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Post by bradius on Oct 6, 2014 16:21:36 GMT 9.5
Well it seems I bought myself a faulty bike. Saturday afternoon I'm cruising along at 80kph in a straight line, not touching the brakes or changing gears, when suddenly the bike starts slowing down. Even opening up the throttle all the way does nothing and by the time I've slowed to 40 the front brake suddenly locks the wheel completely, bringing the bike out from under me.
Bike lands on my leg and I manage to break my hand hitting the ground.
fortunately for me a nice bloke from the Vietnam Vets MC comes along, releases the front wheel for me and helps me get it off the road. It's currently sitting at their club house awaiting a trailer to move it back to the dealer I bought it from, and the guys there who looked at it tell me they suspect it either has faulty brakes or the guys at the dealer didn't fill up the brake fluid before I bought it.
Now it's looking as though I'll be demanding my money back from the dealer when I go tomorrow to speak to them, as I've only had this bike for two weeks and already it has a dangerous fault that has resulted in an accident and injury. The accident damaged the front forks, the switch cylinder where the ignition and kill switches are (which now don't work), the
rear brake lever has been bent so far in that the whole assembly needs replacement, as well as whatever the faulty part is that caused all this to begin with.
question is...should I demand a refund and just try and put away the extra couple grand I'll need to buy a brand new bike, or my other option which is to get them to admit there's a fault and have the damage repaired under insurance (since if they do that I apparently don't have to pay the excess)?
Wait 20 years to buy a bike and I get to ride it for two weeks before this happens...what a week.
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Post by Jamie99 on Oct 6, 2014 21:06:46 GMT 9.5
Sorry to hear that mate, that's just shit. What make and model was it? It can only get better from here dude.
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Post by Benno on Oct 6, 2014 22:22:27 GMT 9.5
Which dealer did you buy it from?
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Post by bradius on Oct 7, 2014 9:10:06 GMT 9.5
It's a used '09 Spyder 250. Bought from Aitkens Bike & Power in Campbelltown. I've spoken to my insurance company and they tell me the best thing would be to get these guys to write a report showing that there is a faulty part and replace ONLY that part, then make a claim for the rest of the damages, as the repairs done thru AAMI will have a lifetime guarantee and they will ensure they check over the ENTIRE bike for any other dodgy work or faulty parts.
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Post by bradius on Oct 7, 2014 11:17:13 GMT 9.5
UPDATE: I've been into Aitkens this morning to discuss the issues, and I think I've found why it was in the condition it was. The owner was extremely defensive and rude, constantly trying to find any excuse not to admit it may be a problem at their end (constantly claiming a brake issue would have been evident from day 1 and not 2 weeks later), and to top it off the bike was advertised on their site (as are all used bikes) as having a 3 month or 3000km warranty and promptly tried to tell me this morning that it doesn't have a warranty at all because it's 5 years old.
In the end he said to bring it in and they'd have a look at it to see if its a faulty part, however i'm not even sure I trust them anymore. Judging by the attitude I got today, my guess is whether they find a fault or not they'll be doing everything they can to make sure they don't have to repair it under warranty.
All of this after 30 members of Ulysses and Vietnam Vets MC have looked at it and ALL said there must be a fault in the front brakes, that the fork seals are gone and the chain is in filthy condition. |
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MMMC
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Post by MMMC on Oct 7, 2014 15:01:21 GMT 9.5
UPDATE: I've been into Aitkens this morning to discuss the issues, and I think I've found why it was in the condition it was. The owner was extremely defensive and rude, constantly trying to find any excuse not to admit it may be a problem at their end (constantly claiming a brake issue would have been evident from day 1 and not 2 weeks later), and to top it off the bike was advertised on their site (as are all used bikes) as having a 3 month or 3000km warranty and promptly tried to tell me this morning that it doesn't have a warranty at all because it's 5 years old.
In the end he said to bring it in and they'd have a look at it to see if its a faulty part, however i'm not even sure I trust them anymore. Judging by the attitude I got today, my guess is whether they find a fault or not they'll be doing everything they can to make sure they don't have to repair it under warranty.
All of this after 30 members of Ulysses and Vietnam Vets MC have looked at it and ALL said there must be a fault in the front brakes, that the fork seals are gone and the chain is in filthy condition. Damn, 30 members of the Useless-Sissys lining up to help you or butt fuck you maybe ?? Ya bought a 5yr old bike of paul aitkens thats had his dealer lisence scrapped 3 times by fair trading over the years, the bike is possibly one of his well known and documented shoddy pre-wrecked junkyard re-births, and then just for jollys, you go out and slam the bike into ground a few more times for good measure but it's all the brand's fault. Who exactly reminds you to breath in the mornings?? Some folks just should never be left in charge of machinery. I've spent the time reading all ya posts. Trade it in on a toyota tercel and give up bikes kid, it ain't for you. |
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Post by Benno on Oct 7, 2014 15:11:59 GMT 9.5
If you had bought that bike brand new from a Hunter Dealer, Hunter would knock the warranty back too. You've dropped the bike 3 times before this issue occurred, and in fact ordered a new Brake lever as a result of one stack. Doesn't it stand to reason that you may have damaged the master cylinder in the process and that caused the failure?
