17/06/2025
We are not the âkwik fit fitterâ of the motorcycle engine business, far from it!
Short story, this is part of a RG500 crank that we are having to re do for a customer who had it built elsewhere, you can see the dirt and crud that is underneath the balance weight pad. We all ways remove these and clean them.
Somebody in trade said to me years ago when working on engine parts âanything you do that the customer canât see is just a waste of timeâ I said I would keep doing my way. So far it has worked for 35 years.
The long story
The reason for the failure is the substandard seals that were fitted in the centre of the crank, they are NOT the Made in Japan ones that we only supply and fit, but rather a copy of them made in china. These failed in under 2 hours of run time!
I asked the customer why he didnât bring them to us to build in the first place, embarrassingly he said your turnaround time was a week to 10 days, i got it done elsewhere âwhile I waitedâ but i wished i had just given them to you now, I thanked him for his honesty.
Price was not a factor in his decision as we were around the same price.
We know our turnaround time is not what people want BUT we need this time to carry out the job to a standard that we are happy with this has a process and takes time. We strip and clean everything multiple times in some cases, then the assembly needs care and to be done in the correct order, then the trueing up which takes the most time and patience having to do this while someone waits for me is not ideal.
Working on our own project bikes we know only too well how time can run away and the project can stall and loose momentum, but please give us the time to give the care and attention your job deserves.
Regards Paul owner of PJME.