Another bad experience with CalMoto, Mountain View

[MacArrow]

This summer I decided to replace my VFR for something bigger. After reading lots of reviews and checking lots of different motorcycles I decided to go for the Triumph ST. I like riding position on this bike, there is very good motor and very reasonable price. The closet dealership for me is CalMoto in Mountain View. So I went there, did a couple of test rides and finally got my Silver Triumph.
First 600 miles were like one day so that was a time for the first service. I went to the service dept in the morning left my bike there, got the loaner. Then in the end of the day I came back and picked up my bike. After a day or so I noticed that it is harder to start the motorcycle and engine could stall in the first gear after releasing the clutch. On the gas station when I open the tank it was sound of the air going in. So that was a problem with tank vents. I went back to the service and was told there that they did not put one hose somewhere in the system. Later on weekend I was preparing for the ride when I noticed some oil drops on the floor. Got to the service and the reason was the bad alternator gasket. After some time I got the oil drops again. That time it was the head gasket.
When I picked up the motorcycle after replacement the head gasket and on the way home I felt like left foot peg was slippery as well as the gear switch. I stopped to check that and found the oil in every place on the bike. Went back: the tech who did the job did not tight it enough and missed the wire which got under the head cover. I decided not to do anything because it was summer, they were overloaded and it was possible to make mistake.
Now it is a season of the good discounts on everything. I went to CalMoto to buy higher handlebars and asked for the professional installation. Bars were on the order but I got like 15% discount. When it came I called service to get the price on the installation. They said $100 and I could come next day which I did. When I came there, got the loaner and was ready to take off service manager came to me and said that the installation would be $150. OK. Later in office I got a call from him about him missing some steps in the installation and the price is $350 now. OK because it is necessary to replace all cables and brake hoses. Installation was good, I got all controls in the places there they were on old bars. But after a day I got my problem with start and stalling the engine back. My motorcycle is in service now, the loaner was not approved because "they need to order a part and it could take a week". I am at home without my motorcycle which I use as commuter and I wanted to use for the nice ride tomorrow.
You can tell that Triumphs are not reliable. I do not think so: I had problems only after visiting service for the maintence, not before.

Here is the point: I do not know how good is CalMoto service for BMW motorcycles but I will not recommend to go there for the Triumph service. I have got lots of words how they are improving things there but I got _no compensation_ at all. Beware. And do not get me wrong, CalMoto has a good sales department including parts department. Just bad service dept.

 

[Sane_Man]

Their mistake was when they left off the hose on your first service. Your mistake was when you took it back there for more work.

Mach 1, left a hose off my bike like that, but they never got a chance to dick my bike up again. The same with Fairfield and Vacaville Toyota and their screw-ups with no apology's.

 

[MacArrow]

So is there a good service for the Triumphs in Bay Area?
I did not check it yet but if I go to another service, not to certified Triumph one, is it OK for the warranty?

 

[mnb]

I had a major service done along with a clutch replacement job (nearly 3 grand worth of work) and when I got it back, the gear position indicator was a random number generator. They claimed they couldn't have messed it up and wouldn't fix it free. They wanted to charge me $400.

 

[bte320]

Triumph is a great company that makes fantastic bikes. A german mag recently tested the 1050 engine on the Sprint. after 40,000 miles only a little bit of oil was burned and the valves didn't need to be adjusted. the 865 air-cooled and 675 triple are both just as reliable. the problem with Triumph is the same problem that plague's all european dealer networks, finding someone who does a good job servicing bikes.

Go to Rob at Evolution. He's British, so servicing Triumphs is in his blood!

 

[stoltzf4]

Their mistake was when they left off the hose on your first service. Your mistake was when you took it back there for more work.

Mach 1, left a hose off my bike like that, but they never got a chance to dick my bike up again. The same with Fairfield and Vacaville Toyota and their screw-ups with no apology's.

So he is at fault for expecting to service the bike at the place he bought it?

 

[GearSlammer]

Go to Rob at Evolution. He's British, so servicing Triumphs is in his blood!

munroe always did me right. always recommend them, even though i dont have a trumpet any more. thats how satisfied i was with everyone there. parts, service, and sales.

