Need Second Opinions On The Biggest Bike F Up

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I have dealt with that shop and had no issue with them myself. But, I normally keep a tight rein on projects to avoid cost escalation and to nip scheduling problems in the bud. On something like this, the bike itself would never leave my own shop, and anything that involves paying others to do something gets divided up into manageable chunks with a well defined scope of work and cost for each one, "Order this list of parts", or "paint this like this example", or "press out this old bearing and press in this new one". But it's obviously way too late for that now, in this case.

A poorly-defined scope of work and a blank check are not going to get a house built properly ... and they're not going to get a bike built properly, either.

Just like most legal cases ... there are three different stories - the plaintiff's, the defendant's, and the truth. We've only heard one of them. It sure does not sound good ... but there has got to be more to it than this.

It is very, very easy to spend $6500 on just a built engine (nevermind a whole bike), and end up with one that, at least from the outside, looks exactly the same as what you started with.
 
LiNK666 said:
Wasn't champion cycle on the forum/site supporter? I was thinking of going there but decided not to. Saw it while I rode a few times ... good thing I didn't go there.

Sorry for your loss it's huge. I hope things are corrected in due time. Good luck in the future.
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One side of one person's single experience with a bike shop is enough to sway your opinion that matter-of-factly?
 
Brian P said:
I have dealt with that shop and had no issue with them myself. But, I normally keep a tight rein on projects to avoid cost escalation and to nip scheduling problems in the bud. On something like this, the bike itself would never leave my own shop, and anything that involves paying others to do something gets divided up into manageable chunks with a well defined scope of work and cost for each one, "Order this list of parts", or "paint this like this example", or "press out this old bearing and press in this new one". But it's obviously way too late for that now, in this case.

A poorly-defined scope of work and a blank check are not going to get a house built properly ... and they're not going to get a bike built properly, either.

Just like most legal cases ... there are three different stories - the plaintiff's, the defendant's, and the truth. We've only heard one of them. It sure does not sound good ... but there has got to be more to it than this.

It is very, very easy to spend $6500 on just a built engine (nevermind a whole bike), and end up with one that, at least from the outside, looks exactly the same as what you started with.
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+1. to the cost issue.

I would like to hear championship side. Spoke to those guys at the motorcycle show, the main guy, forgot his name now, the scuff guy was very humble and neat person to deal with.
 
frekeyguy said:
+1. to the cost issue.

I would like to hear championship side. Spoke to those guys at the motorcycle show, the main guy, forgot his name now, the scuff guy was very humble and neat person to deal with.
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Speaking with someone and paying them to do a job are 2 different things.

EVERYONE is humble and neat when they don't have your money yet.
 
Hello to all.

WOW! This is the first we have heard about Elise being un-happy. And in such a state of dismay.

We can appreciate the comments and concerns voiced on the forum. However there is always two sides to a story, although there is no need to truly begin defending ourselves, considering we were not at all aware of Elise’s current concerns.

We are going to state the parts to give a brief example of the job, for all to understand and be breaking down the costs “thus far”. Note : thus far $6,500 has been paid.
We have always had no problems with our customers and pride ourselves in being a very honest business to deal with. If Elise had concerns and was getting so worried, fixing the situation was a simple phone call or email away.

We were in attendance at the Spring Supershow. where I personally spoke to Elise many of times, in fact even had a whole bunch of photos taking with her. There was no problems at that time.
One week later we left the shop to attend a race event over seas. At which point “as stated on our voice mail” we would be re-opening for the summer season On Monday May 2nd.
Upon our return to the shop today. I personally checked all voice mails and emails. And made the appropriate responses. There was not one email or voicemail from Elise Belanger or Adam “her ex-boyfriend”. I received a phone call from one of our part suppliers informing me of this thread.
This is just a simple case of a small problem being blown way out of proportion and a one sided story.
The only mistake made on Champion Cycles end was under estimating the time it would take to complete the project. And yes dead lines were not met.

Here’s an example of a few of the problems that occurred.
We contacted McIntosh machine to order a swing arm for Elise’s R1. However they do not stock those swing arms. We were told it was a 5-6 week wait to have one made. The order was placed. 8 weeks later we received the swing arm as customs had delightfully decided to take a “nice long” look at it.
Upon receipt we realized we received the wrong swing arm. Due to telephone problems we were un able to get a hold of “McIntosh” for over a week. Once we did however the issue was resolved “swing arm was made for wrong year” and we had to wait another 5-6 weeks to have a swing arm made “again”. For the record it has been approx. 5 weeks since that time and we are waiting for the swing arm to arrive from the US.
Due to the un-commonness of the R1 in the Drag racing world these types of problems and wait times due occur. Another example: We contacted Lee Hindle directly and are having a custom sidewinder made for Elise’s bike. “another 4-5 week job”. Unfortunately “sidewinders” are not made for 2001 R1 motors. “from any manufacturer”.

As far as the body work is concerned Elise new a shop “that had painted her fathers car” that she choose to deal with.
The body work was not 2003 R1 MINT BODY WORK.
The body work was R1 used/rashed/cracked/ race fairings and the tank was pounded and destroyed.

The place she took the tank to in order to be repaired for $500 was a machine fabber that we recommended her to call and passed on his contact info. to her.

Body work quotes absolutely cannot be giving with out viewing the body work.
If that were not the case people would be tumbling fairings down the 401 and excepting to have them painted for the same price as a set of mint fairings.

