I screwed up and broke a part...

[lilzaphod]

I was re-routing my throttle cables to give myself some more slack due to the new risers I put on the bike.

Well, trying to get the throttle cables back in place, the old plastic broke where the cables match up to the ...

So I'm screwed at this point.  I can't get the grip back together, and the bike shop is closed.

What is the name of the part that I need that goes inside the grip that rolls the throttle?  Do I need one specifically made for the Valk, or is there a 'universal' part I can get that will work?

Thanks.

[X Ring]

Hate to tell you this but you have to buy the whole throttle grip assembly.  Don't ask me how I know this.     You can always look on ebay and see if someone has one for cheap.

Marty

[lilzaphod]

Oh man, how much is that going to set me back?

[lilzaphod]

Hurmm.  These grips say that that have a throttle sleeve included.  I think that is the part that broke.

http://lockitt.com/Lockitt/product/GPKY6190.html

Do you think that these would work?

[Ricky-D]

The stock throttle grip includes the throttle sleeve and runs around 27 bucks at HDL.

***

[lilzaphod]

I'm having issues finding 'HDL' when I search here.  I'm new to this bike and this site, so I don't know all the shorthand.

I 'think' it's honda line direct, but when I google that, I'm getting a lot of crud. direct line parts, honda line direct of shady side, etc.

A few more breadcrumbs to the site you are talking about, or a direct link to the part would really help.

Thanks.

[Valkpilot]

I'm having issues finding 'HDL' when I search here.  I'm new to this bike and this site, so I don't know all the shorthand.

I 'think' it's honda line direct, but when I google that, I'm getting a lot of crud. direct line parts, honda line direct of shady side, etc.

A few more breadcrumbs to the site you are talking about, or a direct link to the part would really help.

Thanks.

Here: http://www.directlineparts.com/


and here: http://www.hdlparts.com/

[lilzaphod]

Thank you.

[Grumpy]

Here you go.................

http://www.directlineparts.com/

[lilzaphod]

The stock throttle grip includes the throttle sleeve and runs around 27 bucks at HDL.

***

Ok, I'm not seeing it.  Is this just something you were pulling from memory, or am I just slow(er than usual) to find it.  They don't have anything listed under "grip" or "throttle", and I can't think of anything else to search for.

http://www.hdlparts.com/fiche_select2.asp?category=Motorcycles&make=Honda&year=1999&fveh=3467

 

[lilzaphod]

"Switch and Cable" ...  That's intuitive. 

Thanks all for your help.

[GOOSE]

honda part number:  53145-mm8-000.  price=  $31.92 at the dealer/ $26.81 at directine parts.  you are better off to order it at your local honda dealer, and have them price match direct line parts.  heck, if you need it quick..order it overnight from your dealer, if they price match for you, with overnight shipping it is like $52.??.  by the time nhdl puts handling plus the sgipping you will have 41-42 dollars in it.  plus a week wait.  just a thought.

[lilzaphod]

honda part number:  53145-mm8-000.  price=  $31.92 at the dealer/ $26.81 at directine parts.  you are better off to order it at your local honda dealer, and have them price match direct line parts.  heck, if you need it quick..order it overnight from your dealer, if they price match for you, with overnight shipping it is like $52.??.  by the time nhdl puts handling plus the sgipping you will have 41-42 dollars in it.  plus a week wait.  just a thought.

Yeah, I'm going to talk to them.  I may end up bringing the bike to the shop and have them run longer cables and change the air filter at the same time.  That would save me a headache of trying to get this done with my crazy work schedule.

Thanks for the part number.

[lilzaphod]

I thought I would give you guys an update on this since you've all been so helpful and now that my blood pressure is down.  This was a costly mistake, both in dollars and total aggravation. 

I decided to go the dealer route since I wanted an air filter change and I felt it would be faster to get my bike back.  OHHHHH Boy was I wrong.

I had the bike towed on a Wednesday, with an appointment on the following Tuesday.  I told them I wanted three things done.  Air Cleaner, New cables ordered and installed, and a throttle sleeve replacement.  "No Problem".  Yeah, right.

No one looked at the cables, even though they knew I needed longer ones because I told them I did.  So on Tuesday, I get a call telling me I need longer cables because of the risers I put on.  And the parts guy didn't know what to do. 

So I call the riser company, and they tell me that the mechanic needs to measure the cables and then call Burnett's Clutch and Cable to get some new cables made.  So I tell that to the parts guy (50ish son of the owners) over the phone, but I could tell that he wasn't listening.  So I show up and ask if he got that info. "Well, I misplaced the paper, can you get the part numbers, it's be  big help"...  So I'm like "ok, but what size do I need"  The part time parts guy (who races motorcycles) asks me the riser size, and then tell me I need to add 5" to the stock size.  So to be safe, I added 1" to make it 6" total longer than stock.

So I call Burnett's in the store on my cell phone and talk to the lady who's incredibly helpful.  But I can't order since I'm not the dealer and I don't have a dealer number.  The parts guy is farting around, but won't talk to the Barnett's person. So I write down all the part numbers and hand it to him.  He looks at it and says "That's not a part number" even though that's what the cable lady told me (and I verified it, twice).  Ok, so you think you can get these ordered tomorrow, right?  "We'll try". Tomorrow is three days at this store, and they had to call me again to verify what I wanted done.  Cables were going to be a 6 day turn around and I authorized overnight shipping ($65) since this was now going on 2 weeks and I needed my bike. 