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Post by bradius on Oct 7, 2014 17:03:55 GMT 9.5
and then just for jollys, you go out and slam the bike into ground a few more times for good measure but it's all the brand's fault.Perhaps you should learn to read more carefully, NEVER ONCE have I blamed Hunter for these issues. Some folks just should never be left in charge of machinery.Thanks once again for assuming "stupidity". I have never claimed to know everything about bikes, have stated several times this is my first one and the drops on the front lawn I was perfectly willing to admit were my own fault because I didn't realise just how steep the grass on our lawn was, but thanks for being so damned rude about it all.I'm not asking them to repair every single issue under warranty. But if it's left their lot with a faulty part, they're liable for that and any damage that resulted from it. Anything else that has been damaged as a result of the bike being dropped on the front lawn I have been spending my own money to repair. I've spent the time reading all ya posts. Trade it in on a toyota tercel and give up bikes kid, it ain't for you. |
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Post by Rohan on Oct 7, 2014 17:14:50 GMT 9.5
Bradius the issue I see here is you cannot possibly prove that the issue was their fault as you have dropped it several times and could be your fault. Which essentially means you will just have to cop the whole lot on the chin.
The only way is if you took it back to them to have all the repairs done and they didnt fix the brakes and then perhaps you have a claim (a small one). As I understand it though you really have no option but to wear the costs.
People don't like to be blamed for something that could very well not be their fault. In fact they could be as angry as you in the situation after all they could very well have done nothing wrong.
From every situation good or bad you should learn something. Learn from this situation....pay the excess and get the whole bike fixed. Then move on and enjoy riding.
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Post by bradius on Oct 7, 2014 18:24:52 GMT 9.5
That's really all I've been saying. If it's something I did to the bike, I'll pay for it as I have been so far. If it's a faulty part they've put in before selling it to me, I expect them to repair/replace under warranty. My major issue with them was the fact that the owner had tried to claim the bike had no warranty at all to speak of, when the sale receipt clearly says it does, and that struck me as a little dodgy.
There was certainly no need for certain members here to resort to swearing and name calling, behaving like a 5-year old kid.
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Post by Rohan on Oct 7, 2014 18:48:59 GMT 9.5
The problem is no person in the world is going to pay for anything themselves if they don't have to. Which means that they will say it's your fault and you have no proof or leg to stand on. Sounds a bit dodgy but regardless nothing you can do really.
MMMC started Hunter motorcycles and doesn't want his bike name to be trashed for something that has nothing to do with the brand. He is also friends with Dale at Mavericks and if you can't get through on a phone line look up another line. I know of at least 2 phone numbers that they have and perhaps he disconnected 1 and the other works. Like Hulkin posted he was there not too long ago and it's definitely still open and operating.
Benno is the current owner and very helpful when it comes to any issues. He is simply pointing out that the issue you have, may actually be all your fault so before you go to blame other people get some proof (which unfortunately a bunch of bike riders is not enough). Also even if it is the brakes, the fault may still be yours due to damaging them when dropping your bike.
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Post by bradius on Oct 8, 2014 16:03:49 GMT 9.5
Things always seem to be taken out of context here, so I'll make it as clear as I can. I am not blaming anybody for anything. I have never said that I was 100% certain that whatever was wrong with the bike was someone else's fault or my own. What I DID say was that if it wasn't an issue caused by me, I would expect any dealer to honour their warranty and fix the issue.
On the subject of Mavericks, again all I said was that i'd tried the phone numbers I'd seen for them online with no answer and checked their Facebook page but didn't see anything recent on them, so I suspected they MAY have closed down.
I don't have any issues with Benno, and you're quite right in that he's been very helpful and I got my replacement part very quickly. As it turns out the damage to the bike has been superficial and there's nothing structurally wrong with it, so it won't require extensive repairs. I had no intention of asking Aitkens to repair it all in the first place, and certainly wouldn't have held them responsible for any damages resulting from the accident. If repairs had been needed I'd have had them done under insurance and paid my excess for it.
What I didn't appreciate, whether he's the previous owner of the company or not, was MMMC's attitude and language that was completely uncalled for. Nothing I have ever said here comes even remotely close to saying that Hunter was a bad brand or the bikes were of poor quality, in fact if he'd bothered to really read all my posts he'd know I love my bike and wouldn't give it up for the world. Being the previous owner is really no excuse for speaking to me the way he did.
Now that that's all said I'll be putting it in the "over with" box, focus on getting my injuries healed up so I can go pick up my bike and get back to riding. I didn't join these forums to spend all my time bickering, I joined them because it seemed Hunter had a friendly and helpful community.
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Post by bradius on Oct 8, 2014 16:09:23 GMT 9.5
It's also rather hard at times to determine who to believe, especially when you're new to bikes and 30 guys who SHOULD know more than you are telling you it MUST be faulty.
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