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Post by kz1000st on Aug 30, 2014 13:20:47 GMT -6
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Post by Bashan on Aug 30, 2014 13:36:10 GMT -6
Good find KZ...thanks. I posted that over on the Stella board, I hope you don't mind. Rich
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Post by jct842 on Aug 30, 2014 13:53:06 GMT -6
At least it is being taken care of. crap happens but when the manufacturer hides it that is a real problem.
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Post by kz1000st on Aug 30, 2014 14:19:07 GMT -6
I try to keep up on bike and scooter news. Motorcycle-USA, Cycle World and Motorcycle.com are a font of information.
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Post by JR on Aug 30, 2014 16:43:23 GMT -6
Yes it for sure does. 
Regarding a past Dealers experience:
My business partner stared selling CFMOTO produced scoots in 2006.
CFMOTO hit the US scooter scene big time in 2007 and 2008. They had 3 150cc machines, the Glory, eCharm, eJewel, the 250cc Fashion, and the V Twins, the V3 and V5. They were trying hard to bring the reputation of a mainland Chinese scooter maker up in stature. Their presence at Dealer Expo in Indianapolis was huge!
They announced the creation of a new 250, the Jetmax, that was supposed to debut as a 2010 model.
The original management, Lev Mirman, was replaced by a CEO from China. That is when the promises were made...and broken. We were told that the 250's would become fuel injected and that there would be a introduction of a couple of 650cc motorcycles in the late summer of 2010(I guess they are finally expected this spring). We were told that although the company was going to significantly expand its off-road, atv/utv, lineup, they would in no way forget the dealers that helped them get established.
2011 proved be a " house cleaning" year. Since no new scooters had been brought in since 2009, CFMOTO-US wanted to "clear-out" the warehouses of all remaining 2009 models. They dropped the price of a 150 scooter to $500 !!! They dropped the 250's to a grand !!
Talk about a sale! It worked, they were cleaned out by fall 2011.
So we spent 2011 and into 2012 selling the 2009 models.
They started 2012 with nothing to sell and product " due in any moment" of course, nothing materialized. They started pushing the ATV line pretty hard. The president of CFMOTO US was recalled to China...and not replaced. They brought in two new guys that had been bounced out of a couple of North American powersports companies. We were sent new dealer contracts to sign. They fired our rep, who had been with them for a number of years. And then complete SILENCE.
Not a peep throughout most of 2012. No scooters to sell, no V5's no Jetmax's. As for parts, they were able to be ordered online through the dealer page at CFMOTO-US.
Then one day I try to log on to order some parts....nada...zilch..bupkiss. I figured it must be some computer glitch. The following day I get a call from a customer that says " You guys aren't listed on the dealer locator page anymore."
Yep. Not a word of warning. Not a letter, no phone call, nothing. So I call and get the new guy's voice mail. Leave numerous messages...never get a return phone call.
I finally get one of the new management personnel to return my phone call. I ask why we were terminated without so much as the courtesy of a phone call? He says, "I don't know, that not my department"
When I asked how I'm now supposed to get parts for the hundreds CFMOTO's we've sold; he suggests that I call around and find an existing dealer that might agree to sell us parts.
Now when I take a good look at the dealer locator page I see that they dumped numerous dealers and that the only ones left are mainly ATV/UTV dealers. I think the closest scooter dealer to me is outside Buffalo, NY some 3 hours away.
The good news is that with the pull-out of CFMOTO in the scooter market, that prompted us to become a SYM dealer. We are very happy working with SYM and their American distributor, Alliance Powersports.
Now with MRP bellying up who had bought up a bunch of parts you can truthfully say they'll soon be yard ornaments, at least this company is still around to recall theirs.
