threat to warranty

2028 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by rcannon409, Sep 20, 2016

donfre

Discussion Starter · Nov 5, 2015

Just been advised by the dealer that the warranty of the transmission of the new 2016 Ninja 1000 may be compromised if it develops any problem that may be contributed to the fact the rear sprocket has been altered to 39 teeth and the front altered to 16 from 15.
Has anyone ever encountered a problem that can be attributed to such alterations. By my calculations the revs will reduced by 11.78% in all gears, in my view should produce an easy touring pace.

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Buelligan

· #2 · Nov 5, 2015

IMO you are being advised by a bad dealer. One who does NOT like doing warranty work.
He does have a point though, if you don't do your research and install too large a sprocket on the front and create an issue with the chain making contact and rubbing on something. But it sounds like he may be the type of dealer that will blame everything on the mod you made to your stock bike, rather than accept a potential defect and resolve it.
Warranty work is flat rate, they get paid a certain amount to complete the repairs. if they run into problems, or have a slow mechanic, it will cost them more to repair the bike, and the shop will lose money.
That being said, do your research, and do any mods correctly. Many on this forum, including myself have changed the gearing with no issues.

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Day Trippin

· #3 · Nov 5, 2015 (Edited)

My suggestion in general would be to NEVER call out any changes made to your bike even with a "mod friendly" dealer. I used to work for one of the major Japanese companies in this area. I started out as tech in a local dealership, became service manager while in college and then at a much later time used this area to get my foot in the door to get to a better position.

I often would be the one to go to the dealer to review an issue if there was some concern about warranty compliance. I normally didn't have any time to look at sprockets and relatively minor stuff. Now if you had some giant blue anodized sprocket that drew attention to itself, then I would be likely to look deeper.

In general "our approach" was not to deny everything and make the customer prove otherwise. Having said that if you had evidence of a nitrous system and you had a busted tranny, I would definitely deny that claim.

We also did a lot of "profiling" as well when a claim was dubious. I was also an avid rider in the area so quietly likely if you were on my brand, I might have seen you. Not to mention I was plugged in tightly with the local riding community as well and if someone saw you doing big smoky burnouts I likely would here about it. That is what did one guy in.

In general though, the Euro manufacturers are MUCH stricter when it comes to these things. It costs them MUCH MORE to repair as their parts are more expensive. Be reasonable and the zone rep is usually reasonable with you. Don't be afraid to bargain a bit as well if it comes down to it. Sort of like "plea bargaining". Sometimes in a questionable situation, I worked out a deal where I cover either the parts or the labor and the owner the other.

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donfre

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 5, 2015

In truth I trust the dealer,known as very reputable. I can see how an oversize sprocket may chew something up but I am doubtful creating an over drive with larger sprockets would do more than reducing acceleration rate to some degree with less engine revs.
Pleased to be assured changing gearing has not been a problem.
In my case Day the dealer did the alterations.

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Dave Down South

· #5 · Nov 6, 2015

I did the +1 -2 gear mods & really like the lower revs. I had the dealer do the labor at the 600 mile service just to play it safe. They said it wouldn't cause any warranty issues. Of course having a claim could change things.

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rcannon409

· #6 · Nov 6, 2015

Honestly, what would you expect them to say?

I had a customer demand we replace his "cheap, weak" fork tube caps. WHY?

He removed his forks without loosening the lower triple clamp. He used deep sporockets and a massive hammer to get them out.

My thought is if your asking a dealer such questions, you should leave your bike stock, or have them do all the work.

The thought process, and the idea behind it, wont allow you to work on machinery. Thats ok, its not a crime. We need office workers in this world.

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MikSchultzy

· #7 · Nov 6, 2015

Rcannon, thank you for the laugh today. Really needed that.

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MrScandal

· #8 · Sep 19, 2016

BMW/Mini recently settled a lawsuit over this. Doing any work to your vehicle does not cancel the warranty. In order to deny a warranty claim they have to provide scientific evidence that the change caused the issue, and that the new part or service used is substantially inferior, and they must again provide scientific substantiation.
Further, if you don't use their service department for work that they do not offer for free, they cannot deny warranty claims, unless they can scientifically substantiate that the service done was inferior to the dealerships.

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rcannon409

· #9 · Sep 20, 2016

Mr, I still see it being a disaster before it ever got to that point. What would we, as consumers do? Hire a lawyer to make sure our 800.00 dollar repair was covered under warranty, or something like that?

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