Advice Urgently Needed! Stuck in Quito with ruined suspension from dodgy mechanic
 

Hey All, looking for some advice here from anyone who can help, I'm in a real bind.

I´m currently on a trip from Canada to Argentina on a 2010 KLR for cancer research / awareness and blogging badly at onenutter.com and on facebook. Started the trip at the HU meetup in Nakusp, BC in August :) This is quite the saga but I'll try to keep it brief as possible.
TL;DR - mechanic at Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental destroyed my rear suspension after 3 failed rebuilds, now can't fix it and wants nothing to do with it.

So I´d been travelling for a while through Central America with a sagging rear shock. Had the suspension rebuilt and stiffer spring installed in a suspension shop in Colombia, all was great for a while but it started rebounding a bit quickly coming into Ecuador. No oil leak tho and nothing seemed broken.

I had a leaking radiator as well so dropped into Ecuador Freedom Bike rentals to look for mechanic advice after seeing a few posts here about them and invitations from the owner to drop by. Diego, the mechanic on site said he could fix the radiator and noticed the spring was rebounding quick as well. He was confident, and said he'd done KLR suspension before so OK, please check it out. I thought he'd refill the oil level and repressurize but not so much.

Picked up the bike 5 days later (he had a bunch of shop bikes to work on first) and the suspension rebound felt horrible. He'd done a full rebuild and it obviously wasn't right. Made some noise about it but got told it needs to be ridden in. Sure enough after half a day on the dirt it collapsed, dumped the oil and lost all pressure.

Took it back to Freedom bike rentals, Diego took it back to repair. The suspension shaft (sorry if this is the wrong term! long shafty thing in center of the shock) had ripped from the base and sheared the thread. Not a pretty sight. He used a bunch of parts from an older KLR shock to repair and I got it back again. The next morning all pressure was gone. I hadn't even ridden it properly. Returned again, repaired again for the 3rd time and this time it looks ok. Sure enough though after a few days it dumped oil again and you could see the suspension shaft had ripped from the base again. It was toast.

On returning again Diego said this shock's not repairable, didn't want to touch it and wanted to give me my money back. What the Hell!

It was here I finally met the owner Court, who wanted no part of this at all. Didn't want to hear it. Said it should have gone to their actual suspension partner at Racetech. How the hell I ended up with the in house mechanic I don't know.

Took it to the real suspension tech, he has a look at the shock and is stunned. Parts missing, non suspension parts in there and it's been put together all wrong. The shock shaft is missing the security nut and all internals are broken. Everything is scratched to hell as they didn't have the right tools and used flathead screwdrivers instead. Suspension shaft is also bent, completely non repairable. He's written a statement confirming all this and is talking about lawyers. Sent me back to Ecuador Freedom bike rentals to try and get some help with this in any way.

Returning to Ecuador Freedom Bike Rentals with news from the suspension tech was not a fun time. At all. The owner Court again wanted none of it. "This has nothing to do with me, I've wasted too much time on this already, it was broken when you brought it in and what do you want me to do about it" were par for the course. Seeing it's in his shop you'd think he'd have a hand in things but not so much, just hostility. Turns out Diego runs a seperate business called Mariscal Motors. Out of the same building. With no sign. And primarily works on Ecuador Freedom's bikes. So now it's Diego's responsibility.

The mechanic wants to refund me my 150 and be done with it. He's completely destroyed my shock after 3 failed rebuilds and fully admits this, but he won't give any more than a refund. WTF?!

So that's the story, any suggestions on what I can do here are more than welcome! The mechanic mates I've spoken to all come back with the same "They have to fix it". But they obviously can't and won't. I'm left wth a seriously mangled shock that's not repairable. But what to do?!

- Take it on the chin, order a replcement from the states, wait the few weeks for it to arrive and swallow the 800 this is looking like costing.

- Get a lawyer involved. Really don't want to go this route but a few locals who know the story are pushing for this and have referrals.

- Camp out in front of Ecuador Freedom Bike Rentals and yell like a madman at passers buy until they help me out. Like, maybe fixing the shock as first agreed.

Thanks for reading!
Dave

That's some seriously bad luck. doh I would not screw around with the rental shop owner the mechanic or lawyers. Like throwing good money after bad.
Move on. They got you.

Try to get your money back (amazed they've offered it back!) I don't believe they will actually give it back ... hope I'm wrong .. DO try !!!

The only real mistake you made was not contacting the owner directly after the 1st repair failure.

But no matter. You need a new shock. Full Stop!

I'd get on the KLR forums, beg, borrow, steal a used or rebuilt KLR shock. If lucky someone can help out and sell you one cheap and get it shipped Express, ASAP.

You could also buy a new (or used?) Progressive shock or a Cogent shock. Cogent owner Rick is very accessible, I'm sure he would help out. NOTE: his shock is not cheap, but one of the BEST.
KLR 650 Moab Shock

The tricky part is shipping ... and shipping in such a way it does not get hung up in customs and cost you a bundle to free it. You need to research this with locals, find out how they get round customs nightmare and get stuff fast from Los Estados. Someone must "know" someone. :innocent:

The shipper needs to make it clear the used part is for a Foreign bike that is in the country on TVIP, and the part is NOT for re-sale. But you really need to find out what approach works best in Ecuador ... and do that. Some countries don't allow used parts. Businesses can sometimes get stuff through quickly, some ream you out. $$$$

If you find a local who is having a relative or friend flying in from the states, it's possible someone could mail the shock to them, then they fly in with your shock. This has been done! PAY THEM OF COURSE. But consider what it's costing you to stay in Quito. :innocent:

If it ends up being a while, maybe take a trip out to the Galapagos? I was in Ecuador 2.5 months but couldn't afford that trip, I hear it's a good one.

There may be some support there in Ecuador. Try to get on local Ecuador bike forums. You might get lucky. (not a bad place to get stuck!)

All the best! bier

Mollydog thanks so much for the info, much appreciated.

I've had a massive stroke of luck here, I salvaged the parts from my original shock at Ecuador Freedom at took them over to Diego at Racetech Suspension, he's able to fix it up with a few replacement parts no problem. Diego's a dedicated suspension tech who still trains with Racetech in the states once a year, if he says he can fix this up I'm well confident he can. I think he's taken pity on me with all the dramas.

Turns out the original shock was in good condition, just needed a proper suspension tech to fix it up!

For the record, Diego at Ecuador Freedom was really trying to help me out with each repair and by using replacement parts form an older KLR shock he had. He'd just bitten off more than he could chew (kinda obvious seeing every build didn't last more than a day on the dirt). He really shouldn't have taken on the job if he had no idea how to do it properly.

I looked into shipping a shock from the states, DHL is the best option here but it would have been at least 200, then likely extra to get it out of customs. Apparently customs here can really drag their feet as well, it could have easily taken 3 weeks to a month.

Dying to get back on the road after being stuck for a few weeks with this!

That's incredible luck, good for you. How your guy can repair a bent main shaft is beyond me! Or maybe you found another in the pile of bits? Amazing how dangerous just a little "knowledge" can be vs. how GREAT a trained tech is.

I hope the rebuilt shock lasts. That's always the trick with shocks. Even ones from the Pro's sometimes leak. Best of luck, check in once in a while, let us all know how the job is holding up ... and do post your Race Tech guy's info,
web site, address, tel. That is a really good source for other riders. Blown shocks are all too common. Keep it on the wheels, Suerte!
bier

Hi there, this is my advise:

I would get a shock (aftermarket and only new) in the US anyway and get it send ahead (e.g. to Peru or Bolivia). In BsAs you will find an excellent shock mechanic to do another overhaul, if needed. Dont forget that roads in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina can be hard, very hard, on your rear shock.

Just say this, because I would hate to see another post in a few weeks from further south asking for advise again.

Suerte.

Saludos from Belorussia
mika

Before ordering, check which country has easiest customs.
I have been told many times that Argentina has one of the worst customs.
I ordered a tracking device to Peru and it took some time and effort to get it out of the customs.
Chile might be easy?

If you are not confident that shock will now last for long, maybe it´s time to rethink the route and avoid worst roads?

Great advice. Sometimes some businesses that rely on regular shipments from USA can be a good source as to "HOW TO" get goods in quickly, easily and cheaply. BIG Moto dealer may be such a business?

If lucky, you may even find a friendly who will allow you to ship your shock using their account. Worth a look.

Also, if you know (or meet) anyone in the diplomatic or military community, they've no restrictions or delays on goods shipped in. Goods do not go through normal channels. I used APO (Army Post Office) in Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina. No delays, duty or paperwork at all.

Your embassy may be able to help or suggest something in this regard ... but mostly they only help BIG corporate interests ... not average folk.

I've also heard that Argentina is now a major problem to import anything ...
I heard it's forbidden to import "used parts" of any kind!!! Seems crazy. This info a while back now.