Posts
40
Joined
12/20/2021
Location
Green Bay, WI
US
Edited Date/Time
10/27/2022 10:33am
Picked up my brand new SR from my local Kawasaki dealer and after I loaded the bike up I noticed how worn the rear tire was. The service manager agreed with me that it was a little more worn more than normal. He advised they do have to test ride all bikes prior to delivery. They gave me half off dealer cost on my next rear tire. I understand test riding but they where obviously jerking around on the bike on asphalt. Just ruined my new bike experience. Then when taking the bike apart to install my bend of handlebars I found the lower handlebar bushing were smashed from improper installation. Looks to me to be over torqued. I purchased new Xtrig bushings from Rocky Mountain for $30 as I needed them sooner than later for my upcoming riding trip to Florida. I then installed some Raptor titanium footpegs and notice the left footpeg pin was missing the washer before the cotter pin. Not a big deal just another item messed up on my new bike. What are your thoughts on the test riding by the Kawasaki dealership? Is this mandatory by Kawi? The bike comes with zero warranty. Anybody else's new SR bikes coming from the dealer with setup issues? I'm trying to get past the the tire, bushings, and washer but it just ruined my new bike experience. Waiting for a Kawasaki dealership review to come in the mail...
The Shop
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I will say when I got my '21 KX250 I looked it over hard-core and all knobbies had their nipples (is that what they are called? lol) . They did a wheelie or burnout with that thing no doubt (or swapped it with a slightly used tire?)
Edit: Also, the dirt?!
I agree with Zycki11 they can do better. That should be a free rear tire and replacement at minimum.
I actually WORK a part time gig at a Kawasaki/KTM dealership here in Oklahoma as a prep mechanic with my sole responsibility being assembling and prepping new bikes out of the crate for display on the sales floor or delivery to the new customer.
It actually IS required by the manufacturer that ALL new bikes get a complete once over after assembly, prepped and rechecked AND ridden as part of the assembly/setup/prep/delivery process.
Having said that… it is 100% BS that the dealership would ride your bike in a manner that would leave ANY evidence that the bike has been ridden!
Our test rides are to be nothing more than confirming that the bike starts, shifts into and through the gears properly and stops under its own power with NO issues or defects observed, taking GREAT CARE to guard against even leaving a mark on the tires etc.
Out of respect to the new owner NO hard accelerations turning or braking are to be done so as to keep the new tires as just that…NEW!
Its also 100% total BS that so much as “washer” was missing from your footpeg bracket.
Kawasaki goes to incredibly insane effort to assure that NO parts are missing from their crates! Every part is triple checked bagged and usually inside a separate plastic bag inside a separate box secured inside the crate! Your foot peg bracket missing the small silver washer is nothing more than piss poor effort by the specific tech that assembled your bike! He either lost it and couldn’t be bothered to find it OR obtain a suitable replacement or he was too incompetent to care!
And that goes for the damage to your handlebar clamps as well!
I assemble and prepped the only KX450SR that our dealership was allotted about 6 weeks or so ago and there were NO torque specs provided in the crate…
I had the service desk pull up & print the assembly instructions for those specific clamps so that I could properly assemble them with the correct torque values applied!
Thats what I would have done if it was MY bike and the least I can do for the new owner as well!
Sounds like yer shop has an assembly tech that is either too lazy or incompetent to care! Pretty sad…
I’ve been assembling bikes at this same dealership part time all the way back to 1999, and while it might seem like a slacker job for the newest hire in the shop to break-in on, I prefer to think of it as a way to extend my passion and appreciation for this great hobby that we all enjoy to the lucky owner of the cool new bike that I’m assembling today, whether it be the baddest bike in the Kawasaki arsenal such as your killer SR, or the KLX110 that someone gets for their first bike!
It’s sad and disappointing to hear that the dealership you got your new bike from doesn’t have the same disposition!
I hope you can let that go and find a way to enjoy that amazing new ride, in-spite of the bad taste that turd burger your dealership served up along with your new bike left you with! 😎👍
This truly shows how much influence a dealership has on a new bike purchase. It never sat right with me when I bought a new bike, after just signing the paperwork for an almost $10k brand new bike to see the doofus who probably smoked a bowl on his lunch break before putting the thing together walking around the service area. I have always been an advocate of getting a new bike in a crate. I know most wont let you these days.
I’m completely certain IF I or one of the other techs returned from a test ride and the rear tire looked like that, the service manager AND the shop owner would be pissed and make the tech replace the tire on the spot!
That truly is the dumbest thing I’ve seen with regard to a new dealership delivering a new bike in a long time and one can only imagine what kind of “test ride” that tire got subjected too!?
Really crappy customer service in my opinion, and I think that next new tire oughta be FREE in place of the one you never got to begin with and installed for FREE as a minimum compensation for the BS they caused with all the stupid test ride BS to begin with!
Pit Row
down and servicing the moving parts of the bike
(steering-swingarm-linkage etc) is NOT part of the
Assembly-prep inspection.
Its widely known that the manufacturers usually put about enough grease in to keep them from seizing on the boat ride over, but at no point in the process are the manufacturers allotting the hours for that work.
NOT my rules and I don’t agree with it… BUT some of the dirt bikes only pay a portion of a shop hour for “assembly” some as little a half hour!
Nowhere NEAR the time required to properly disassemble, lube and reassemble a complete dirt bike!
It sucks but until the manufacturer's will actually pay the tech for the time it takes to do it properly its not gonna get done until the consumer completes the job!
Now about the “freight/prep” BS? I can assure you none of the service guys ever see a penny of that money either…
We had an old weed head for a while that often felt more like working with Cheech than a professional mechanic! (He is long gone, at least from our shop!)
Regrettably the vast majority of shops use their newest, least experienced hand to unload the trucks, unbox the new bikes and regrettably assemble them too…
I don’t want those guys even so much as putting air in my tires either!
I worked at a shop where only the best mechanic was allowed to build and PDI the motorcycles. Much like motorick5052 pride of workmanship was applied to every motorcycle that went out the door.
There will be always be bad mechanics, doctors, drivers, lawyers, plumbers etc but they are not ALL bad. I do feel bad for the OP though. I would go back and talk with the owner of the store to straighten things out. That much is owed to him.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYaGLblJRMV/?utm_medium=copy_link
For sure tell us the dealer…
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