Want a SBM motor?My dealings with them.PLEASE READ

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moto440man · #1 Post by **moto440man** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 5:18 am

I didn??????????????????t really want to have to write about this, but I felt other South Bay customers or potential South bay customers need to know this information. I am (or was) a sponsored rider for South Bay Moto. My Moto 440 cratered on me last January and I posted pics of this on Cannondaleriders.com and links to it was put on this site also. I sent my motor to them to have this repaired and also upgraded to their Comp IV 450 kit. I sent it to them around March 15 and I got my motor back around the last week of May or first week in June. I wasn??????????????????t happy with my motors performance and I posted on here for possible help on what it might be. After 3 weeks of troubleshooting and replacing almost every component on my quad with a known good part, it was decided that there is something wrong with the engine and I had to send it back. I got to race it one time 2 days after I received the motor. Wade to me that the cam lobes were over half gone and the valve buckets were bad, one seal needed to be replaced, and the rod end had some wear, and wristpin was bad. They couldn??????????????????t find anything wrong on their end and they couldn??????????????????t find anything that I had done wrong on my end. Bottom line was that for an undetermined amount of time, oil hadn??????????????????t made it into the engine and caused all of this damage. They said they would work with me on this and get it back to me. I was ok with this .

I have been talking to Wade Wilcox about my engine all of this time until he was released from South Bay Moto this past Tuesday. He is no longer affiliated with them. Each time I talked to him, he explained in detail about what is being done with my motor and why it is being done. He REALLY KNOWS his stuff. My engine had a lot of issues that he needed to get fixed and he wanted it done right. I was not happy about how long it was taking, but like I said he explained in great detail how and why the repairs was being done so that I wouldn??????????????????t have issues in the future. We are talking about almost 4 months to have my engine going again. I have missed the entire race season in Houston, except for the one race. I paid for this repair 2 months ago because my motor was supposed to ship 2 days after I paid for it. This had to be done paid in full before shipping. I called Last Saturday to talk to Dustin about what is still taking so long and he doesn??????????????????t work on Saturdays, and I ended up talking to Matt who was trying to make me pay for shipping to get it back to me and he said that my motor was being put in my crate as we spoke and they were taking it to ups and I would have it the next week(4 days for shipping to Texas). Tuesday morning Wade called me at home and said there was one last thing that had to be redone and that my engine was ALL DONE and Shawn would ship it to me 3 day select I told him thanks for all the hard work he done on this engine and I would be looking for it.

Last Wednesday I called to make sure that it shipped because I didn??????????????????t have a tracking number. Dusting answered the phone and said that he let Wade go and that my engine wasn??????????????????t put together yet and he had about 20 minutes left on it and he would ship it out to me second day air Saturday delivery so that I could still have it for the weekend. I called back late Thursay afternoon my time and Dustin was being rude to me. My motor still wasn??????????????????t done yet I am steaming at this point. He pretty said that Wade is a liar and that he doesn??????????????????t have time to go around with why motor isn??????????????????t ready. Dustin just lied to me. He said ???????????????? I told you it will be there Saturday and that is it. I don??????????????????t have time for you right now!!. Shawn calls me on Friday to again reverify my address so that they can overnight my engine to me. Saturday my engine arrives. I take it out of the box. The port on the water pump cover was broken and they didn??????????????????t send me exhaust crush washers. My engine was also supposed to have Wade??????????????????s new quiet fix on the clutch basket. I went to take the clutch cover off to see if it is installed and 2 bolts on the cover are real loose. Cover comes off and no quiet fix installed on basket. I am so freaking mad at this point I waited extra time to get my engine so that I could get this fix. This was provided by Wade also. I called and left a message with Dustin about this stuff. No one else can tell me what is going on except for Dustin, right?

