To say the gearbox "might" fail because it has 160HP is complete crap. The tyre will spin, the clutch may slip but the mechanical bits should be rated well above the HP.
Oh and tell them HP has absolutely nothing to do with gearbox design, it's actually torque that sets the design. They are talking out of their arse!
Re: who in their right mind is going to abuse $20,000 worth of bike?
Me! Sorry........
Give Blackzook am pm message he is very good at that kind of stuff he has the contacts, he sorted out Pans problems well sort off
As for missing 5th & 6th gear change's on a few occasions that just comes standard with Busa's
Cheers Robert
Aren't all 'busas Copper, the others are just all poor slow copies !!!!!
Timj your disappointment is understandable. But to play the Devil’s Advocate I’d have to ask how many near new Busa’s have developed the same gearbox problem?? That’s the defence Mr Suzuki will be taking. Is you problem isolated or are there other new Busa’s world wide suffering from the identical problem.
If you’re in law enforcement you’d no doubt know that you have to investigate all possible defences that the crooks (Mr Suzuki) can come up with.
And I know for a fact that a few mechanics unfortunately don’t necessarily treat their customer’s vehicles with any respect, nor do they tell you what they tell their corporate giants.
I wish you all the best.
Cheers Rich
Hi Rich,
mate there are not many public forums here in Australia to do searches for problems with the Hayabusa, this being the only one I know of. But world wide there have been cases indeed and all you need to do is search on hayabusa.org or suzukihayabusa.org and you will see there are quiet a few cases in the good old 'US of A' alone. Many of which have been covered by warranty!
My point is this, I am a 39yr old who has seen first hand the effects of accidents on the human body. I have a young family and have been riding motorcycles since the age of 17. In that time I have had many motorcycles and not experienced the problem which I am currently facing (with Suzuki warranty that is). This is my 1st BRAND new purchase in 13years and the reason I wanted to buy from new was so I would know EXACTLY how the bike is treated from the get go. This bike is a daily use vehicle, I commute to and from work on it every work day. It is kept locked away and covered when not in use and it has never been wound up in my hands.
The ONLY time someone else has ridden it is when it was in for both NON service interval work and servicing as required by the handbook. Suzuki changed oil & filter at my request at 421km and did the 1k service when it was due. I do NOT know who rode it after or during it's time at the service centre, bike was dropped off early morning and picked up in the afternoon. I am not about to go accusing anyone of 'abusing' it during test rides etc as I was not there to do so.
But, I do know how I have ridden it since the day I picked it up. I have NEVER mistreated the transmission. I have openly acknoweledged that I have missed 5th-6th gearchange and found a false neutral but when this has happened I have not 'slammed' it into gear. What Mr Suzuki insinuated on the phone to me was that I had missed 1st to 2nd gear change at high rev's and 'slammed' it into 2nd causing the damage, all of this without seeing the damage for himself. I'm sorry but if I 'f***' up I am quiet prepared to put my hand up and cop it like a man. But when someone accuses you over the phone of doing something you know full well you havent done is utter bullshit (and he was told so too I might add).. Why do we have warranties then?
I did have a call today telling me that they (Suzuki) were willing to pay for the strip down (which they ordered, not me!!) the necessary parts cost but want me to pay for the rebuild which would be an estimated $500.... Like f*** I will, Consumer Affairs and My Barrister will be getting involved. I have taken 2 days leave (Thursday & Friday) to take the necessary steps.
The amount of Busa's sold in Australia compared to the USA may explain why this problem has not cropped up here, allegedly.
Not over by a long shot.
WATCH THIS SPACE.
PS: Pan I called your mobile and left a message, hope to chat to you over the next day or so.
Oh and just to add, Suzuki acknoweledge that if not enough pressure is applied to the gear shif mechanism whilst changing gear between 5th and 6th gears that a false neutral can be found, their solution.... Move the gear shift leverposition on the output shaft lower!!!!!!!!!!
1999 this problem raised it's head, they have KNOWN about this problem since then and done sweet f*** all about it! What does that tell you about quality control?
If it was a know issue WHY was I not told about it AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE ?? Hmm, maybe it might have affected me decision to spend my hard earned cash with Suzuki ? Probably not but this warranty issue certainly will in the future.
Timj, mate I'm on your side. I'm pleased to hear there are other similar gearbox problems worldwide that you can reference too. It's good to see that you've got Mr Suzuki's defences covered.
Cheers Rich
Hi Tim. I've missed gears at high revs, at low revs, 1st to 2nd, 4 to 5th, even 2rd to 3rd at redline at the drags without a clutch. Okay, so it's not ideal and I wouldn't do it intentionally, but mine's a 99 and IT DIDN'T CRAP itself, so why should a new bike not be able to take it? (I also hear your point about that being just a Brendan throw-away line without having inspected the bike, as opposed to what actually happened).