Brief…………Very Brief parts list…………………

McIntosh Swing arm - $ 1,500
Custom Hindle sidewinder - $ 1,500
LRC cable adjusters - $12
LRC clip ons - $120
LRC stator cover - $150
Evo Tech gas cap - $150
Kickstand - $140
Vortex lowering link - $100
Driven mirror caps - $50
Anodized Sprocket bolts - $25
Vortex rear sprocket - $90
Vortex front sprocket - $45
Pazzo levers - $200
Vortex rear sets - $400
DID gold chain x 2 - $350
Galfer front rotor - $289
Galfer rear rotor - $140
Rizoma brake fluid reservoir - $85
Speigler custom coloured line kit - $215
Brembo master - $279
K&N air filters “pod” kit - $170
Puig windscreen - $100
Shinko tires “set” - $350
Renthal Grips - $15
Smog plates - $40
Spark plugs - $60
Brake pads - $60
Air shifter kit - $500
Drag Clutch kit - $300

SUB-TOTAL- $7435

Just to give an idea. I am sure some of these parts can be located cheaper via the internet, eBay etc.
However we purchase our parts through the companies direct to avoid issues.

This will be the first and last time we respond to this thread. As the summer season is among us and we are already extremely busy at the shop.

If Elise would like to continue waiting and have the job done by us that is fine.
If not, that is also fine. We will be more than happy to give her back the “money not yet spent” and a couple boxes of parts already purchased.

We are a busy shop with a great history. We have built countless show bikes and countless race bikes both for the drag and road styles of racing.
We also service everyday riders and have never had a single problem. Let alone a problem of this magnitude.

There is no reason to make this issue any bigger than it has already unfortunately became.

Hopefully this post has been able to clear up any discrepancies.

Have a great riding season everybody, and we hope to see you on the road and at the track.

Cheers,
Champion Cycle
 
Good on you for responding, and as always there's 2 sides to every story.
 
Verrrry interesting. Good to hear the other side of the story ... and I think I know which one is more accurate.
 
mmmnaked said:
Good on you for responding, and as always there's 2 sides to every story.
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Actually 3 sides.

You have someone dropping that amount of coin a little communication goes a long way.

This day and age very few ppl are still using dial up to check e-mails.
 
Englishj said:
Actually 3 sides.

You have someone dropping that amount of coin a little communication goes a long way.

This day and age very few ppl are still using dial up to check e-mails.
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Agreed. She set out a timeline, and having to wait 14 weeks for a swing arm, because of lack of communication is worth some compensation from a well known company with a reputation. I know these things happen but if it was my bike, and I waited 8 weeks for a single part to only call them and hear " Yeeeeeea, about that part......... gonna take another 5 - 6 weeks.... " I'd be a little ****** to say the least. I know this isn't American Chopper when they make a bike from scratch in a month and a half time span, but jeeze.
 
Due to the un-commonness of the R1 in the Drag racing world these types of problems and wait times due occur. Another example: We contacted Lee Hindle directly and are having a custom sidewinder made for Elise’s bike. “another 4-5 week job”. Unfortunately “sidewinders” are not made for 2001 R1 motors. “from any manufacturer”.

You would do well to clarify the above statement. It is unclear if you chose not to order this material until now, meaning the bike would not be finished on time, if you ordered it before December, and are still waiting, or if the customer recently changed the scope of the job.
 
Time for banger and champion cycle to have a face to face. bring e-mails etc to the table and work it out kids.
 
Englishj said:
Actually 3 sides.

You have someone dropping that amount of coin a little communication goes a long way.

This day and age very few ppl are still using dial up to check e-mails.
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But then consider this ...

CHAMPION CYCLE said:
Hello to all.

WOW! This is the first we have heard about Elise being un-happy. And in such a state of dismay.

We have always had no problems with our customers and pride ourselves in being a very honest business to deal with. If Elise had concerns and was getting so worried, fixing the situation was a simple phone call or email away.

We were in attendance at the Spring Supershow. where I personally spoke to Elise many of times, in fact even had a whole bunch of photos taking with her. There was no problems at that time.
One week later we left the shop to attend a race event over seas. At which point “as stated on our voice mail” we would be re-opening for the summer season On Monday May 2nd.
Upon our return to the shop today. I personally checked all voice mails and emails. And made the appropriate responses. There was not one email or voicemail from Elise Belanger or Adam “her ex-boyfriend”. I received a phone call from one of our part suppliers informing me of this thread.
This is just a simple case of a small problem being blown way out of proportion and a one sided story.
Click to expand...

Some customer-service problems are self-inflicted ...
 
Uh, she was in Afghanistan.... obviously communications were gonna be difficult to say the least.

If the guy has to wait that long for a swingarm and then the supplier messes up the order, he can't do anything about it. Custom things take time, especially building a 10 year old R1 into a drag bike. Wrong items get shipped to people all the time. Just gotta deal with the setbacks.
 
Being a business owner myself I know the importance of quoting an estimate accurately to a customer. This was a big job and I think complications could have been avoided if you simply went with a more common bike in the drag racing scene. You're trying to squeeze "drag-racing blood" out of an R1! Why?!? Anyway, I know very well the hiccups that can be encountered in custom-making parts for any project bike.

I've dealt many times with Champion Cycle and will continue to do business with him. I highly recommend anyone on this forum to walk into the shop today to see the caliper of machines Danny is capable of building.
Truth-be-told, I'd recommend to Danny to give back the bike and all purchased parts and cease work on this project. Sounds like a disgruntled customer and you can never win with those...even if you bend over backwards.



...my 2 cents
 
I wonder which side is losing more credibility?
 
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