 

[camaroboy]

Consider yourself lucky! I had to wait over a month just to get them to take my bike for a test ride on a warranty issue. It was barely ridable so when they took it for a test ride they agreed that it was messed up and they would need to fix it. From there they lied to me about the warranty approval method (i found out later) delaying another 2 weeks. They finally took it in once it completely died on the side of the road. Luckily I was only 2 miles away so myself and a friend got a nice workout pushing it there since "it is the owners responsibility to get it here"

So many other things come to mind with these guys. There was the numerous attempts to lieing to my face about what was wrong with the bike, either that or he was a complete idiot... Or like after coming to see if they could check it out that day (3-4th in person visit as they would not return my phone calls) they said they couldn't justify the time in taking it for a test ride unless I tried to fix it first, telling me to buy a service manual and new K&N air filter from them (~$200) and if it is still messed up to come back.

As for the reliability of triumphs I must have had a friday bikes because it had more issues than any vehicle I have ever owned, not to mention they quoted me $1100 for the 12k service, for that much Id rather have a ducati and get my butt kissed in the process.

Edit: Also i should add that aside from with the one person who I delt with everyone else seemed just as helpful as one would expect, though one floor guy I spoke to knew absolutely nothing about bikes...

 

[Sane_Man]

So he is at fault for expecting to service the bike at the place he bought it?

It doesn't matter where you bought the bike as to where you take it for service. Why do you think Triumph, and all the other manufactures have dealerships all over the country and world? So you can buy and get service anywhere. Unless your goal is to keep throwing business at your local dealer so it will stay around, there is no upside in taking your bike where you bought it unless they are giving you a substantial discount on service, which I doubt.

If someone wants to keep taking their bike to a shop that does shoddy work when you can take it to the shop in the next town that does better work, they deserve their misery.

 

[Gragorin]

If someone wants to keep taking their bike to a shop that does shoddy work when you can take it to the shop in the next town that does better work, they deserve their misery.

This is why even though CalMoto is literally less than 5 minutes away from me I'm never taking my R1100S there for any kind of service again, ever. I'd rather drive the 20 min to San Jose BMW or all the way to scotts valley and Ted's Beemer Shop instead..

 

[Burning1]

A friend of mine owns a Triumph Spirit ST, which he purchased at Cal Moto. I'll pass your story along.

Apparently, CalMoto recently had a fairly large upheaval in their service department, with the senior staff leaving for various reasons unrelated to the business. I've been hearing reports of missed deadlines, slow orders, and poor service.

If you do decide to deal with them again, I would politely but firmly remind the rep that you're trusting their service techs with your life. For instance, if they forget to torque your brake calipers, you will crash. You could die.

Be sure to give the bike a very close inspection before driving it off the lot.

Personally, I would consider talking to the owner.

 

[hophead]

I bought a Sprint ST from Cal Moto awhile back and while I loved the bike I had to get the lemon law refund from them because over the 5 times I returned it for service the poor cold start could not be remedied. The sales manager was top notch, Mike Meisner and went out of his way to address the problem for me but I had a lemon. It was not a good cold start to begin with and was getting progressively worse. I was not interested in priming the throttle as a work around as this only improved the cold start, did not fix it, and only worked a little better some of the time. It was a shame because aside from the intense heat the risers gave my legs, it was an otherwise great machine. But the head Triumph guy, Mike Meisner if he is still there is a customer oriented guy and has alot of knowledge as well. Triumph used to have Sagem ecm and went to Keihein on the 05s and I think they ruined a good thing. The loaner Speed Triple I got was an 06 [my Sprint was an 05] and it did the same thing just not as bad. It would struggle to fire up but nowhere near as bad as my Sprint. Bottom line? I replaced my stolen Yamaha FZ1 with another one and would never go back to Triumph, as much as I love the engine, unles the problem was completely cured. I mean, come on man, this is 2007, on a fuel injected bike that has no cold start/choke lever, why should the starter turn over so long before the bike fires up? I'm talking prolonged time. I hope your bike isn't the lemon mine was.

