Scootworks update

I have received a partial order. The wheel cover was shipped however, the tube extensions were not included. I'm assuming they are still being made.During my email contact, I was assured on two occasions a week apart that ,"the guys are finishing them now". We are closing in on the sixth week now. I finally made contact with them by acting as though I was a new customer wanting to place a phone order. Otherwise, calling them or sending an email received no response. I wished I had an answer or, a reason for all the trouble. As I've mentioned before, I considered Scootworks to be one of the better internet companies for motorcycle parts. Hopefully, when this is all over with, some sort of explanation will be offered that will help restore my faith in their business practices.

No parts yet!!!

Well, I'm back with more bad news. It has now been another week gone by and, no shipment from Scootworks yet. My bike is still sitting in pieces. What makes it worse is that now, I can't get a response through email or phone call. They received payment a month ago, and without contact, I can't even try to cancel the order. Up to this point, I felt confident in using Scootworks for my motorcycle needs, and would have recommended them to others. I'm not sure what happened, a change of ownership perhaps.They have lost my business and, I will certainly warn others when ordering from them. I have a few other places in mind I can order the parts from but hesitate, due to my payment to Scootworks being in limbo. If I can't get a return then I will just be stuck waiting on them to drag around until they finally decide to send my order. I will update more later, ride safe.

I started this blog to tell you of all the parts I've found along with their price, as well as, what my experience was like using different vendors around the internet. I feel it necessary to share with you my on going transaction with Scootworks. Though I'm confident I will eventually receive my purchase, and it will be of good quality, I'm more than a little disappointed with the current situation. I've just received yet another email stating that they are finishing up with my order and, it should ship out by the end of this week. The order was placed, and paid for almost a month ago. Initially, I received the standard email verifying my order. The following day I was contacted, and it was explained there would be a delay but my package would be shipped aound the middle of the following week. This is where I feel there was a communication breakdown. A simple explanation that the delay would be closer to a month instead of a couple of days would have been appreciated. This would have opened up the option, for me the customer, to have received the needed parts sooner, even if it was from a competitor. This simple act would have insured that Scootworks maintained an outstanding business repertoire with it's customer. As it is, my bike is sitting in pieces waiting on parts that have not shipped yet. This would not be an issue if I would have been more informed about the legitimate ETA of my order. So, as you've probably figured out by now, I'm currently at a stand still, awaiting parts to ship "by the end of this week" as I did the week before, and the week before that. I will let you know more later as things continue to develop. Ride safe...

I'm back with a few more parts toward the expected mods in the future of my bike. The triple trees have arrived. They came with spacers and a new axle due to the extra width of this particular set of trees. I believe they will also be slightly taller than the stock trees meaning, the previously mentioned tube covers might not work. Another concern I have is that the axle nut looks considerably larger than the one currently on the bike. If so, I'm not sure the fork bullets will fit either. I'm hoping for the best. I plan to have the triple trees powdercoated gloss black. Once this is done, I will begin to assemble the front end, and take a look at the tube covers, and fork bullets, to see what can be done to make them work. Another stroke of seemingly bad luck hit concerning the wheel cover, and fork extensions. I decided to order these items from Scootworks due to my previous experience with them. I received a polite email stating there would be a delay and, I could expect shipping to resume during the middle of the next week. Well, one week turned into two so, I sent them an email questioning the whereabouts of my order. Again, a very pleasant reply stating it should be shipped within the next day or, perhaps the beginning of the following week. That following week is now upon us and, no confirmation of shipping yet. I will give it another day or so and check back in. Hopefully, this will be resolved soon. In the meantime, I've started disassembly of the rear end, as well as, a little sanding and painting. I've discoverd Rustoleum black primer, with a few layers of clearcoat, looks very similar to the powdercoated parts I already have. This will be the route I take for the parts I intend to paint. I'd like to keep the glossblack parts all similar in color. I have already changed the mirrors from flat to gloss. I'm currently working on the rear drum. I will update later and let you know how things go with the Scootworks order. Ride safe.....

As promised, here is a picture of what I have so far. This is the drive shaft cover and, the polished aluminum fork tube covers. As mentioned in my previous post, I will install these when I have a few more items in hand. Overall, I think what I have planned should continue along with the midnight theme, as well as, add a little more custom flair to the bike. I plan to post more later, as things progress along. I hope you enjoy your Holidays and, as always, ride safe.

New Ideas

Though I haven't added anything new to my bike lately, I figured I would list a few things I have planned for the future. One of the items includes something I happened upon by accident. Lately, I have been seriously contemplating the idea of adding a Harley front end to my bike. Not only will this give more options of wheel choice, but aftermarket triple trees are cheaper, allowing me to add some rake to the front end. The added rake is the eventual goal. Anyway, while looking around, I happened to find a set of fork tube covers on Ebay for only 20$. They are longer than what I will need but, for the price, I'm sure I'll think of a way to remove the extra 1/4 inch. The plan is to paint them black. This will leave only a small section of the front fork tubes showing. Also,while scouring the internet for options to rake the front end, I did find a few of sets of the raked triple trees that are made specifically for the Vstar 650. One is from Mortons at 699$, and comes with the needed tube extensions, as well as built in fork tube covers. Mortons offers 7 degrees of rake. PCS (Pacific Coast Star) offers similar trees at 6 degrees, only without the extensions, and tube covers, for 690$. Scootworks likewise has a set of trees, lacking extensions and covers, at 4 degrees for 499$, with a cheaper raw version available for 344$. The ones that have my attention are from Highway Hawk, found at biker.com. These offer 6 degrees of rake, and a price tag of 415$. In trying to find the most rake, at the cheapest cost, these seem like the best option so far. I will have to add in the cost of powdercoating them black but, that should be minimal. Along with my searching, I found a gloss black drive shaft cover for around 30 dollars from Ebay. It's wrapped up under the Christmas tree waiting on me. My plans here are to buy a solid wheel cover, which can be found at Scootworks for around 200$, powder coat or paint everything black, and virtually black out the entire rear end. So, as you can see, my next few mods will encompass a few items instead of just one. To start, I think I'll shoot for the cheapest route and buy a wheel cover to go along with the drive shaft cover. I still haven't decided if I want to black out the rims, or simply black out the rear hub and wheel cover, leaving the chrome rim. If I decide to black out the rim, I would likewise blackout the front as well. In the meantime, I will try to post pictures of the new items, as I recieve them, and update my progress. As always, ride safe!

A few more changes

After adding the rigid bar, and determing that the ride was acceptable, I decided to drop the bike down as low as it would go. A friend over at the CC & D shipped me a rigid bar that was drilled at 8 3/4 center mounting holes. This shorter bar placed the fender almost on the swingarm. Yes, now it is, as low as it will go. Also, while looking around on Ebay, I ran across a set of fork bullets that I simply had to have. Their condition was a used, and they were for an 1100 but, I knew with a little work, and a little paint, they would be perfect on my bike. Luckily, I won the bid, and only paid a fraction of what the new price would have been. I've sanded them smooth to get ride of some slight road rash, and painted them to match the rest of the bike. I 've also finally added the small LED taillight that was purchased some time ago. I made a bracket from a peice of metal purchase at a local hardware store, shaped it like the original Yamaha bracket, and bolted it right up.Well, that's it for now...Ride Safe!