BDBGoalie

Updated original post with new information after today's conversations.

Today was auto repair day before I drive home. (Oil change on my beater, tune up and wiring on wife's car, strut mount on friends Z4, trailer hitch on Dad's Forester....) So when I get back to post tomorrow I'll make the call.

***Update 30 Jan 2013*** I finally had some time to work on the race bike and got to installing this bracket. Cutting and bending was required to make it fit. Sigh...... ***Update 16 Oct 2012*** I called and spoke to the company again today. I spoke to the same lady, who ended up being the co-owner. Just wow. She was much more friendly today. She apparently is fed up with people ordering parts and using them for a weekend and then wanting to return them. So she prejudged me as a person trying to return a part and treated me like scum for it. She still thought I was trying to return the part and I had to spell it out for her before she understood I was just complaining about the poor service. I eventually got the number for the other owner (Brett), who is also the fabricator. she had informed him of the lost part situation and that I had tried to return the part (Which I had not) yesterday. I explained the situation to him in a calm manner, and tried to be unbiased in my recounting of the conversations. He was calm, listened, understood the situation, and was shocked and very apologetic about the service rendered. He said he would speak to her and offered to: 1. Return the part, or 2. Replace the part whenever I break it, or 3. Give a heavy discount on future purchases. My experience with him was significantly better and what I would expect from a race shop that has been in business for 20 years. Brett offered great conflict management and customer service. His part was well made too. So that side of the business does run well. The other co-owner makes me hesitant to recommend them even after a good resolution. -------------------------Original Post-------------------------- So I crashed my track bike back in June and needed a new fairing stay. I did my research and decided to give R & R Racing a try. I ordered my stay from them on 23 Aug 2012 with a promise from the sales associate that the part would be shipped out on 27 Aug 2012 so I would have it by the weekend of 31 Aug. I'm US military, and I come home every other weekend because my wife and family are here, and it is only 400 miles away. So planning each weekend and certain deliveries are very important for my time management. This information was relayed to the company. Well that weekend came and went, along with my next visit home two weeks later. Still no part. I called them multiple times on 18 Sept, after missing the Mid-Ohio track day, and got no answer from the shop. I figured they might be out at an event and I would try them again later. I finally got a hold of them on 19 Sept when they called me. Their sales representative told me they had lost my order, and wanted to know if I still wanted it. She said they would ship it out right away, so I agreed. Well that following weekend came and went, along with the next. The part finally showed up the week of 8 Oct 2012, with a ship date of 03 Oct 2012. Yet another chance at a track day missed. I called them up today to find out what caused the delays. I spoke to the same female customer service representative. I explained my situation where the order was lost for a month and then not shipped for another two weeks. She asked what the problem was, because since I had received my part there should not be any issues. I explained my complaint about the initial wait, and then the more aggravating "right away" shipping that happened two weeks later. This dissolved into a discussion about the expectations of good customer service. She became angry and argumentative when I told her that they had given me poor customer service. She cited a business history since 1993 and because of that they obviously could not be offering poor customer service. I said if that is your position, fine, but I will not be doing business with you and I will encourage my friends to do the same. Her response: "That's fine. We don't need or want your business or your little friend's business." I'm just relating this story to let everyone know to not shop with them. Not unless you want to wait for long periods of time for parts, and be yelled at and talked down to for asking questions about why they don't live up to their promises.

But really rust in a tank sucks. The best way is a strong solvent with media to knock stuff loose. Let it sit for a while and it will loosen up.

Spray it with a hose and let it sit outside for a week.

Hopefully this solves your problem. But if the plugs are really coated in oil, that shows a seal problem. If they are coated in fuel, that is to be expected with a poor spark. If the charged battery gets the bike running again, check the plugs after and make sure they are dry. No white or black electrodes is good too. Also test the charging system once you get the bike running to make sure that is good since gixxie pointed out that these systems are weak.

This is why you don't let people use your stuff. Especially with no supervision. Sounds like your buddy owes you a engine rebuild. Since it ran for ten sec and died, and the plugs are coated in oil, I'd lean away from blaming spark or fuel. Oil and electrodes don't really get along well. Could have washed out the rings.. Do a compression test. If that turns out fine (Unlikely), I'd do a leakdown next.

That's a cool idea!

Sure. Didn't mean to over simply or come off as condescending if it did.

He is going to die or get mangled. The more he avoids it, the more brazen he'll become. I'd just hope the first crash is hard enough to teach the lesson without causing permanent damage. Emphasize ATGATT often.

Allow me to elaborate. When enough military personnel are traveling to a certain location the military will contract out cheap airlines to fly them all at once. No bumping to first class in those cases. (Mostly seen in PCS to overseas locations and deployments) Deployments will be a combination of civilian and military planes usually, depending on ground conditions. However, I have been bumped to first class while traveling in ACUs stateside.

Well, I'm jealous. Delta coach has features, but no extra space. Military flights are missing a lot of the features and the space.

Pretty sure that beats the 14hr flight from ATL to ICN. Those flights are rough. Waaay too much time on a plane. Of course thats non-stop civilian (Got lucky on the first flight out and missed the window for the military flight so I got a cushy ride with Delta). Flying military contracted airlines can take way longer.

I imagine military tours overseas don't count, eh?

Yea, I removed it. Hateful things. IMO alarms and locks just encourage thieves to break windows if they really want something in your car. I normally use stock radios, head unit and all, and keep the car clean. I usually leave my car unlocked with absolutely nothing of value in it.

The idea of the wire was that it would only be armed in the location where the crimes had occurred before (Her specific parking spot), and only in the evening. The neighbors would all be informed as well, mitigating collateral damage. The intent would be that it could only be triggered by someone entering her vehicle in the evening. Again, I agree that the legal ramifications outweigh the possible benefits. The civil liabilities point was well made.

I say death by sodomy. Bleeding out due to anal tearing.

Or you could just wait till you break it like it did.... Lol

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

A simulator is pretty much just a noisemaker. With pyro it gets a flash too. Just more intense than most. I do agree that if it went off next to their head likely hearing damage could be caused. Maybe minor burns if they were holding it. I was just hoping using legal distraction devices/alarms could make it legal. Too bad overall, but I'm not willing to deal with the risk of legal action to punish thieves.

Sad but true. Although locking them in the car sounds amusing, cameras are the best option.

My precision tools are at home so you'll have to wait till then.

+1

That makes sense.

Are you Jewish?