Just finished work. I'll ring ya in the morning...
I had a cracked subframe on my 99 Busa with 29,000kays on the clock.
Peter Stevens said Suzuki would not do anything about it and I believed them.
This was not true as JP saw a post on this board that I made about it and contacted me and supplied me with a new steel subframe free of charge even though the bike was 7 y.o.
Thanks JP
So don’t just listen to the dealer make sure you go to Suzuki head office before you draw any conclusions. This is what I learnt
Good luck Timj, take it all the way
Cheers
Darryl
To all men a woman’s breast size is like comparing Coke to Pepsi; sure you might have a preference but will take anything on tap
Edited by: Darryl at: 28/6/06 8:19 pm
After reading all of this I am begining to question my decision to buy the Hayabusa. Thinking I should have kept my Kawasaki and waited to see how the Zx-14 panned out. Edited by: Busdriver at: 22/6/06 12:36 pm
I disagree old man. The first model of anything is bound to have teething problems, as did the '99/2000 Busa. My experiences of Kawasaki warranty were terrible. Better the devil you know etc. Besides this is a terrific bike. Want to drop over a test ride the 1400 some time this arvo? as long as the rain stays away?
Max Madmax - GSX1300R Black and Blue Buses Rule
Good Bike, Good Woman, Good Road, Good Weather, Good God - Good Bye!
Smith and Wesson - The original point and click interface.
Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
Jumping out of the higher gears goes way back to 99 & seems to be an issue that can disappear with mileage as well.
It's never happened to either of my 99's.
But my mates 99 had a problem jumping out of higher gears. Not anymore though & cost nothing to fix. A few riders run around with incorrectly adjusted gear levers & also have indifferent rider technique as well
We adjusted his lever & I told him to be more positive when up changing. No more problem.
Up changing gears should only require you to ROTATE your foot on the foot peg, NOT lift it off to pull your foot up to contact the lever. Check it first before doing anything else. I believe they are set too high from the factory.
Make sure there is no AIR GAP between the top of your boot & the gear lever. Make any necessary adjustments so that the lever is lightly contacting your boot top & do up the lock nuts on the rod. By doing this you are ensuring maximum mechanical advantage (leverage).
If you've still got a problem after this then at least you've eliminated a known issue
Popping out of gear is a dog clutch problem, and maybe a few missed gear changes have rounded off the dog clutch faces. Cure is undercutting but that's a big job. Do anything to not miss a gear change to avoid problems on any bike box. They all basically have the same system of engagement and all will suffer from missed changes. Do linkages, set the heights and be positive in action.
Well,
interesting morning and a big thanks to PAN for the phone call and chat this morning
I drove out to see the guys at the shop this morning and was greeted by the same spool from yesterday that I would have to contribute to the rebuild. Sorry not possible and am taking it further.
I have been onto Consumer Protection this morning after coming back from the shop and they are sending me out the necessary forms to lodge a complaint. I have also made an appointment to get legal advice for tomorrow afternoon so it's just a matter of sitting and waiting, groan!!
Interesting conversation by Mr Suzuki and the store manager where i bought the bike, the store manager himself said I should NOT be expected to pay anything and that he has inspected the bike, tyres and all and see's no sign of feathering on the rear tyre etc, still got plenty of wear left etc. These guys have been very helpful.
Anyway, until I get further legal advice tomorrow I'm not going to comment any further, you will be kept up to date though.
Cheers
timj, i feel for ya mate,
just got my bike back 2 or 3 weeks ago aftr 4 months of warranty issues..
suzuki wouldn't repair my snapped clutch and the preceeding damage to engine which required full rebuild i think but i was lucky . After persisting they agreed and payed for everything. It was time consuming and one i don't want to deal with again
as blackzook suggested, write down the facts, look for a loop hole in the warranty.. they first said no cause it had "crash damage" - what's crash damage i said - if its not explained in the warranty book then it is what a reasonable person would determine. So that was my point, that and the same thing happenend to Shredder- on one bike its an isolated incident, but two bikes or more and you have a bigger issue that isn't isolated and could affect multiple bikes.
But stick with it mate, surely if suzuki do read these pages then they would prefer to satisfy customers rather than turn them off the brand.
I know in my job that customers are most important and it has been shown that 1 dissatisfied customer will tell 10 people about the incident- clearly you have told 700 members, now 700 customers is a lot of business to lose, so good luck and i hope suzuki have a good look at themselves and their product-
I love my bus but if i had to do it all again???????
cheers
rob
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