Data On % Of Tickers

[valetz]

So.... There's a guy on the <censored> list who has moved to CA and works for Mother Yamaha... He posted the following on the list, I thought I'd crosspost and see what you guys think.

And because I was getting an FJR and because the right people arewilling to give me answers I checked into it.  And the reality is,

again, that less than 1% of the models in the US have had warranty

claims for issues in the valvetrain area.

Anybody here want to comment on this...?

-bvw.

 

[radman]

Well, I guess then that would make ticker owners the TRUE 1 percenters. Other than that, prove it. I have yet to see definitive quantifiable figures from anyone that gives a true measure of the problem. Polls and such on a few forums ain't gonna get it.

 

[Alex]

I also wonder how many tickers are being tossed from one owner to the next as. "My dealer said that's normal. Not to worry about it"

It wonder how many are sold on Ebay and Cycle trader every week with ticking issues.

 

[markjenn]

There have been at least two or three informal polls in these forums and Warchild put together a more detailed questionaire (with VINs and model years) that was supposedly gathering hard data for transmittal to Yamaha.

The informal polls seemed to have reported ticker rates of around 10%. But this was for owners (not dealers or mechanics) who reported they thought their bikes were tickers, so I suspect it over-represents the true rate, both due to false positives, and due to the fact that owners are more likely to make a report if they are having problems. So I would think this represents a high-water mark.

I don't believe WC's latest questionaire results were ever published.

Cycle World contacted Yamaha a few months back and after some stone-walling, Yamaha reported back that approximately 40 bikes have been fixed under warranty. This number seems low as there seem to be at least this number who have reported their bikes being fixed on on the various forums. I don't recall if this number was worldwide, NA, US, or was even specified, nor what the cutoff date was for reports. (I thought it was slightly interesting that Yamaha didn't represent the number as normal, rather that it wasn't high enough to warrant a recall.)

Your <1% number would seem to be consistent with the CW story as the number of bikes sold in the US is probably on the order of 5K to date.

That's all the data I'm aware of.

- Mark

 

[twowheelnut]

Mmmm, me thinks the volume of bikes sold is prolly more like:

'03's = 2,000+/-

'04's = 3 - 3,500

'05's = 5 - 6,000

I'm guessing on these #'s, but judging by the vins posted on H. Marc Lewis' site and projecting a bit, they're prolly pretty good.

 

[slapnpop]

And what of all the bikes that dealers have turned away and that yamaha has refused to service under warranty. I've read several posts of this nature. I don't think the numbers from yamaha are fair when they tend to deny the problem and turn bikes away in many instances.

 

[markjenn]

There have been a few reports of Yamaha refusing to do a warranty repair on a a ticker, but we generally only have the disgruntled owner giving us their side of the story and there may be extenuating circumstances. And we have numerous reports of Yamaha fixing tickers outside of warranty.

Yamaha has said publically that they'll fix tickers outside of warranty on a case-by-case basis. My take is that if you have a true ticker and follow the "rules" (which may require some escalation beyond the dealer), Yamaha will fix it.

- Mark

 

[Ramblin Man]

Numers are a waste of time. That 40 was OUR 40. Bottom line is and will continue to be, that until Yamaha issues a Technical Service Bulliten outside of Australia, the problem will continue to be mis-diagnosed, or worse, accepted as "trait" of the FJR's motor al-a "all genesis motors tick, dude".

Cycle World didn't contact Yamaha until we(I) contacted Cycle World. I compared the ticking to the Honda V4 cam oiling problems back in the early eighties and 6 months later (6 months) you read the results.

I met a guy last week riding an FJR here in town. Didn't like him, but that's another story. Anyway, he doesn't post on any forums so he may be unaware he has a problem, if he does. (I went back inside before he started his bike so I didn't hear if his ticked or not).

The point to that last bit was that nobody knows how many actually tick because a buliten has not been issued and the owners have not been notified that there may be a problem.

It's like a crease in your ear lobe. How many of you have a crease in your ear lobe? Did you know that most people with that crease have some forme of heart disease? If you have that crease and you haven't been to the doctor in a while you may want to get your blood pressure checked just to be safe.

If your FJR is making a ticking noise you may want to take it to the dealer and have it checked. Oh wait, dealers know nothing of the the problem, unlike doctors and blood pressure.

Oh well at least it has been reported on by a leading publication. You'd think that would be enough.

 

[Penforhire]

I don't figure numbers are a waste of time. If only 1% of FJR's tick then the problem is over-stated on-line. Not an uncommon thing to happen. I'll even assume that 1% will turn into 3%, as many people don't ride enough miles per year.

But we have people worried about buying a FJR because they hear they tick. It would be different if Yamaha refused to fix tickers but that doesn't seem to be the case. Not saying I would be happy when (if) mine starts ticking but don't keep making it out to be a common failure if the numbers don't back it up.

 

[Bounce]

It's like a crease in your ear lobe. How many of you have a crease in your ear lobe? Did you know that most people with that crease have some forme of heart disease? If you have that crease and you haven't been to the doctor in a while you may want to get your blood pressure checked just to be safe.

What if I don't have ear lobes?

 

[RickL]

It's like a crease in your ear lobe. How many of you have a crease in your ear lobe? Did you know that most people with that crease have some forme of heart disease? If you have that crease and you haven't been to the doctor in a while you may want to get your blood pressure checked just to be safe.

What if I don't have ear lobes?

What if I have earlobes, but don't have a heart?

 

[Rogue]

It's like a crease in your ear lobe. How many of you have a crease in your ear lobe? Did you know that most people with that crease have some forme of heart disease? If you have that crease and you haven't been to the doctor in a while you may want to get your blood pressure checked just to be safe.

What if I don't have ear lobes?

What if I have earlobes, but don't have a heart?

What if I have lobes but no ears? :blink:

 

[Windjammer]

What if I have earlobes, but don't have a heart?

Perhaps Dorothy could take you to see the Wonderful Wizard of Oz?
Because,Because,Because,Because,Because......Because of the wonderful things he does!

There, now you have a nice happy song to carry in your new heart, when you get one. Just watch out for poppy fields....

More to the subject, I read the forums about the tickers before buying my FJR. Didn't stop me, in fact it encouraged me to see the amount and quality of info about the bike on these forums. So I just got the dealer to tack on 4 year YES at no charge and if it ticks before 2010, I'm covered. If it don't tick by then, it prolly won't tick until it's done in anyway.

 

[FJRottie]

54% of people know that statistics like those are not acurate or true.

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

73% of all data is made up on the spot.

 

[Warchild]

If it don't tick by then, it prolly won't tick until it's done in anyway.

 

[Longrider]

At 24,000 miles my 04 "ticking" is getting louder. Still hard to hear without a steathascope(sp?), but at last tire change (18,000) the tech asked how long had the valves been making noise. No oil use yet. Have a 6000 mile trip over the next 6 weeks on tap. Will see how it sounds when I return.

Longrider

 

[BobbyBlue]

I've got the crease, had 9 heart attacks and at 42 an emergency quintuple bypass, but I never had high blood pressure, high cholesteral <95, and my chest never hurt. But my back sure did and I didnt know it was my heart for over 15 years. I've got a pacer/defib and I'm damn glad I've got a "ticker"! But my '05 is smooth and quiet at 9K and the heart troubles are due to bad jeans...friggin Levis !

Bobby

 

[Thug]

BB ride on my man you can do what ever you like! Posterior central thoracic pain gets ya every time! :good: