A Pox on Capital Cycle

[montmil]

A post here on the R65 forum lead me to a guy named Tony at Capital Cycle; about 25 miles outside DC. That should have been a red flag right there. Nothing in or near DC is trustworthy.

Gave him the BMW part number for a front brake hydraulic hose. Gave him all specs including the BMW spec'd length of 690mm for the low rise (2.5") 24-inch wide handlebars, black rubber hose, male threaded fitting on the master cylinder end and female fitting where the hose meets the brake hard pipe.

He told me I was wrong about the part number but he had just what I needed and would ship it that day.

Five working days later, I receive a stainless hose with a thin clear plastic exterior covering. The hose has the correct lower fitting but has a bango fitting up top that isn't even close to what I asked for.

Emailed and sent digital photos of the hose ends.

Get a call from this Tony character - who has a terrible habit of interrupting you while you're speaking - and he tells me, "We have a communication problem." Unless the guy has a mouse in his pocket, I don't understand the "we" part of his thought matrix.

A week later a package shows up with the correct brake hose. Funny thing... The BMW part number on the ticket is the same one I was assured by this Tony guy was incorrect and I was in error.

I'd urge caution of anyone attempting to communicate with this Tony character. Be prepared for his endless repetition of, "May I say something... May I say something... May I say something" If the guy had an eardrum in his mouth, he'd be the smartest SOB on the east coast.

That's my rant and I'm stickin' to it!

[Justin B.]

To bad you couldn't have made the stainless one work, would have been a good deal to get a stainless hoze for a rubber price...

[Bob_Roller]

There are a lot of aftermarket stainless brake lines, that have a 'banjo' fittings instead of a threaded fittings.

I went through this problem 17-18 years ago when I was replacing the OEM rubber brake hoses on my '81 R65, every set that I got had a banjo fitting for the connection to the master cylinder.

I had to personally take my OEM brake hoses to Luftmeister in Bellflower,CA. , and give them to Matt Capri, the owner of Luftmeister, to get a correct hose made up while I waited.

If I remember correctly, MrRiden'82 LS has a master cylinder brake line with a banjo fitting at the master cylinder, installed on his LS.

But there's no excuse for being poorly treated by someone that doesn't know how to listen !!

[MrRiden]

Yes the LS does have a banjo at the master. Which reminds me, I have a pair of stainless lines that I had made up by HEL http://www.helusa.com/  that have the wrong fitting on the bottom where they would join up with the brake pipe. They are an "outie" instead of an "innie", someone may be able to use them, they were made for the lowers on the LS but as I said have the wrong profile for the pipe.
rich

[montmil]

Oh, I do realize that some R65s, including the LS model and, perhaps, those R65s with the 5.5-inch rise "American" bars, may have a banjo fitting at the master cylinder. My 2.5-inch rise "euro" bars do not.

But as I posted in the original lead article; when I give the correct part number and description of the article to a clerk/salesperson/parts counter, it frosts me when some self-professed expert sez I'm wrong and after a couple weeks of dickering and incorrect shipments... sends me the correct part under my original part number without so much as a by your leave or a simple Oops. I goofed.

Fortunately, there are many other parts sources.

Repeat sales in retail are much dependent on customer service.   [smiley=thumbdown.gif] Capital Cycle. YMMV

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Montmil,  it sounds like "Tony" is a left-over from Capital's darker days.  There was a time, way back, (the 80's?) that their reputation deteriorated and I quit using them.  Then I heard someone else took it over sometime during the last 15 years, or so.  

I haven't ordered anything from them in a long time, so I don't really know.

Thanks for the thread.

[mikeyd3]

. That should have been a red flag right there. Nothing in or near DC is trustworthy........
I'd urge caution of anyone attempting to communicate with this Tony character. Be prepared for his endless repetition of, "May I say something... May I say something... May I say something" If the guy had an eardrum in his mouth, he'd be the smartest SOB on the east coast.

That's my rant and I'm stickin' to it!

OUCH! Im < 20 miles from DC, so is Mom. We love riding motorcycles just like the rest of you Americans. So, once in a while for kicks and giggles we like jackin' up a midwestern by accidently sending him the wrong part to his scooter or miscounting his ballots in the primary election. Its like Mom and Dad always said, "If that a-hole mouse had an eardrum in his pocket hed $hit a braSS band" .......or something like that.

[Altritter]

As it turns out, I've had the opposite experience, though I haven't encountered Tony @ CC. I've gotten things at CC after being misinformed by other parts departments, e.g., A&S and Bob's. (See my earlier posting tonight on Trading Post re an owner's manual for '79-'84 R65s.) Generally, I've been told that items have been superseded by another part number (for multiple models and years), or are no longer available.

I guess my point is that one person's service is a matter of telephone roulette -- whoever picks up the phone at the vendor's location.

John

Take two salt tablets & drive on.

[Frank_M]

A good parts man can't be over-appreciated. Years back I owned a White Freightliner and needed a part for the Spicer transmission. The part I got wouldn't work, despite all the numbers being right and everything according to the book. Went back to the store, got assurances, returned to my truck. No way the part was going to work! On the third trip to the store I was a bit pissed and it was showing. An oldtimer intereceded, asked what year was the truck. I told him and he said Spicer workers went on strike that year and the company struck a deal with a smaller outfit to machine some of the parts. This particular part the surrogate company couldn't make as required and so they altered it. (Go figure why they bothered if it wasn't going to work!) In the end the oldtimer served up another number which was the part I needed.