The Dark side

[fossie]

*onda advertisement says "you meet he nicest people on a *onda"
This seems to be true, the old chap who stopped and gave me bottle of water and an apple while I laid on the ground watching the clouds being blown away by the force 10 gale next the the M61 listening to he radio on my phone.
The recovery driver were both nice people..............

So does is mean the reception at *unts are like a friends meeting agent. And when you phone to say that clutch you fitted in November about 9000 miles ago won't go over 5000 revs with out slipping
It's goosed'
When they reply. We have a space on the 25th .........a week in the future. What they mean is. Have the RAC card ready and prepare to make new acquaintances!.

[Pedda]

There are chaps who I'm sure pay a lot more to have a slipper clutch...

[jmac]

I can concurr that the earlier 650 d'ville was far more reliable. Mine is on 82 thou plus, and still going strong. Want to hire it?

[fossie]

I can concurr that the earlier 650 d'ville was far more reliable. Mine is on 82 thou plus, and still going strong. Want to hire it?

NO!

[fossie]

The down side of having a company bike is you are at the mercy of descion makers , (a very loose term )
Anyway this saga will entertain us for months I feel!
We are now on the other Dulvile which strangly has a slipping clutch but ....
The latest instalment is *unts "realised" they couldn't fit the bike in for warranty work (which we all know they won't honour anyway) until 3rd may 2 weeks after they said the could. The clutch may be on a hard shoulder by then!!!

In the meantime the front brake is binding but I didn't bother because it was going in .....but now it's not . I have not used the front brake for a week or so because I knew it was going in...... So when they told me it wasn't , I, should we say expressed my opinion and mentioned the lack of front brake usablity. This information resulted in the bike being taken to the bike shop up the road from my house to get it sorted, even though I said I would do it my self. If I needed spare parts we have the bike from last week just sitting there, no one willing to put another penny in to it.
It should be being replaced with a 650 Bandit in July But to be honest anything without a *onda wing on the tank would do!

No it must be done by a bike shop , the fact he would be closed until Friday meant nought. No I'm stuck in a fuggin van ........and live is toooooooooooooshort for that.

On the up side I get to ride my S2 to work in the morning.. How does a 30 year machine on cross ply's handle so much better than 2 year old one?

[fossie]

Up date in Hunt's (spelt wiva c) *onda customer relations.
They got the bike with a clutch that slipped over 2500 revs in last Thursday. I got an transalp in exchange with NO petrol in it.

A week later thay say it is ready.......
I go to collect it from them they say there is nothing wrong with it, they have checked every tolerence and it is all fine, 4 people have ridden it and it's fine now . the clutch action is very soft like a moped , could do with harder springs , but ok by the book!
Did you ride it before for comparison? ........No we were going to inspect it , so we took it apart to inspect it.
So why was there no free play in the cable , where had it gone....
Clutches wear .. sometimes they take up the slack in the cable that is why the daily checks include checking free play!
How can a metal cable shrink?...... clutches wear ! how come I've never ever had to loosen a clutch cable before-in 30 odd years.
Don't forget you have done 6 times the normal milage of a normally used dulvile...
But you fitted the clutch COMPLETE for nearly £1000 9.5000 miles ago surely that is not excessive for the life of a bike.
You've had it serviced else where.......!
So you noticed the servicing is correct, complete and up to date then!

Well these bike are not really meant for what you are using them for.....

Oh so when the chap from a COURIER COMPANY came to you with £35000 for 4 bikes what did you think he was going to do with them?

Your warranty claim is with *onda not with us, you should have it serviced with us!
But you charge too much and can't fit us in when we need the bikes serviced....
Well we are the largest *onda dealer in England if not the just the Nort West so we are very busy...
EH!
Anyway heres a bill for £200 for the inspection.!!!
Fine here my bill for the £10 to cover the fuel left in the transalp.
Roll on July.

[Pedda]

About time your boss buys used Katanas as courier bikes me thinks...

[fossie]

GCHQ can pry on on peoples email conversations so I thought you drop could in on this one
(my manager is aware. pissed off as well wonder why?) Enjoy.

From: Jamie Entwistle [mailto:entwistlej@huntsmotorcycles.co.uk]
Sent: 11 June 2013 16:58
To: Marc Rennard
Subject:
Hi Mark
Having just had your rider in, we have taken the bike for a test ride and reported that the clutch is now at the end of life.

The clutch has covered a total of 15728 miles since the clutch was fitted.

I have spoke to Honda technical and told them the history of the bike and they say that it is not covered under the warranty.

They have recorded our conversation on their records, and you are more than welcome to call Honda customer services stating the track number 972942

Many thanks
JamieEntwistle
Service Manager


REPLY.
From: Marc Rennard
Sent: 11 June 2013 17:51
To: 'Jamie Entwistle'
Cc: Steve Burton
Subject: RE: Honda Deauvilles

Hi Jamie,

I’m surprised at this as it was only just over a month ago you had the bike for a week during which time you tested the clutch and told us it was in perfect condition, did you mention that to Honda technical or do we accept the clutch has deteriorated so much over such a short time? At the time you replaced the clutch for us you at no time told me that we could only expect 15k before we would need to replace it again at cost to ourselves. You did not mention that the warranty would only cover us for limited mileage governed by the limited lifetime of the parts you fitted.

It is apparent that these bikes are not fit for courier use if it is the case that both Honda and yourselves believe that we should be changing the clutches at great cost every 15k or twice a year, we have had these issues with both bikes at around the same mileage. Now we face a bill of over £1,500 to get both bikes back in workable condition or we cut our losses and move on. Hardly what you would expect from a company that likes to trade on reliability.

I will forward your email to our London Courier Manager as two of the bikes we bought from you are based there. He will obviously need to be aware of the limitations on their use. It goes without saying that in the future we will have to look elsewhere for machines that are fit for purpose as the Deauvilles are not up to it.

We have 50 motorbike couriers working for TDL in London and a straw poll amongst them indicates they would expect far higher mileages from any clutch on their bikes, in all conditions and hard riding faced by London bike couriers.

Regards,

Marc Rennard

Manchester Courier Manager




PR at it's best!!!!!!

[Katgeezer]

Nicely put by your man.

As we already knew Dull-viles are shitters and not fit for ANY purpose short of bonfire material. I cannot believe the mighty Honda have continued to let their name be dragged down by this hopelessly outclassed engine. Considering all the decent bikes they actually produce it beggars belief.
And as for the this excuse of a dealer...well...I'd never deal with them again. All I can do is echo my previous entry about my good mate Ian who had a Dull-vile as a courier and had exactly the same problem with pretty much the same outcome. That was 6 years ago and they're still punting out the same crap. The dealers know they're not fit for purpose but just want to grab your money.

Deary me, feel quite light headed after that rant. Must go lie down

[fossie]

R.I.P +


Yesterday the clutch finally failed on the Dulville .
*onda and *ondas agent namely * unts have decided that although warranty on the genuine clutch fitted by their technician on their premises using their parts for which they implied they would honour a warranty, though in fairness I suppose didn't commit,( see how it goes is non committal really) ..
Even though less then 1 month ago it was inspected and deemed ok.

The outcome is the rider or ridden circumstances are the reason for the failure of these clutches. Although 3 riders in total over the 2 years of company ownership of these machines
All with different riding history from everyday for 36 years to summer riding for 3 years.

So that is it both Dulvilles now clutchless,friendless and ready to be parted with for parts
The company no longer willing to feed their clutch munching habit.



Amen.
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