1911
Well-known member
[SIZE=12pt]Derby Cycles-PR2 front, PR2B rear, and a Marc Parnes balancer: 373.63 to the house. Will do business with Derby again, but transaction not without a little adventure. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt] You don't have to be bored to read this entire rambling, disconnected, probably posted in wrong category; filled with strange punctuation, fragmented and run-on sentences post, but it helps.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Went to Derby Cycles looking for a tire deal. A few quirks about their web presence: Two different sites (.net and .com), same stuff, different prices; prices change between selection and checkout. The checkout total IS what got billed to the card-so NO FOUL. Some members posted in vendor feedback that they got free shipping with two tire purchase. I had to pay shipping. Since Derby is a half continent closer than SW Moto, I figured I'd do business with them and get the stuff quicker. Ordered two PR2s (B model rear) and a balancer.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Order placed a little after lunchtime on Tuesday. Email confirmation and Tracking # sent immediately-nice. FedEx GROUND tracking says shipping info sent 2:50pm Tues. Package not picked up from Derby until 5:25 Wed. Scheduled for delivery Fri. I'm watching tracking info Fri morning like a kid waiting for Santa (I know it's ridiculous for a grown man to get this excited about a delivery but it's new tires!) when "delivery exception-delivery delayed" pops up. FedEx's toll free CS line offers no option to speak to a real human. I load up the cage with all of the wrath and vengeance it can haul and drive down to the FedEx terminal. Cute little red headed CSR with just right southern accent offers assistance. I produce my tracking #. I've misplaced my wrath and vengeance. CSR lady checks computers, makes a couple calls, explains that my package was loaded on the wrong route for delivery. I tell her to try again Mon.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Package arrives Mon and the invoice says "B" but the tire does not. I call Derby and the nice fellow (sorry I don't remember his name) on the phone says "oops, I'll send a return label and when we get the wrong tire back we will send you the correct one". I agree politely but I'm certain that he detects my displeasure when I ask "so I'm still another week and a half from mounting new rubber?". Nice Fellow seems surprised that it took six days for the package to arrive. A few minutes later, after Nice Fellow checks with the shipping dept and FedEx tracking I assume, he calls back and says he's sending a "B" out today with a return label for the "A". PR2B arrives at 8:42pm Wed night courtesy FedEx HOME DELIVERY.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Moral and observations:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Don't wait until the last minute to order stuff and count on everything to fall in place. I wasn't in a big hurry, but if I had been, I'd have been up the creek. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Derby made an honest, understandable error. To fix it, they did the right thing without having to be asked.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Competition is a great thing. The shipping companies have gotten so efficient that we use their least expensive "ground" services and still expect to get our stuff in two or three days. In a way they are cutting their own throats. Why pay for premium ground or air shipping when it only shaves one day off of delivery. What I can't figure out is why FedEx maintains three completely different infrastructures for their various products, FedEx Express (air), FedEx Ground, and FedEx Home Delivery. Derby sent two shipments with the same origination and destination, and the only two waypoints that they had in common were the start and finish. Disclosure: I work for one of FedEx's competitors. I make NO claim that my company is any less likely to botch a delivery. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Now, out to the garage for some exercises in anality.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The new PR2 weighs 14lb3oz. The PR2B weighs 16lb4oz. Oh nooooo…the added unsprung weight is going to ruin my handling! The used up PR2 weighs10lb8oz. I don't recall the handling improving as the last PR2 lost 3.75 lbs. Let's mount the "B". [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]I LOVE the Marc Parnes balancer! Since I had some time to kill waiting on the correct tire, I threw the naked wheel on the balancer. I was surprised that it took 3/4 oz of weight to balance the tireless wheel. With the tire now on the balanced wheel, I know where the heavy spots of the tire and the wheel are separately. I strip the weights off the wheel, break the beads down again, and spin the tire until the heavy spots are opposite each other. Now it takes less than 1/2 oz to balance the whole deal. Once balanced, I add 1/8 oz to the wheel in various places just to see how sensitive the balancer is. The added weight rolls to the bottom each time-COOL. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Now to the roller coaster.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]MotoEcstasy! If crack or meth is anything like a set of new, perfectly balanced set of tires on a FJR, I understand drug addiction. On the first ride out the rear tire gets a nail puncture. Gloom despair, agony, on me; deep dark depression, excessive misery. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Back out to the garage now. At least it won't cost anything but time to patch and rebalance the tire.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt] You don't have to be bored to read this entire rambling, disconnected, probably posted in wrong category; filled with strange punctuation, fragmented and run-on sentences post, but it helps.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Went to Derby Cycles looking for a tire deal. A few quirks about their web presence: Two different sites (.net and .com), same stuff, different prices; prices change between selection and checkout. The checkout total IS what got billed to the card-so NO FOUL. Some members posted in vendor feedback that they got free shipping with two tire purchase. I had to pay shipping. Since Derby is a half continent closer than SW Moto, I figured I'd do business with them and get the stuff quicker. Ordered two PR2s (B model rear) and a balancer.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Order placed a little after lunchtime on Tuesday. Email confirmation and Tracking # sent immediately-nice. FedEx GROUND tracking says shipping info sent 2:50pm Tues. Package not picked up from Derby until 5:25 Wed. Scheduled for delivery Fri. I'm watching tracking info Fri morning like a kid waiting for Santa (I know it's ridiculous for a grown man to get this excited about a delivery but it's new tires!) when "delivery exception-delivery delayed" pops up. FedEx's toll free CS line offers no option to speak to a real human. I load up the cage with all of the wrath and vengeance it can haul and drive down to the FedEx terminal. Cute little red headed CSR with just right southern accent offers assistance. I produce my tracking #. I've misplaced my wrath and vengeance. CSR lady checks computers, makes a couple calls, explains that my package was loaded on the wrong route for delivery. I tell her to try again Mon.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Package arrives Mon and the invoice says "B" but the tire does not. I call Derby and the nice fellow (sorry I don't remember his name) on the phone says "oops, I'll send a return label and when we get the wrong tire back we will send you the correct one". I agree politely but I'm certain that he detects my displeasure when I ask "so I'm still another week and a half from mounting new rubber?". Nice Fellow seems surprised that it took six days for the package to arrive. A few minutes later, after Nice Fellow checks with the shipping dept and FedEx tracking I assume, he calls back and says he's sending a "B" out today with a return label for the "A". PR2B arrives at 8:42pm Wed night courtesy FedEx HOME DELIVERY.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Moral and observations:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Don't wait until the last minute to order stuff and count on everything to fall in place. I wasn't in a big hurry, but if I had been, I'd have been up the creek. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Derby made an honest, understandable error. To fix it, they did the right thing without having to be asked.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Competition is a great thing. The shipping companies have gotten so efficient that we use their least expensive "ground" services and still expect to get our stuff in two or three days. In a way they are cutting their own throats. Why pay for premium ground or air shipping when it only shaves one day off of delivery. What I can't figure out is why FedEx maintains three completely different infrastructures for their various products, FedEx Express (air), FedEx Ground, and FedEx Home Delivery. Derby sent two shipments with the same origination and destination, and the only two waypoints that they had in common were the start and finish. Disclosure: I work for one of FedEx's competitors. I make NO claim that my company is any less likely to botch a delivery. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Now, out to the garage for some exercises in anality.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]The new PR2 weighs 14lb3oz. The PR2B weighs 16lb4oz. Oh nooooo…the added unsprung weight is going to ruin my handling! The used up PR2 weighs10lb8oz. I don't recall the handling improving as the last PR2 lost 3.75 lbs. Let's mount the "B". [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]I LOVE the Marc Parnes balancer! Since I had some time to kill waiting on the correct tire, I threw the naked wheel on the balancer. I was surprised that it took 3/4 oz of weight to balance the tireless wheel. With the tire now on the balanced wheel, I know where the heavy spots of the tire and the wheel are separately. I strip the weights off the wheel, break the beads down again, and spin the tire until the heavy spots are opposite each other. Now it takes less than 1/2 oz to balance the whole deal. Once balanced, I add 1/8 oz to the wheel in various places just to see how sensitive the balancer is. The added weight rolls to the bottom each time-COOL. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Now to the roller coaster.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]MotoEcstasy! If crack or meth is anything like a set of new, perfectly balanced set of tires on a FJR, I understand drug addiction. On the first ride out the rear tire gets a nail puncture. Gloom despair, agony, on me; deep dark depression, excessive misery. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Back out to the garage now. At least it won't cost anything but time to patch and rebalance the tire.[/SIZE]