JR
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Post by kz1000st on Aug 30, 2014 18:08:54 GMT -6
I get my parts from www.alpha-sports.comEngine bits from Parts for Scooters What that has to do with Genuine recalling scoots for a bad ECU though I haven't figured out. You should have posted this in the MRP thread. |
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Post by JR on Aug 31, 2014 5:12:46 GMT -6
At least it is being taken care of. crap happens but when the manufacturer hides it that is a real problem. No John the real problem is the product being built incorrectly to begin with, it's called human error. So GM lied, are they the only ones who ever did it? No they just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and they are paying for it dearly too. That doesn't help anyone who has been hurt though no more than the people who got hurt over Toyota's bad accelerator pedal on a recent recall. Read the story about the pregnant lady who ran out in front of a semi because she couldn't stop at a stop sign because of the stuck pedal, wonder how much that cost Toyota? Did the money help bring her and the child back?
I mentioned the death trap gas tanks of the popular Mustang and how many Ford pickups had the gas tank right in the damn cab behind the front seat? My grandfather owned a 69 Ford and put crap right behind the seat with the gas tank staring you in the face, how many of these had to burn up before Ford or any of the auto people got their head out of their butt and stop doing this stupid practice, they all did this not just GM. So GM lied, do you think for a minute one Ford executive has lost any sleep over any of the people in the graveyard due to any of their stupid mistakes? What about Chrysler what about any of them?
I presently own two Chevy's that are waiting on recall parts to come in, just got my stepsons ignition key switch replaced on his 08 Cobalt. When they put the new switch in they gave a paper to us with clear instructions about how to "not" put two tons of weight on your key chain because of all things it can tear the key switch up, just common sense here but you know what people don't want to use common sense, they want o point a finger at the bad old car company and not accept that sometimes they do stupid crap too. I'm the world's worse about having 10lbs. of keys on my key chain and guess what? Last year I had to replace my key switch on my 93 Silverado and who did I blame?
Good old me and now I have a separate set of keys for each vehicle with only the key/s that came with the vehicle, even an old dog can learn new tricks.
JR
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Post by JR on Aug 31, 2014 6:16:57 GMT -6
I get my parts from www.alpha-sports.comEngine bits from Parts for Scooters What that has to do with Genuine recalling scoots for a bad ECU though I haven't figured out. You should have posted this in the MRP thread. It just seems like another thing that people want to be at war with?
scooterdoc.proboards.com/thread/10532/hmmmmm?page=3
It goes with the "oh look here the "better" scooters have a recall," my, my my. The list goes on and on. I remember a time when two scooter company's talked about their "better" Chinese scooters, both said we use better and in some cases quality Japanese parts, both had people posting on a forum letting everyone know don't buy the cheap online junk pay us a premium price for out better Chinese scooter.
So what has happened to some of those folks? Well I posted a quote from a dealer on one of them above and here's the other:
www.scooterdoc.proboards.com/thread/2169?page=1
Remember a dealer real well who used to get off on calling Chinese scooters junk and was selling the "better" machines, now the doors have closed.
But my point entirely is who cares about any of this, myself I used to get wrapped up in it, not any more, in fact I've had a blast with it just recently. About 3 months ago I jumped on my 250B and rode 5 miles up the road to the little quick sak in Oppelo, they have great chicken and hamburgers. I sometimes take a break and just ride up their and sit at one of the tables they have set up outside to eat and socialize at. I parked my scooter over out of the way and while I was eating a whole pack of Goldwinger's and Goldwing trikers rode up. This station is the last place you can gas up and get supplies before you get to Petit Jean State park which is a big hang out for all kinds of bikers, motorized or not motorized.
While I was sitting there some of the people mainly the hens started eyeballing and evaluating my scooter and came over and sit down at the tables in my area all the while they were talking about the red scooter and how it was one of those cheap Chinese death traps and man I jumped on this opportunity to have a laugh. I joined right in and before you know it we had a cross burning for the idiots who ride these things and had condemned everyone from the DOT to the pope for allowing this to happen!  After a bit I told them to have a good day and then jumped on 250B and headed out! Now I'll leave you to imagine the look on their face when I jumped on this Chinese death trap and rode off into the sunset!  Best way to describe it is like being in the produce line at WalMart and letting one of those sneaky silent gag a maggot farts and then looking at the lady next to you like "dang lady you stink"  the look is priceless! It's just one of the many reasons my wife won't shop with me any more! :-SBut I wasn't through with this laugh, knowing that they would be coming by soon going to the park I stopped out by the road at the end of my driveway by my mailbox. You see they have to go by my house on the way to the park. I sit out there on my 250B and waved at them all as they rode by!  I know there was at least 5 guys who laughed their butt off when they saw me at the end of the driveway!