At some point in this process I looked at the estimate/work order they had, and I noticed a bunch of work I didn't authorize - Oil change, New oil filter, and something else I couldn't read. I re-iterated that I ONLY wanted those three things done that I authorized, and the parts guy was kinda snotty about removing the extra work. (I can change my own oil, not pay $70 an hour for it with overpriced parts)

So I show up 7 days after my parts were ordered, and they had been there for 2 days with no notice. "Ok, so when will you get to it?"  We'll try tonight (Friday), most probably Monday, but should be Tuesday at the latest.

I show up on Tuesday, and they haven't touched my bike.  The parts guy sees me come in, turns away, and tells the kid to have me talk to the mechanic.  I talk to the mechanic and he informs me that my bike had always been scheduled for the following Thursday.  I'm about to flip out at this point (and had been flipping out away from the store to my wife and co-workers at the sh---y treatment for a couple of weeks now. At this point, I'm ready to pay for the cables and the tow, and to have a different shop come pick it up.  The mechanic tells me that he'll get it on the rack tomorrow first thing (Wednesday) and it will be ready before I can show up from work.

I show up Wednesday later than I arrived on Tuesday, and he was just putting the bike on the rack. Two hours later, he tells me that the cables are a foot too long, and how do I want them routed?  I can barely speak at this point.  I told him that as long as they could be installed safely, that I really didn't care and I trusted his judgement.  The parts guy, when he ordered them, ordered them an additional 6 inches to the 6 inches I had written on the paper and confirmed on the phone.

So I waited over three weeks to have the wrong parts installed after several deliberate lies about when the work would be done, abject apathy to solve my problem with the correct parts, my doing all the leg work to get the part numbers (which was promptly ignored), and an attempt to do unauthorized work.  Total bill was $430.

Want to know the kicker?  As I was waiting the two hours on the final Wednesday to pick up my bike, a guy came in to the Honda dealership with a broken Suzuki cable.  The parts guy tells him "You can either go to the Suzuki Dealership up the road, or go to Ned's in Riverside IA(about 10 minutes away) because they can make custom cables. I think they didn't want to send me to Ned's for the parts because Ned will work on Hondas (I found out later).  It really pisses me off that they made me jump through monkey hoops to find the parts because they are afraid of the local competition. 

So... I have talked with the Suzuki dealership where I bought my '05 Suzuki C50 Boulevard.  They'll work on my Valk with no problems (old honda mechanic works for them), and they'll stock any consumable part I need (air filters, oil filters, etc).  They special ordered a K&N oil filter (with additional spares) for me and just charged me regular price (got it in in two days).   The Suzuki dealer is bending over backwards to support my bike of a brand he doesn't sell while the local Honda dealer is treated me like total s--t.

I'm never going to Don's Honda again.  They can go 'F' themselves with a rusty carburetor and a hot exhaust pipe.  I was nothing but nice to them, even though I should have had my bike towed the first week when they didn't do jack and made me figure out the parts the bike needed.

My wife is surprised I was so nice talking to Don's the way I was treated.  But I kind of felt hostage to them for the repair, and I didn't know that the 'Zuki/Yam/Kawi shop would be willing to work on different brands that they didn't sell.  I felt bad, because the week before I bought my Valk, I test drove a Star Stratoliner, and was set up to test ride the Vulcan Vaquero that they were putting together.  All Rod said was "You like the Valk"?  Yup, I've wanted one forever and this one fell in my lap.  "Very cool".

Sorry for the rant, but it needs to get out to the community how this dealership treats customers.

[sugerbear]

if you were a little closer, my buddy and i could help with a lot.
220 miles is a bit far, but..............

[Hoser]

Welcome to the wonderful world of dealers.  They turned a fifty dollar job and one day into 3 weeks and 500 dollars.  That's why most of us do our own work.  I'm being blunt, but that's the way most of them work.  If you found a good one cherish and support it.  Hoser

[lilzaphod]

Welcome to the wonderful world of dealers.  They turned a fifty dollar job and one day into 3 weeks and 500 dollars.  That's why most of us do our own work.  I'm being blunt, but that's the way most of them work.  If you found a good one cherish and support it.  Hoser

Yeah, that's really the rub. I've been taken care of so well by the 'zuki guy over the years that I have no problem taking the bike to them.  It's just been second nature.  They've even taken over jobs I've screwed up (installing ghost brackets) and charged me very very little to right my wrong.

The rear fender bolts on the C50t are notorious for not going in right.  They had me drop the bike off in the middle of their busy season and got me back on the road in short time with no charge.

I'm just amazed that someone can be so incompetent (Don's) and still be in business. 

[lilzaphod]

if you were a little closer, my buddy and i could help with a lot.
220 miles is a bit far, but..............

Lol.  Thank you.  I'm set now.  Bike is running like a top.  Already have 3k miles on it this season, and it's been rainy like no other.

[lilzaphod]

There are jobs in motorcycle retail for men not smart enough to be mechanics.  You may meet more.  Some bike dealers were founded as Mom and Pop stores, maybe 40 years ago and did not grow their retail skills.  A 1970's motorcycle dealer was a rather low bucks affair, and easy for folks to buy into.  You met their boy.

More like met their bastard son...   You've described this store to a T. Smallish, hasn't really grown from the 70s, and no retail/service skills.

[9Ball]

send them an email with a link to this thread so they know there are ramifications to treating customers like they treated you.

There are probably very few jobs that you can't handle with the help available here.

Now you need to get the right length cables and put them on yourself....will give you the confidence you need from this point forward.

[Jess from VA]

About half my experience with bike dealers mirrors yours.   

I do all the work I can, and I spend a lot of time finding out who actually knows how to work on my bikes for paid work.  I only deal with mechanics/techs, no dealer sales or service managers.