Repair shop decorum?

[Ixion]

Yeah, there's a dude on Trademe spcialises in them. Even does them for the old 'zuki two smokers. he sells on Ebay , too. Does seat covers as well. Seems well respected.

[nudemetalz]

I would have thought carb kits for the RF400 wouldn't exist.

[Motu]

And that's the point of this thread. Whether intended or not, the representitive of this particular company let a customer down with their flippant remarks. The outcome is still the same, no repeat business from that punter.

.

And my stand is I don't like someone to be tried by judge and jury on this site without a chance of defence.Call me an unpaid defence lawyer.There are always two sides to a dispute,and on this site we seldom see the otherside.

[Pwalo]

I would have thought carb kits for the RF400 wouldn't exist.

Come on it's a Suzuki. Probably common to Bandit 400s, GSXF 400s, and the other 400 fours that they produce for the Japanese market.

You might even be able to pick up a brand spanking set if you had a contact in Japan.

As far as I know the RF 400s didn't have any particular problems, but any carb problem is going to take a wee bit of time and patience to sort.

Might pay to have a word to Riffer.

[Ixion]

I would have thought carb kits for the RF400 wouldn't exist.

I didn't mean for the RF400 in particular - he has lots. Can probably get any sort I woud think, the RF400 is just the usual Jap carbs, I think, nothing oddball.

[onearmedbandit]

And my stand is I don't like someone to be tried by judge and jury on this site without a chance of defence.Call me an unpaid defence lawyer.There are always two sides to a dispute,and on this site we seldom see the otherside.

got Mrs Nudie to drop the RF400 into a motorcycle repair shop to get a quote and a booking.
The said mechanic/owner said “RF400’s are completely rubbish,. You shouldn’t have bought it. They’re gutless and very expensive to run. How do you know that 30,000 kms is not 130,000 kms and it’s just worn out.”

I fail to see how these comments could be justified.

[Ixion]

They're opininated , but not unjustifiable. May be WRONG of course, but that's another matter. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

Rephrase what he said :

"hm, RF400? OK, they're not a wildly popular model, some folk have reported issues with them. They're reputedly not great in performance, and expensive to run. Personally, I'd hesitate before buying one.What you're describing sounds more like what I'd expect from a mileage of 130000, not 30000, are you entirely confident of that mileage, bearing in mind that unscrupulous folk have been known to fiddle speedos? I'm suspecting here that investigation may turn up other problems."

Exactly the same statements, maybe a bit more tactfully put. And I would think that a person who didn't like the RF400 could probably justify any of them (and, you could make exactly the same statements about half the bikes on the market bike and justify them!).

Whether such blunt tactlessness is wise in a tradesman is of course another matter.

[nudemetalz]

Well put, Ixion.
Would have been okay with that and figured I would get a second opinion from another shop while not really thinking anything less of the original shop.

It's like when I got the Guzzi, all a mechanic could say to me is "you're going to have lots of problems with the electrics, it's Italian !
". Well granted I have had some problems but I ALSO won't be getting him to do any servicing on it.
However, I do like that shop in Adelaide Road and the owner is a great guy.

[imdying]

Re: the carbs on trademe.

I would be reluctant to start spending money without first diagnosing the cause. Throwing money at things sometimes works, but can get out of hand very quickly.

[F5 Dave]

Agreed

As I said earlier "Well something to look for but don't focus on it lest you miss something else."

Or as one of my friends used to say

Listen to what people say, but don't listen to what people say

[Edbear]

Throwing money at things sometimes works, but can get out of hand very quickly.

Ask any married bloke...

[nudemetalz]

Well I feel it is fuel related because before we bought it, the previous owner used to leave it parked up for long periods without running it.
You know what that does to stale fuel ay !!

[merv]

Yeah the stuff turns all gummy looking like shelac and clogs up everything. Did your carbs look all bunged up? CRC Clean R Carb gets all that stuff off, don't breathe it too much though.

[nudemetalz]

They didn't look too bad but then again there's only so much you can do with blowing into the carbs and with rags.

[Dodgyiti]

Nudez- I have introduced my lady to bike shops and suppliers that I regularly use so she gets a fair go, she has been well tucked in the past and it is a sad fact of life. Now they know that if they deal with her well, they won't have to deal with me.
In saying that, in the past I was wearing the overalls (and steel caps) on the other side of the counter and was on occasion forced to talk to customers - so in all fairness of my own (grumpy) example, ya got him on a bad day.

I had a vent on that sort of thing here:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=10829

Good luck with the 400, everything is a jewel to someone