does AZMotorsports suck *** all the time, or just for me?

[brd]

Grrr. I got my D220 in from AZMotorsports and it is damaged. There is a large gouge out of it and you can see the metal cords showing. It was shipped in a box, which is intact, so the tire must have been packed that way. Looks like no riding for me this weekend, unless I want to go buy a tire locally. :angryfir:

On my last order from azmotorsports (my givi setup), they completely left out one item, even though it was crossed off in purple highlighter on the packing list.

This makes 2 out of 3 orders for me they've screwed up. Am I alone here? Is this maybe a case of you get what you pay for?

[Tourmeister]

Hehe, talk with Ron (owner I think). I have ordered quite a bit of stuff through them and have never had any major problems. I have never bought tires from them though. I buy those from an outfit called SWMOTO in Las Cruces, NM. Good prices, prompt shipping, and large selection. Everyone makes mistakes occasionally, it just sucks to be on the receiving end of them. Give them a call and see what they will do to make it right. Be nice on the phone and don't sound irritated. You'd be amazed what some of these guys will do to keep you happy. Sorry you will miss the riding this weekend. We have a group of about 6 heading out for East Texas tomorrow morning. Yippee!

Adios,

[VFRinAustin]

Sorry to here about your tire, that really sucks. But I have to agree with the Miester, I have ordered several things from AZ and have had no problems so far. They usaully get me the item before there original estimate and its always been exactly what I ordered (so far). I bet if you talk with them tehy will have no problem replacing the tire.

As a not, I know of a couple of people around here in AUstin that have mail ordered Dunlops (these were 207s not 220s though, and not from AZ) and have received cut tires or tires that split after only a few hundred miles, so maybe its tires. WHo knows.

Hope you can get a new skin shod on soon, so you dont miss out on all this nice weather.

[Tourmeister]

Any update on the situation with AZ? Curious to know how they will handle your tire issue.

Adios,

[inigo montoya]

BRD-- if you are still having problems, another contact out there is Pascal. His email is Pascal @ azmotorsports.com
He has fixed problems for some other people I know and maintains good customer service. My experience with a GIVI windscreen was very positive thanks to his help.
Good luck

[brd]

Followup: I called them this morning. I talked to Pascal, who listened to my tale of woe and then gave me to Ron. He told me they'd pay for me to send the damaged one back and they'd send me a new one ... after they received the returned one. So, ground shipping both ways, that's at least 6 business days. :| I let him know I was sitting here with a bald tire waiting on them.

He suggested I could expedite the process by ordering another new tire from their website today, which would ship sooner. Then, when they get my return, they'll just credit me. I wasn't thrilled about this, but it's what I opted to do.

This is the bare minimum of what I expected. I had dreamed they would be extremely apologetic and offer to next-day me a replacement. I told him I was disappointed in the lack of quality control as a very cursory glance would reveal this damage. He said they ship as many as 80 tires a day. Irrelevant, IMO.

I don't think my expectations were unrealistic. I give them a B- for customer service.

Oh, and I'm shipping the damaged tire back at my expense and they're supposed to reimburse me. My other option was to wait for them to schedule UPS to come out and pick it up, which he said is between 5-7 days.

I'm starting to think mail-ordering tires is a big ****. Next time new rubber is needed, I'm going to call all over the metroplex and see if I can find something local that's close to the price. But I know what my answer is and that I'll likely be ordering them online again, especially since next time both front and rear should be finished.

[Tourmeister]

I have a good place for tires, SW Moto. I have ordered a lot of tires from them with no problems yet. They have good selection and prices, free shipping. As I have had no problems, I've no idea how they might handle your situation. Before you order from them, I'd call them, tell them what happened with AZ and ask them what they would do.

Really sucks in the mean time though

Adios,

[buck000]

I second the SW Moto recommendation. Got some D220s from them, love the service, love the tires. When I didn't get a quick confirmation from the web ordering process, I called, and the owner said that he'd been offroading in Mexico and his wife was handling the paperwork. Got a confirmation number, they shipped right to my installer, been very happy with the results.

[brd]

Finally got an email that my tires shipped today, after ordering them on Monday. :| UPS says they will be delivered on March 24th, next Monday.

[Tourmeister]

Shipped from who?

[brd]

This would be my replacement tire from azmotorsports.

That's okay, I guess. It's raining here and I've been out in the garage doing some maintenance on the viffer. Drained the coolant and replaced the waterpump o-ring tonight. While I've got it all apart, I might go buy some feeler gauges and check the valves tomorrow.

[Tourmeister]

You have the valve covers off? Maybe it is easier to get to the valves on the 94-97's. I'd have to do some major disassembly to get to mine to check them. That is why I usually take it to the shop for that part. It is about $250 to have them do JUST the valves. I also have them write down the clearances so I can keep a record of them. But also, hopefully it means they actually checked them. Although, they could just as easily make up numbers.

