Scooterotica

Certainly the part should have been requested for examination.

AF get a slagging on virtually all forums(undeservedly in most cases). The main reason is though is the words Ray has been heard to say more than once which are "oh we've never heard of that before"
Those words have for some become synonomous with AF and its something that will be very hard to shake.
Just because there has never been a failure before doesn't make this any less serious and you will very quickly get labled as having the same tired responces to product failures.
Just because other companies have product failures doesn't in any way excuse yours so why refer to them?
Randall you have slated your compitors for their sand cast versions of this disc brake yet here we have a failure just as serious.
Having worked around both motorcycles and scooters for some years I have to say I have never seen a Japenese lever as poor quality as that. They do not ever drill holes off centre or leave flash marks around the edges. This leads me to suspect that the levers are not Japenese or even Japenese spec.
If thats right then this is about the quality of Asian parts and whether they are safe to use or not.

I have been watching this with personal interest as (sorry to go off the subject) its my 40th birthday coming up at the end of the month and the Mrs is buying me a front disc for my scoot......And yes you`ve guessed ,my first port of call was to be ScootRS and even though a lever might never have done that before and could well be a rogue part that slipped the net my thoughts are...I might just wait here and see what happens..Thats just how people think.

i think its a bit unfair to say "ScootRS part nearly killed me", even if i am on the side of the customer.
if we are honest we could also say that a lot of companys try to kill us with
STAINLESS STEEL STUFF on steering and wheels (sheering forces can lead to breaking bolts, etc..), one of the "most reputable dealers in the uk" is selling tons of that shite.
-loads of wheel rims are crap and life-risking
-some types of remade discbrakes are life-endangering
-loads of sold restos are built on crap-frames which should have been straightened before on a jig

generally we should think and discuss more about parts + security , like we talk about styling and engine-pimpin.online and offline in mags and on rallys.

I have no idea how anyone could read a clear post and then make up a story about ignoring anyone or anything, or accusing anyone of lying, etc. We did no such thing. This is why companies do not respond about customer issues on forums, I guess.

I responded simply to show clearly why there should not be even a tiny concern with these levers in general. Also to explain that we have a standard guarantee, which is the same or better than at any UK shop, if any particular issue.

Please contact our company directly if needed. Thanks.

Diablo wrote: Having worked around both motorcycles and scooters for some years I have to say I have never seen a Japenese lever as poor quality as that. They do not ever drill holes off centre or leave flash marks around the edges. This leads me to suspect that the levers are not Japenese or even Japenese spec.

I think you are absolutely right there Al. I have a varied selection of Japanese levers in my garage and none of them look to be such poor quality. The one in the photo looks to have been poorly cast and finished with a hand file.

I should ad the levers on my own ScootRS brakes appear to be much better quality.

Lam and speed thanks for your feedback. As you can see Randall will do all he can to slide out of this. I think we can all see what he is. He has loads of oppourtuntity to come back with a reply but doesnt raise his head above the parapet until his company starts to get abuse. Like you pointed out I gave him plenty of time to sort this out before going to the forums but he or his staff chose to ignore it. Not once did he say "glad your alright" or anything like that. I dont need his money i have eneough of my own. The problem he has though is my wifes a SEO consulatnt and has only been waiting for the okay from me to get the ball rolling....Im thinking of developing a web page with all the relevant key words so when you type ScootRS into your browser the first site you get is mine. Will have some nice pics of Mr Randalls products with a foot note on the damage it caused and his fantastic after sales service......As red Garret says in From Russia with Love, "not till you crawl over here on your knees"......love a quote me...

He needs to understsnd that HE sold it to me it doesnt matter who made it, he sourced it not me! And heres the thing he isnt giving these things away he is puting his mark up on them so how has he got the neck to say it isnt down to him i will never know.

This guy and his shoddy products will result in someone coming a cropper, mark my words...Randal please please come over to a parts fair i want to introduce you to your lever, and to anyone who thinks i shouldnt be saying "ScootRS part nearly killed me" what do you suggest i say. Coz it did!

Sef

I find this whole thread absolutely ridiculous, lot's of things have nearly killed me on a Lambretta and most can usually be put down to my own stupidity for not checking something or ignoring warning signs etc etc...

What I have never done is contact the supplier of whatever part broke and ask for compensation to avoid publicity....

scootRS.com wrote:
We also linked to our guarantee page as we were asked to pay for extra repairs to avoid publicity.

and here is the threatened publicity... nuff said for me.

there is another option to all this, stop being tight assed gits and buy genuine parts. we all know these are patern parts so the quality is not as good.

nissin parts are readily avalable and by experience will bend rather than break

I find myself in partial sympathy with Randall over this: although I doubt there are "tens of thousands" of scooters with this lever, there are probably a thousand or so Lammies, maybe two, with a hydraulic disc set-up and this lever is probably used in a number of bikes. Indeed, I have just bought one myself because Frank Sanderson's own kit does not come with a lever, master cylinder etc...

By and large, most individual elements of this kit have given good service to scooterists, who have covered tens, maybe hundreds thousands of miles with them. This is the first lever failure I have heard of to date. I'm prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt.

But equally, the pictures don't leave much room for doubt. It does look like a fairly catastrophic metal failure and the poor feller is lucky to be alive. The part was bought from ScootRS and if the firm were here in the UK, it would be my port of call in terms of obtaining some compensation for the damage suffered to my scooter and clothes. Though not a lawyer, I've dealt with consumer-type legislation enough to know that Sydduckett would almost certainly have a strong case.

The fact that ScootRS isn't based in the UK makes that a non-possibility.

In relation to Skar's comment, I'd be interested in seeing a copy of the email Randall says he received from Sydduckett, as it sounds to me like more a case of "If you don't sort this out I'll make sure people know what kind of a firm you are", which is a fairly normal response from someone who was rather pissed off at nearly dying in an accident.

If I were Randall, regardless of the fact that he probably can't be touched legally by virtue of his location, I would strongly consider contacting the Syd privately and offer him some help. Given that such failures are (hopefully) rare as hen's teeth, this is unlikely to be more than a one-off event.

I would also be extremely concerned at the possibility that his own supplier may have dumped a load of cr*p stock on him, or that a batch of these levers are faulty, so I would probably want to tell Syd that I am taking the matter seriously, that I will investigate and get back to him. Oh yes, and a bit of sympathy never hurts either....

Speed Demon wrote:[img]
Now if I had even the vaguest clue about PR, which would I choose???

Well..... I suspect you already know the answer to this, Sticky...

I'm with Syd on this.

I too had a catastophic failure of a safety critical part which, had I been going a little faster, could easily have been a very serious event. The part was faulty when purchased as the oxidisation marks inside the casting were clearly visible when it failed.

When I informed ScootRS, I provided a long and informative text with photographic evidence of the failed part, yet he still wanted me to send it back (at my own cost) before he would consider a refund. I duly sent the part back at a cost of £15 to myself and after waiting 6 weeks and numerous emails I was finally offered a credit note........no postage refund and no apology. That was the hardest thing for me. He didn't have the nads to stand up and say "o.k. I supplied you with a s*** product. Sorry its caused you grief. I'll get onto the suppliers straight away!!!".

Instead, he did his utmost to ignore my complaints in the hope that I would go away. Afterall, he is on the other side of the World and I wouldn't be able to do a damned thing about it. Well, if I can dissuade another decent scooterist from buying any safety critical part from this Mickey Mouse outfit, I will. For years my old lady said "buying cheap is buying dear".....now I know exactly what she meant!!!

BOON