GOT HER HOME YESTERDAY!!! Going riding with the club to western Wisconsin in the rain-ish today and eager to see how it goes! I'll be glad to be on double darkside tires because the rain should prevent the inevitable crash and burning that
must result from such an unwise practice
(I had about 70,000 miles of double darkside experience on my VTX and am on my second rear car tire on the FJR). Sticks like a MF, even in the wet! It's also super effective on gravel and sandy spots on secondary roads.
SEEKING MORE INPUT (please read and comment cuz I value your opinions!)
Against everyone's advice I let the original shop do the work because I figured they would provide customer service, especially when I offered the shop owner the choice what story I would tell people about this process at its end of the process. We're almost there.
The shop owner let me just take it yesterday without paying anything and I'm supposed to come back with an offer about what to pay them (on top of the $5600 already paid in April). The legit charges are for Penske triple adjustable and Traction Dynamics fork cartridges and installation at about $3000 - 3500 along with the replacement oil pan for the original motor that is on the new one now.
So, the first replacement motor arrived damaged, but the shop didn't know until it was in the bike and the clutch was pulled causing a spring to get in there and break the oil pump chain. There was a crack in the clutch cover, but who knows how or when it got there. In spite of that I am getting a refund on that motor from the seller.
The second motor came from a 2013 gen 3 and it arrived Tuesday at the shop: loose on a pallet with NO shrink wrap or straps and absent several of the external covers that the seller evidently listed individually on eBay. I was beside myself when the shop asked if they should refuse the delivery - I wasn't there and how should I know? Lucky thing I had another motor with those covers and a few other parts that were damaged during transport.
I'm ambivalent about the fix on the original transmission since those parts are a loss and the labor totally wasted (plus the oil pan that leaked when first motor reassembled, but was screwed up). They tell me the original motor is clean without evidence of low oil so it
must have just been a failure of existing parts. I'm dubious because they took it in and didn't find a problem before, during, or after working on it - I found the problem right away after I picked it up in April (should have been discovered by the shop before releasing to me?) and returned it to them with less than 300 new miles.
There seems like a lot of not noticing problems which had them do work that was ultimately unnecessary. Also, the first replacement motor labor and supplies might have been prevented if they noticed it's problems earlier in the process.
As a nice and fair guy, I feel like I SHOULD pay them something for the labor and some gaskets and shop supplies even though I researched, found and PAID for BOTH replacement motors as well as providing the Evans Waterless coolant and Motul synthetic oil in the current motor (not the first replacement). While motors were all going to shit, I decided that the only other mechanical need to have it be tip top was exhaust, so I had a Holeshot head pipe (stock mufflers for stealth) and fuel controller delivered and the shop put on when reassembling the bike. However, in May I did initiate the practice of riding on my days off work (60 mile round trip) to the shop almost weekly to acquire straight answers and to motivate action on my repair which languished for months. I have spent many hours hanging out down there in an attempt to demonstrate my commitment and resolve to be riding my FJR ASAP. I also had friends join me sometimes to demonstrate my social support and motorcycle culture engagement.
NOW IT SHOULD BE BETTER THAN NEW!!!! That's what I focus on when I start to freak out over the $8000 (without the first replacement motor) that I have put into a bike that has seen 300 miles since November...
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