Callaway Motorsports Service incompetence and service manager stupidity RIPOFF Riverside California

New names and faces but still the same terrible service. We were told the idling problems our new bike had were our fault for not riding it enough. Adam, the service advisor told us we had caused the carbs to clog with old gas because we had let it sit too long without riding it. The bike is three months old and has 23miles on it. They reluctantly rebuilt the "clogged" cards once and when we got the bike back it was idling @ 5000 rpms on choke. When ever we tried to turn the choke off or down the bike died. Turns out after the second trip to the wonderful service dept that the bike had a kinked fuel line that was starving the motor. We did not even get an apology.

How is it a shop like this is still in business? They can't be getting repeat business. They sure aren't going to get mine or anyone I know once I share my experiences with them.

New names and faces but still the same terrible service. We were told the idling problems our new bike had were our fault for not riding it enough. Adam, the service advisor told us we had caused the carbs to clog with old gas because we had let it sit too long without riding it. The bike is three months old and has 23miles on it. They reluctantly rebuilt the "clogged" cards once and when we got the bike back it was idling @ 5000 rpms on choke. When ever we tried to turn the choke off or down the bike died. Turns out after the second trip to the wonderful service dept that the bike had a kinked fuel line that was starving the motor. We did not even get an apology.

How is it a shop like this is still in business? They can't be getting repeat business. They sure aren't going to get mine or anyone I know once I share my experiences with them.

New names and faces but still the same terrible service. We were told the idling problems our new bike had were our fault for not riding it enough. Adam, the service advisor told us we had caused the carbs to clog with old gas because we had let it sit too long without riding it. The bike is three months old and has 23miles on it. They reluctantly rebuilt the "clogged" cards once and when we got the bike back it was idling @ 5000 rpms on choke. When ever we tried to turn the choke off or down the bike died. Turns out after the second trip to the wonderful service dept that the bike had a kinked fuel line that was starving the motor. We did not even get an apology.

How is it a shop like this is still in business? They can't be getting repeat business. They sure aren't going to get mine or anyone I know once I share my experiences with them.

New names and faces but still the same terrible service. We were told the idling problems our new bike had were our fault for not riding it enough. Adam, the service advisor told us we had caused the carbs to clog with old gas because we had let it sit too long without riding it. The bike is three months old and has 23miles on it. They reluctantly rebuilt the "clogged" cards once and when we got the bike back it was idling @ 5000 rpms on choke. When ever we tried to turn the choke off or down the bike died. Turns out after the second trip to the wonderful service dept that the bike had a kinked fuel line that was starving the motor. We did not even get an apology.

How is it a shop like this is still in business? They can't be getting repeat business. They sure aren't going to get mine or anyone I know once I share my experiences with them.

I was looking for the Callaway Motorsports website when I saw a reference to your post on this website. You should know that your message is getting out.

The reason I was looking for their website was that I was looking to purchase 2 new motorcycles for my son. I read your post and found it quite interesting.

I feel I must give you background information on myself so that you don't think that I am new to situations such as this.

I am a Automotive Service Director for a major automotive dealer group in the Southern California area. With this being stated, I would like to ask you a few questions regarding this unfortunate situation.

1. When you brought your motorcycle in the first time, did you deal with the service manager, or a service advisor?
2. How did the bike get there the first time?
3. When you brought the bike in the second time, were you treated courteously and were your concerns taken seriously?
4. How long was the vehicle in the shop before the diagnostics were performed?
5. Did the service manager really say, "there was debris", in the fuse connection. Or was the statement something like "poor connection"?
6. According to your statement, the service manager wanted to "put some miles" on the vehicle. Did you give him or his staff permission to do this? If you did not, then you were getting in the way of their technician diagnosing this problem.
7. If Kawasaki was contacted, what was their impute as to what might possibly be the problem?
8. Were you of the feeling that the service department did not care about the problems you were having?
9. When you contacted the service manager, did he offer to look at the vehicle again, or was he rude and tell you to go somewhere else?
10. Do you really believe that Callaway Motorsports sold you a lemon?
11. Where is the vehicle now and has the problem been found.
12. If the problem has been found, how long did it take to diagnose?
13. Did you inform the dealer of the previous repairs and what was their feedback?
14. You stated that the service manager said there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. But in the next sentence, you stated that he said, "there was debris on the fuse"? So did he say they found a problem or not?

I am sorry that you are having problems with your vehicle. I myself have seen many electrical problems that will come and go. My technicians do the best they can with these types of problems, however sometimes we are not able to repair these problems on the first, or even on the second attempt.

I think you post is very harsh and unecessary. After all, the service manager is not a technician, he is a manager. By calling him incompetent and stupid, you are making you argument less valid.

I will still go look at motorcycles at Callaway Motorsports if anything just to alert them of this post.

That's a shame that you had to pay all that money for a motorcycle and it's nothing but a problem.

Back in the stone age, I bought a V65 by Honda, and I had zero problems. Of course, the thing had carburetors, not fuel injection. Carbs always work great. I rode the thing everyday. Never had any problems.

And, do you know what it cost back then? $3690 out the door, tax, title, everything. I stole it for like $50 over cost. I think it was '84. I remember it was the first year they came out.

Anyway, getting back to your problem. I'd say it's electrical. Not even a defective ECM. Just a bad power connection to the ECM.

You see, I used to drive a Freightliner truck. The Century model does the exact same thing with the tachometer. Every time you start it up, the tach swings over to the limit, and then comes back to normal.

Since your bike is doing that while it's running, that tells me the electrical connection is cutting out and reconnecting while you are riding the bike.

The tach thing is like a boot-up check process that the ECM goes through. Of course, it should never happen after the engine is started and running. So, it looks like a clear case of intermittent power.

Another thing. It doesn't always have to be the positive power connection. The ground can be faulty too. Tell the next service tech to inspect the ground connections. Check for paint or rust under the screw that makes the ground.

With fuel injection, many problems with poor performance can be traced to bad grounds. It takes only a small amount of voltage drop to interfere with the ECM function.

Positive lead, or ground circuit. Once you get that straightened out, you might go back to normal usage again.

Good luck!