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Bad vibes from 07 RKC AND dealer

jerrybombard

Active Member
Here’s my story:
I have a 07 RKC that I just love. (~7500 miles). A few hundred miles ago, all of a sudden I noticed a bad “buzzing” type vibration in the floorboards and handlebars. At first I thought it was just my imagination, but became aware it was not. I used to have to press hard on the floorboards with my feet to feel any vibes at all, no more. It’s there at any speed or rpm now. That was one of the things that attracted me to this bike, was how incredibly smooth it was, so I just had to add one to my growing stable of bikes.
So, as my warranty is going to run out in a matter of days, I figured I better get this to the dealer to get looked at. Because of this forum, I am fully aware of the problem with the crank “spinning” because of it’s pressed together construction. Yesterday afternoon, I take it to my local dealer to get it looked at. I explained the symtoms to both a sales person, then the service person. I did notice that both said it sounded like a motor mount and sort of got quite when I started on the crank problem. At any rate, they take the bike out back to “evaluate” it….and they were going to charge me $40 just to take a look !! (shop labor for ½ hour)..which didn’t make me real happy, but I want to get to the bottom of this. Shop guy comes out and say’s, sure enough, bad front motor mount. (I’m thinking “in 7500 miles??”). About $150 for the mount and installation. OK, go a head and do it I say, thinking they must be onto something here, they DID say it was a common problem.
Again, in 7500 miles??
Along with some other stuff I had them do, the bill came to $198. They ride the bike around, and by this time it’s about 5:15, a bit after quitting time. I pay the bill and go on my way, thinking all would be baby smooth again. WRONG WRONG WRONG.
After 5 minutes on the road I realize that NOTHING has changed, and the only thing different was my wallet was $200 lighter. I would have gone right back but knew the service guys were already one their way home.
I had about a 30 mile ride home on back roads, just a couple of stops, so I had some time to think this over. I decided that if I had just not paid the bill, I would not have known anything had changed.
After I was home for 30 minutes or so, I gave a call to the dealer to express my concern. Of course, at that time, I had to talk to a sales manager. His only real comment was that he would find out in the morning what was going on. ( I did ask them if the shop was in the habit of just “guessing” at a problem to fix it ) I explained to him also that I was aware of the crank “problems” on these bikes, with no comment from him.
…..I have noticed that whenever I bring up that subject, everyone either plays dumb or changes the subject……
As soon as I got of the phone with him, I called the credit card company and deleted the charges from my account. That may seem harsh to some, but I know that will get the dealers attention. I won’t pay for parts and installation for parts I didn’t need.
It’s now 9:15 EDT, and I’m expecting a call from them soon. I believe they open at 9, so after coffee and maybe a morning meeting, they’ll give me a call.
I think I’m going to have to insist that they check the crank runout, and do something about that.
I’ll keep you all posted.
Jer

Oh, I forgot to say, the mount was not covered under the warranty, because it is a "comsumable". .....same as clutch and brakes I was told.....What the heck??
 
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update:
2:15 PM Friday
Finally, after playing phone tag with the general manager since 12, I got to speak to him. I was very calm and stated simply that the service dept did not fix the problem, nor did I see them take it for a ride either before or after taking the bike. I started to talk about the crank problem with these bikes and (lo and behold!!) he immediatly started to play dumb, "I'm not a service guy", " I'd need to find out about that" etc, etc. We were sort of getting no where, as in he really didn't seem to want to take the time to properly diagnos the problem, of which I told him I would be more than happy to pay for AFTER it was fixed. I had to explain to him just how to check the crank, both sides, and gave him my estimate of the time involved. He was really good at playing like he'd NEVER HEARD of this before. We agreed for me to take it up Sat morning for someone to look at AGAIN. It was at this point that I told him I had put a hold on the charges from last night. Well, that just changed his entire feeling. After going 'round a bit about him not knowing if I was going to take the charges off again after they fixed the bike, and me wondering if they COULD fix the bike and saying again I would be more than happy to pay for everything AFTER they fixed the bike. his final words to me was that they would refund the charges to my credit card, and I would be better off going somewhere else.:52:
OK, but I could have done that in the first place, if all I wanted was free service, but I want the bike right.
SHEESH
This dealer is in South Florida, and if any wants to know the name, PM me.
Jer
 
Yup, I have the money back....the charges were deleted from my account yesterday, a few hours after I knew nothing was any better. Even double checked today to make sure the Stealer didn't try to repost them.
It's to bad I (we) have to go thru this...all I want is a nice ride again...and I'm willing to pay for it.
I'll post the whole story on that other thread also Glider.
Jer
 
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