 

[rsrider]

Triumphs Suck

 

[garrobito]

..Buy a suzuki man... you can do almost all maintenance for yourself.. inexpensive, reliable..
Triumph is a great machine.. if you have a good and reliable mechanic close...

 

[Beauregard]

I avoid that shop like the plague.

 

[little_bro]

So is there a good service for the Triumphs in Bay Area?
I did not check it yet but if I go to another service, not to certified Triumph one, is it OK for the warranty?

Unfortunately I haven't found one. I was hoping CalMoto was decent.

I took my bike to MotoItaliano SJ - for minor recall work, and an issue diagnosed as a dying battery. I should have spent more time looking at it myself and not taken it in - the recall was preemptive and I was under the false impression the battery would be covered under the warranty.

When I got it back I had two issues.

The first issue is admittedly minor, but annoying. The dude up front told me he "adjusted my steering damper" when he rode it. A few thoughts I had were "why are you and not the tech riding my bike? Or are you both riding my bike, if so, why?" Also - WTF are you doing touching anything that isn't something I complained about on it - AND not returning it to its original setting. Still I knew its setting, so I reset it. No harm no foul.

The much bigger problem - they had incorrectly hooked a fuel hose back (its quick release, and you have to push until you hear it click). This decided to come off on me while riding highway 9 in the middle of a blind right hand corner with no shoulder, dumping fuel all over me, the bike, etc. To say I was put in an unnecessarily risky situation as a result I think would be an understatement. Luckily I wasn't alone and a few people stopped to help, and my buddy found someone with an allen key, so I could fix this myself.

Of course I called up and bitched at the manager, not asking for a thing except for them to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. I got the "yeah yeah, we'll take care of it". Two weeks later, same store, same kind of bike, same recall, different owner - same results (as posted in a Triumph forum). Ridiculous. The dealer will never touch my bike again. I'll sooner truck it to another state, or light it on fire and buy another. For anything major, the result will probably be the same.

 

[Squidly McSmearstain]

There's a reason I owned a brand new, off the showroom floor Triumph Sprint ST for 6 months.

I got HAMMERED when I sold it. I consider the loss I took on that bike a lesson learned. I will never, ever, ever again buy a new Triumph.

I've been where you are. Sell the bike, take the loss and move forward. Do not expect Triumph to do anything to make you happy. They do not care.

Good luck.

 

[ASADO]

I've had all my service done with my previous Ducs and my D675 now at ACE in Concord (previously in San Leandro). Not the cheapest but I have zero complaints with their work.

 

[little_bro]

Quite frankly dude - I've never heard a bigger line of bullshit in my entire life. I have had a few warranty claims on my Triumph - and Triumph the company has been the most upstanding one I've dealt with. Never once were my requests called into doubt by Triumph - again, the actual company, not the dealer. Triumph absolutely has cared for me, and this bike has been reliable. Dealerships are a different story. I had decent luck with one, bad luck with another.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but these past few years, Triumph has done an exceptional job in turning around their company and delivering killer product with solid build quality (as good as any Suzuki or Kawi certainly), and vastly improved reliability to compete with the big 4.

Ask anyone who has a shitty exp. at a Honda or Ducati dealership (yup, I've had both). Every marque has this issue - certainly some more than others, but its pandemic in the motorcycle industry. Too many people trying to make money, too few that know what the fuck they are doing.

What's the used market on Tuono's like?

There's a reason I owned a brand new, off the showroom floor Triumph Sprint ST for 6 months.

I got HAMMERED when I sold it. I consider the loss I took on that bike a lesson learned. I will never, ever, ever again buy a new Triumph.

I've been where you are. Sell the bike, take the loss and move forward. Do not expect Triumph to do anything to make you happy. They do not care.

Good luck.

 

[Razel]

No issues so far

Bought the GT from them in March of 2003. So far, I've not had any issues with them.
While I understand the frustration dealing with service departments that don't perform for you can bring, I haven't had any with CalMoto. Pat Caselli is the service manager and seemed very approachable to me.