old one as a race bike - has no takers. So he figures he'll put it back in street trim, give it a wof + reg and stick it on trademe. Avrflr, being a bit of a fuckwit then buys it, not knowing it's a time bomb.