I got in touch with Wade last night he told me repeatedly that when he left my engine was complete and there should be no reason that they shouldn??????????????????t have shipped the motor to me. It looks like they took my motor apart to figure out how Wade puts these motors together. Wade said he hasn??????????????????t shown anyone how to do this. All motor kits are done exclusively by him. These kits are designed by Wade and the engines that you send to South Bay are ALL DONE BY HIM, not Dustin, Chuck , or the new guy the hired. I paid my money to have Wade put my motor together. THIS IS NOT WHAT I GOT. If your motor is still there, it is not being put together by the man who designed these upgrade and reliability fixes that are advertised by South Bay Moto. I don??????????????????t want to see other Cannondale riders have to go through this and spend their money on something they will not be getting. The people that have paid their deposits have been told that Wade is the one who will do they engines. NO ONE ELSE??????????????? Dustin had said to Sandstorm that they offer only a startup warranty. He has written this in the ????????????????SBM 450 for sale??????????????? thread. I feel really good now that Dustin and his dad has put my engine together. Dustin is a general manager, not a engineer. Again THIS IS NOT WHAT I PAID FOR.

Fellow Cannondale riders, this is very long. It has a lot of details. I have a lot more but this is a lot for people to read through. I will not be supported by South Bay any more and that is fine. I hope to save others grief in doing business with them. As most of you know, they raised the prices for the services that are performed on these kits. Everything in here is true to my knowledge. I don??????????????????t want to bash anyone, but THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

Don Dupuis

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

4punksdad · #2 Post by **4punksdad** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 9:45 am

so why did they fire the guy who was doing all of their motor work?

cannondale27 · #3 Post by **cannondale27** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 12:11 pm

I am going to copy and post this on the other site since you didnt explain all this there.Thanks for the heads up.

airtime · #4 Post by **airtime** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 1:25 pm

sorry to hear about your bad luck don. i know you don't remember me but i meet you in vidalia, la a couple of years ago. a friend bought your honda 250r pro-trax with the sparks 350 big bore. i drove him there to pick it up. i have a cannible now with full pep zps suspension, lone star +3 race a-arms and axle. motto mapping and full hmf exhaust, bead locks etc. i really like the bike, doesn't handle as well as my full lonestra 250r, but the four stroke power is great. i hope you get the motor straightened out soon, maybe you could talk with big winky, i have heard nothing but good stuff about his work on here.

thomez · #5 Post by **thomez** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 2:27 pm

It is my understanding that Wade will still be doing work on Cdales, just elsewhere. Don't quote me on this, I don't want my head on the chopping block anytime soon....

thomez · #6 Post by **thomez** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 3:04 pm

I wouldn't go that far. Maybe you just missed the months when there was nothing but positives said about them.

moto440man · #7 Post by **moto440man** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 3:09 pm

Cannondale27,
I did put it on the other site, but I guess jschner took it off. I just want people to know what is going on. There is a lot more details but it would be a really long letter. I have talking to Wade since last March and least once or twice a week. I am not a troublemaker. My experience with them has left a very bad taste in my mouth. The problem with getting parts was a big factor also, but I have paid them at least 5500.00 on these two repairs. My race season was ruined. Bottom line I paid for a Wade engine and by what I have been told by Dustin. Dustin said he was putting my motor together because he said Wade didn't finish it.
I BELIEVE WADE!!!!! Dustin also said Wade was let go because he couldn't meet committments that was told to customers. THis was all he said about him being let go.

Mjollnir · #8 Post by **Mjollnir** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 7:30 pm

MotoMan, I just replied to that thread on the other site like 5 minutes ago, I think it's still there... ???

thomez · #9 Post by **thomez** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 7:42 pm

There was a mix-up at first. It is on the other site now fine. Maybe another mod over there had took it off to consult the boss man first. Either way, it is there now.

oldsandman · #10 Post by **oldsandman** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 8:06 pm

QUOTE

Originally posted by 4punksdad
so why did they fire the guy who was doing all of their motor work?

Sometimes your hand is forced...