Point is if someone wants to look down on you no matter what you own/drive just catch them in the grocery line on a day when you ate some real gaseous food and have a good laugh! 
JR
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Post by kz1000st on Aug 31, 2014 7:14:33 GMT -6
Well that was long, amusing and entirely unrelated to the topic at hand.
Well one good thing is going to come out of this. I'm going to order spare brake pads and a set of rear shoes from Alpha Sports. This way I can ride the Fashion for another 20 or so years without parking it for brake pads or shoes being unavailable. Everything else is available for the engine all over the place. That Bando Kevlar belt I just installed from PFS is working like a charm.
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Post by JR on Aug 31, 2014 8:53:02 GMT -6
Well that was long, amusing and entirely unrelated to the topic at hand. Well one good thing is going to come out of this. I'm going to order spare brake pads and a set of rear shoes from Alpha Sports. This way I can ride the Fashion for another 20 or so years without parking it for brake pads or shoes being unavailable. Everything else is available for the engine all over the place. That Bando Kevlar belt I just installed from PFS is working like a charm. Unrelated to the topic but related to the motive and yes it was funny still is today.
JR
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Post by cyborg on Aug 31, 2014 9:16:26 GMT -6
I'm just happy that the company or any company not just genuine step up and take care of business,,,the company that just ignores the problem is negligent,,,as i read the report only 800 machines were affected ,,now i don't know how many machines were actually imported,,,but it's not a huge number,,Genuine should have jumped on it right away when the dealers were having pdi setup problems,,,but no one was killed or injured and they did get after it fairly quickly,,
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Post by JR on Aug 31, 2014 9:18:20 GMT -6
I'm just happy that the company or any company not just genuine step up and take care of business,,,the company that just ignores the problem is negligent,,,as i read the report only 800 machines were affected ,,now i don't know how many machines were actually imported,,,but it's not a huge number,,Genuine should have jumped on it right away when the dealers were having pdi setup problems,,,but no one was killed or injured and they did get after it fairly quickly,, Yes and they didn't even have to get DOT or the pope involved! |
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Post by cyborg on Aug 31, 2014 9:35:37 GMT -6
As a side note on the recall deal for the toyotas gas pedal problem recall and key ball thing,,,no one read the operation manual,,,if you press the start button for 5-8 seconds the engine goes to safe mode and drops to idle and then needs to be reset,,,so the powersteering and brakes still operate,,,,a few of the injured or killed would have not had the end result had they been aware of this,,,as far as the keyball thing i had an older car shut off at odd times out of the blue till i figured that one out,,,Loved the goldwing story,,,great stuff,,,,i notice that BS all the time,,eliteism happens plain and simple ,,,people romanticize their experiences and get all rabid brand specific,,but don't remember history,,,the last generation goldwing before this current one had bad castings for the rear swingarm,,they literally broke in two,,honda got on that one so fast most people didn't even know it was a problem,,,and they kept it quiet,,,you could have heard a mouse fart in church louder than that callback,,,i beat this drum often enough,,,if it's a machine i don't care where it comes from they have problems,,,they're just a pile of parts and bolts,,,this one reason i have so many tools,,,i service and repair my own stuff,,i can tell you the ones that need the least amount of work are the simple ones ...
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Post by kz1000st on Aug 31, 2014 10:14:35 GMT -6
Did I ever tell you about the time I toured Canada? Back in 1980 I had the occasion to take a trip with my buddy on his SR-500 and me on my KZ1000st around Lake Superior. It ended up being 3600 miles and we covered it in seven days. We left the US through the Thousand Islands and did 515 miles the first day. From there we went across to Sault St. Marie into Michigan. My buddy visited some friends on a farm there when it rained buckets all day. Just because we were there we took a boat tour through the Sault locks. It was pretty neat.