You've been quite the busy beaver. You really need to get out and do some riding Raining? Man it is absolutely perfect here right now. All day was incredible. I did not go riding though because I did not feel like fighting the wind, and it was WINDY. Looks like it will be a fairly nice weekend as well. I just hope the next weekend is nice. That is when we are heading to Hodges Gardens.

[brd]

Originally Posted by Tourmeister

You have the valve covers off? Maybe it is easier to get to the valves on the 94-97's. I'd have to do some major disassembly to get to mine to check them.

Well, I don't have them off yet, but I'm this close:


Doesn't seem like too much more work, just swing the (single, front :P) radiator out of the way.

Originally Posted by Tourmeister

You've been quite the busy beaver. You really need to get out and do some riding

I would if my *#&!@ tire would ever get here. Since I took all the front bodywork off to get to the nose fairing to put some abs glue on it, it's just so easy to do all this "while yer in there stuff." Also, I'm at 13,500 miles, so I'm kinda combining the 12k and 16k services. 8)

[Tourmeister]

How hard is it to get to the rear cyclinders? Can you just tip the tank or do you have to remove it? Removing the tank on the 98-01's is a **** because of hoses that are just the right length when the tank is in place, but when you tip it up, they can't reach. Very tough to get reconnected with my big fat hands

[brd]

Originally Posted by Tourmeister

How hard is it to get to the rear cyclinders? Can you just tip the tank or do you have to remove it? Removing the tank on the 98-01's is a **** because of hoses that are just the right length when the tank is in place, but when you tip it up, they can't reach. Very tough to get reconnected with my big fat hands

I think you need to remove the tank, but it's easy. There are 2 hoses on one side and the main fuel line on the other, but you can reach all 3 from the side and even moreso when tipped, so no problem with access.

The front was a little more work. I already had the side fairings off, and decided to just remove the radiator. It had all kinds of bugs and stuff in it, so I wanted to clean it out, anyway. That was also easy: drain the coolant, remove the 3 hoses (2 main plus overflow), 2 bolts and disconnect the fan connector.

Is $250 just to check the clearances, or have they needed shims, too? That seems like a pretty good price. DFW Honda now charges $69/hr for labor. I could check them all in less than 3 hours, but if any needed new shims, that would take me at least another hour, probably (not counting time to go find the correct shim somewhere). Luckily, mine were all within spec.

[AggieVFR]

AZ Motorsports had a little flub with my Christmas present last year. My dad ordered a Givi monorack from them on closeout and when it came in, it came with the wrong style top plate. It was a simple matter of misinterpreted box labels since it comes in two separate boxes. Ron Willoughby at AZM was VERY helpful and rectified the situation very quickly with return auth. numbers and prepaid shipping. Though the first experience with them was a little rocky, their dedication to fixing the problem has kept me a happy customer. The VFR list discount is nice too. As for tires, I've had good luck with pricing and shipping from Chapparral.

p.s. Brian, it looks like you're as bad as me when it comes to wrenching. I can't help but blast it all apart and 'fix' everything when I'm in there. My next door neighbor's son wants to know why I keep 'breaking my motorcycle' since I always seem to be wrenching on it... (always to a 5 year old at least) An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in my book.

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

So is your bike back together yet? It sure is nice out right now I'd hate to see you missing out on such nice cool weather! Have you had a chance to test your repairs to see if your mileage has improved?

[brd]

Originally Posted by Tourmeister

Howdy,

So is your bike back together yet? It sure is nice out right now I'd hate to see you missing out on such nice cool weather! Have you had a chance to test your repairs to see if your mileage has improved?

Yeah, I got it all back together over the weekend. I took it out late Sunday night just to make sure everything worked okay. I was very cautious, though, what with the bled brakes + new tire + suspension upgrade. I rode about 45 miles just around the metroplex, which can be fun at night, though temps were in the 40s.

The bike ran great. The only thing is I need to cut some new, shorter spacers for my racetech springs. I tried to get by with the stock spacers (as the r/t springs were the same length as stock), but I can't set it soft enough. I had the preload adjusters backed out 4 lines and the front sag was barely over 20mm. :|

I filled up the tank before the ride and didn't smell gas when I got it back in the garage afterward, so that's a good sign. If I get the spacers in this a.m., I may have to go burn through the rest of this tank for ummm... testing purposes, yeah that's it. 8)

[brd]

Well, I cut some new spacers and got them installed today.

The stock were 10cm, so I tried going down to 9cm. I put everything together (hoping that I wouldn't have to take the forks off a 3rd time) and measured front sag. It's right at 35mm with my adjusters all the way out. I figure that's perfect, as this was with me and no gear, but a full tank of gas, which I figure should even out. This is my bare minimum riding weight, so anything else should be just a matter of upping the preload.

I did take it for a short ride, but it was very windy out. The bike does seem to steer quicker or be more "flickable". But I thought stiffening up the front was supposed to make it slower to turn in?

Hrm, maybe the fact that I'm not running a square back tire has a lot to do with this?