First Warranty Claim on suspension?

[BaldBaBoon]

Hello to the forum.

Bought my UK bike at the start of April for the purpose of using it as a nippy commuter to get from my house to London, a 60 mile round trip each day with a mixture of motorway, filtering through heavy traffic and city riding on the usual pothole cursed UK roads.

I manage to spread the miles out evenly between my MT and my old BMW GS, with the old GS being the workhorse for long distance weekend trips and any rides into London when I need to transport a lot of heavy equipment about for use in my daily work. Even with spreading the mileage out like this, the little MT has last week clocked 7300 miles and had its first minor service. ( I average about 4000+ miles a month ) While being serviced, I notified the technician to the concern that my suspension was bottoming out, occasionally getting seized after hitting a road bump...it was on max pre-load and still wallowing.

The Shock is shot, specifically the damping has gone.

I will keep you informed as to how Yamaha deal with this, as I believe it might be the first warranty claim on the suspension.


Note.

I do not ride like a loon, I do not carry pillions on the MT and I do not carry luggage on it....I do a lot of miles.( and I am heavy, 100kg )

 

[blueglue]

I weigh the same so will be keeping an eye on the thread as to whats happened.

Cheers for the heads up although im only on 2500 miles ish

 

[sven11]

Very interesting, hope you get it sorted out! Can you describe the symptoms in detail, how would we notice this. i am a newbie so my feel for suspension is still in its roots.


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[loneranger]

front suspension on my bike is poor. Been back a few times and dealer cant find fault. It clonks on going over really bad surface or hump.

 

[BaldBaBoon]

The shock has been agreed and organised for fitting on Tuesday morning ( UK ) so I can let you know how that goes.

Sven.

The bike initially started a slow wallowing type of motion, you would hit a bump and the bike would do a sort of slow motion bouncing and up and down for a distance.....this got progressively worse, noticeable as I was travelling the same roads at the same speed every day.

I gradually moved up the preload a couple of settings each time, that calmed the shock down for a few days...until I had it on the highest pre-load. The suspension then actually locked a couple of times when I hit a pothole by mistake, and I would have to pull over and basically push down on the rear seat to get the suspension to reset. ( a little worrying ) Now, every single hard knock gets transmitted through the bike.

The Front suspension is also getting my attention as well, you come to a rapid halt and the front bounces a tad and springs back to max extension with an audible knock that you can feel through the bars.....it feels exactly like a bike that you have had for years and the springs are getting to the point that they need renewing and fresh oil.

My old BMW GS does not have any problems on the same road, even the potholes, I do admit that it is a different class of bike...but it is over 20 years old with 300,000 km on it, so you would thought the Yamaha would give it a bit of a run for its money.

 

[dazzor]

I'd be inclined to see if a deal can be done on upgrading the shock out of my own pocket and seeing if the labour would be covered and remainder of the warranty honoured.

Edit; or perhaps the shocks upgraded by dealer as the stock shocks are not for for purpose?

Just a thought.

 

[sven11]

Thanks BaldBaBoon, appreciate it!


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[BaldBaBoon]

Finished work at 4 this morning and got back home to find I have a message waiting for me....the part from Yamaha has still not arrived.

Nice.

Brand new bike is now sat in the garden awaiting spares, the exact bike that I bought out of a choice of dozens of good machines from all different manufacturers, to be a reliable and efficient form of travel that I can use for my work. ( I am on 1 hr standby )

So, the nearly 24 year old BMW with 300,000 km on the clock is being used to take the place of a 4 month old Yamaha.

 

[dazzor]

This is shocking; pun intended..bit seriously, this is out of order.

Where's the courtesy bike?

 

[DJP]

I think that this is the problem with buying any new model of anything: The importers have no spares inventory because they're not expecting anyone to need things like shocks for a couple of years.

My father in law had a similar issue with a new car. Doesn't help the OP, though.

I agree re the courtesy bike.

 

[BaldBaBoon]

Contacted Yamaha UK and got through to customer services, The lady I dealt with took all the details and apologized and said she would get back to within half an hour to inform me what is what.

20 minutes later, contacted by Yamaha and told that a ( another ) new shock was being dispatched from Yamaha and will be at the dealers Thursday Mid-Day.Due to the shift pattern I work, that will have to get sorted out on Friday morning now...finish work at 0400....then back to work at 1800, So that is going to really eat into my needed sleep.

I will update on Friday.

 

[dazzor]

I think they should furnish you with a courtesy bike, and pick your bike up from you when dropping off the loan bike.....at time that suits you.

 

[blueglue]

I think they should furnish you with a courtesy bike, and pick your bike up from you when dropping off the loan bike.....at time that suits you.

I agree with dazzor. A major failing of a component in such a short period of time would warrant this. You shouldn't have to go out of your way clocking up miles on your other old gal.
As for the shift pattern i feel your pain BaldBaBoon. Reminds me when i was in the Police and had to try and sort everything out around dayshift workers schedules....gits!

 

[badger27]

anyone put an upgraded shock on yet?

 

[Ralph]

Not tried them on the MT yet but did ride a V-strom that they had done and the difference
was amazing, best time to contact them is in the winter as they do a lot of race bikes in summer.

Maxton Suspension home page

 

[MADAPE]

anyone put an upgraded shock on yet?

I've had a Nitron Sport shock fitted. Only been on a few days but it's made a hell of a difference. Never had the need to upgrade a shock before but then again, I'm no longer as light as I used to be.

 

[dazzor]

I've had a Nitron Sport shock fitted. Only been on a few days but it's made a hell of a difference. Never had the need to upgrade a shock before but then again, I'm no longer as light as I used to be.

How much did that set you back?

Also, what's the general consensus about the front suspension on these? What would be a reasonably worthwhile upgrade option that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Cheers

Darren

 

[MADAPE]

It cost £400 and half an hours labour to fit. Far cheaper than an exhaust system and a very real, noticeable improvement in handling.

I've not checked out front suspension yet as this is not a problem for me (yet!). As already mentioned by Ralph, check out Maxton for cartridges or Hyperpro, who I think have a spring/oil kit available for the MT-07.

 

[dazzor]

It cost £400 and half an hours labour to fit. Far cheaper than an exhaust system and a very real, noticeable improvement in handling.

I've not checked out front suspension yet as this is not a problem for me (yet!). As already mentioned by Ralph, check out Maxton for cartridges or Hyperpro, who I think have a spring/oil kit available for the MT-07.

Excellent bit of info, thank you sir.

I've had a mare getting my 07, hoping to have it early October. I'll ride her standard for a few months and decide from there on performance mods.

Pretty sure I'll want the rear shock upgraded, also think I'll want a decent sound track because I'm weak and think the subtle sound from the stock system will emasculate me

 

[BaldBaBoon]

Well the shock got fitted, I had managed to drop it off early before my night shift and it was refitted in a couple of hours...independent dealer, so they said they would sort out a bike if it did not get fixed in time.

I had the front suspension looked at, the Technician said that all their demo bikes behave exactly the same. In his opinion, he reckoned it would make a large difference to replace the fork oil with a heavier grade, so that is what I am aiming for asap.

I normally replace the shocks on all my bikes to be truthful, I really rate the Wilbers Suspension ones and have them fitted to them all....just waiting till Wilbers does one for the MT.