From there we traveled across upper Michigan and over to the west shore of Lake Superior and through Duluth. It was outside Duluth in Minnesota where we encountered our first bear crossing the road. Those animals are pretty big even from the distance we gave him. That was one of our many 600+ mile days and it rained pretty hard a few time. The sky is pretty big on the plains and we could see the storms coming so we would stop, don our rain gear and brace ourselves as we rode.
We left the US again at International Falls to circle around the North side of Superior. It was during this leg that I got to do a couple of hundred miles on the SR-500. Frank's bike was set up like a Cafe racer with low bars and a megaphone. Light, responsive but the power was unimpressive next to my Z. What surprised me most was the lack of vibration that big singles are supposed to be noted for. Next to the hand numbing, buzzing vibration on my bike the SR was almost massaging.
One of the crazy highlights of the trip was the road out of Ouimet Canyon, a deep cleft in the earth with no fences around it. I was feeling pretty spritely and on the dirt road I pretended I was still a motocrosser. Blasting down the road I let the bike get crossed up with the back wheel a good foot out of alignment with the front. Frank was horrified and lectured me about playing racer at 45 mph in the middle of nowhere. I laughed and promised no dirt racer antics again. Ever ride through Canada in Construction Season?
They don't close roads and there were many miles of 6 inch deep road base to traverse. I was loving it, especially after hundreds of miles of droning on the State Highways. The bike, despite its size, handled it stunningly and plowed through without troubles. Despite being smaller and lighter the SR-500 was a handful with its narrow, clip on style bars.
Food in Canada was hysterical. One day for lunch I ordered spaghetti. It was Chef Boyardee from a can. Frank ordered a burger that was so dry it was almost dusty. British Canadians are as bad as Cooks as the British themselves. The only good meal we got was in Timmins, Ontario in a nice little eatery with a very friendly staff. Fresh, tasty and very warm. Timmins was especially interesting. We were coming down the road in deep woods when suddenly the trees disappeared and we were in a small city. Leaving we plunged back into wilderness just as suddenly. If we hadn't stopped to eat there we would have thought we imagined the place.
With a lot of hard riding and not much stopping we were back on Long Island in just seven days. I appreciated the attributes of a big shaft drive bike and Frank learned why he should have taken his Moto Guzzi. Fortunately for Frank we would switch off each day for a while so he could recover from nostalgia.
The scenery was fabulous, the people were both friendly and extremely interested in our trip and the bikes ran flawlessly. I got a real laugh out of handing Frank my Kawasaki's tool kit to adjust his chain. He had packed the tools for the job but needed to dig for them. I just had to flip up the seat and pull mine out. The tools were surprisingly good quality and were all he needed to do the job.
I still remember parts of it to this day. Mostly I recall how vast and unsettled most of what we rode through was. It was the first time I experienced "Next Gas 80 miles". On Long Island it's mostly "Next Gas .8 miles". Sometimes it's "Next Gas 80 Feet".
An amazing trip.
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Post by richardv on Aug 31, 2014 19:43:54 GMT -6
No you never told me but, I don't think it made a difference. You told it anyway. I've only been in Canada once on the bike for a short distance and didn't even realize it until I reenter the US in Minnesota. The second time in the same area was by truck and was not enjoyable. I got shot by a drunken Canadian-Canadian. But, thanks for the story.  |
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After a bit I told them to have a good day and then jumped on 250B and headed out! Now I'll leave you to imagine the look on their face when I jumped on this Chinese death trap and rode off into the sunset! 
Best way to describe it is like being in the produce line at WalMart and letting one of those sneaky silent gag a maggot farts and then looking at the lady next to you like "dang lady you stink" 
the look is priceless! It's just one of the many reasons my wife won't shop with me any more! :-SBut I wasn't through with this laugh, knowing that they would be coming by soon going to the park I stopped out by the road at the end of my driveway by my mailbox. You see they have to go by my house on the way to the park. I sit out there on my 250B and waved at them all as they rode by! 
I know there was at least 5 guys who laughed their butt off when they saw me at the end of the driveway! 
