here we go again...sparks

[roostin_dale]

Well, alot of you know my motor blew up at the southwick national. I sent a new one off to sparks to have it built. They told me from the start it would be 4 weeks max. Here we are and its been 4 months, i talked to them today and they havent even started on the motor yet. Its just been set to the side.

I have called about 5 times within the 4 months and they always tell me "it will be to you in about a week". Everytime they will make up some bullchit lie to tell me.

This happend to one of my friends also. There motor was about 2 months late. And in the past i have orderd an exhaust for my 250x, i told them i had a race on saturday, so they said ok it will be there thursday......and it didnt show up untill monday!! Same thing happend with my sparks pipe for the yfz, it was 2 days late.

When your the 2003 engine builder of the year you should have better customer service. But everyone knows if your not a top 10 pro, then sparks doesnt give a **** about you. And were not talkin about 100 or 200 bux, its an easy 1,000+ motor.....just needed to vent and warn everyone to stay away form sparks.....this has been a bunch of bull****.

Thanks to them i have also lost to of my series i was winning and missed the Loretta's national......:mad:

[JDiablo]

tell them to send you motor back,i woudlnt put up with that chit:grr:

[Tommy 17]

companies just don't give a damn anymore... sad but true... when u find a good company stick behind it and listen to others...


i didn't listen to others and i got myself in one hell of a mess with a chassis builder... u gotta do some research b4 u buy parts and once u find a good company support them and spread the word...

[Guy400]

I agree it's frustrating but slow turnaround is well known when dealing with Sparks. However, that doesn't make it excusable. The same goes for PEP shocks, if your product is in such high demand that you miss destination dates by months than you've apparently got enough business to hire more people.

[Pappy]

its not just sparks...alot of the good builders stay packed.

not that GT Thunder isnt busy mind you, but i do believe Laz will tell you an expected delivery time and do everything humanly possible to meet that deadline. maybe next time give him a call and see what he can do for you.

another place that is building a good reputation is at C & D racing. Colby has some brains between his ears:eek:

[roostin_dale]

Originally posted by Guy400
but slow turnaround is well known when dealing with Sparks.

yea i expected it to be slow....BUT, they say 4 weeks and it will be back, its been 4 MONTHS and they havent even STARTED on it yet.....when they tell you 4-weeks i would expect it to be here in 4 damn weeks

[Guy400]

I waited for 1 year for ***** Bros. long travel a-arms and never saw them. Thank God I took my money to Burgard and got them in a few days.

[JDiablo]

wow a year for arms,screw that

[416exmx]

well roostin, next time you need a pipe or a motor worked on, try Sparks. i hear they have good customer service and quick turn-around.. lol just joking man. yes they do have good stuff and i am sure their work it top notch, but there is only so far you can go. i would call them and just get the motor back and mark them off the the list FOR GOOD!

try a local builder or something. i have a guy about 15min away that works on all my motors and he does a GREAT job and is reasonable. No, "Sparks" or "TC" or ect... is not engraved on the head, but other than that i bet you couldnt tell the difference.

[roostin_dale]

Well i think im gunna get it back, i dont even want to pay them for it!

Hey Pappy, do you (or anyone else) have GT Thunders phone number? I hear they are quick, think they could build me a stroker motor and get it back to me by late january or early feb???

[Bush0102]

I had a buddy that had a motor built by GT Thunder. It took him 6 weeks to get his motor back, but he had it built in the early fall...

[Quad18star]

I waited 7 months for my old LT 250r engine when I sent it to a well known engine builder here in Canada .... I finally got pissed and told him I wanted it done within a month ... when I got it back , I never noticed but LRD cylinder wasn't on my bike until I got back to my place which was a 7 hour drive away . I later found out that he used my cylinder to run an indoor series during the winter months . I also later found out through other racers that he screws people over like this all the time .


Never deal with Offroad Cycle and ATV here in Ontario Canada .

[Bush0102]

Originally posted by Quad18star
I waited 7 months for my old LT 250r engine when I sent it to a well known engine builder here in Canada .... I finally got pissed and told him I wanted it done within a month ... when I got it back , I never noticed but LRD cylinder wasn't on my bike until I got back to my place which was a 7 hour drive away . I later found out that he used my cylinder to run an indoor series during the winter months . I also later found out through other racers that he screws people over like this all the time .


Never deal with Offroad Cycle and ATV here in Ontario Canada .

:eek2:
dang man, that sucked...did you take him to court?

[kwatts400]

I have a local guy do all my work for me, he has a pretty quick turnaround time and does great work on everything. Not to mention he builds a fast motor. I think I'll stick with him for all my hp needs.

[86350x]

I have my **** built locally, other then bender ported my srx, and trinity(gone over and assembeld by micro edm) did the banshee. But other then that I just order what I want and assemble what I can myself, or have a local tuner do it. In otherwords other then a stroked crank, it can probrably be done locally. I had head porting done here on my thumper too. Just sending your head out to be done should be no biggy.

I know when its going to be done, because I can drive up and check on it.

Also, this guy can do everything. He's been around for years but doesn't advertise. He has a grade a reputation. www.ericgorr.com

[bradley300]

Originally posted by 300exrida
tell them to send you motor back,i woudlnt put up with that chit:grr:

dont tell them to send it back, tell them to just send it straight to gthunder so you dont have to hassle with re-shipping it:devil:

[bradley300]

Originally posted by roostin_dale
Well i think im gunna get it back, i dont even want to pay them for it!

Hey Pappy, do you (or anyone else) have GT Thunders phone number? I hear they are quick, think they could build me a stroker motor and get it back to me by late january or early feb???

its on thier site at www.gthunder.com

also, ive heard from more than one builder that you can get more horse from a big bore 250x/300ex than a stroker

[JDiablo]

Originally posted by bradley300
dont tell them to send it back, tell them to just send it straight to gthunder so you dont have to hassle with re-shipping it:devil:

lol that will work even better

[RytM1]

Originally posted by 86350x
Also, this guy can do everything. He's been around for years but doesn't advertise. He has a grade a reputation. www.ericgorr.com
I will second that. His shop is about 20 minutes from my house. I had him do my port/polish, and I think Doibugu had his cylinder bored there (haven't heard any complaints yet). Excellent work. He will also take the time to explain things to you if you have a question.

[Rico]

Originally posted by Pappy


not that GT Thunder isnt busy mind you, but i do believe Laz will tell you an expected delivery time and do everything humanly possible to meet that deadline

I think Laz could build 5 motors in the time it take sparks to do one...:rolleyes:

[Flynbryan19]

Originally posted by RytM1
I will second that. His shop is about 20 minutes from my house. I had him do my port/polish, and I think Doibugu had his cylinder bored there (haven't heard any complaints yet). Excellent work. He will also take the time to explain things to you if you have a question.

Eric Gorr is the MAN! He was actually a head engine builder at team Honda(mx) in the 80's. He really nows his stuff and is always very kind, informative, and FAST! He has done my 125 mx bikes in the past as well as 3 of my uncles 250's. And I also hear he is a real whiz with the thumpers as well. ;)

[Doibugu2]

Originally posted by Flynbryan19
Eric Gorr is the MAN! He was actually a head engine builder at team Honda(mx) in the 80's. He really nows his stuff and is always very kind, informative, and FAST! He has done my 125 mx bikes in the past as well as 3 of my uncles 250's. And I also hear he is a real whiz with the thumpers as well. ;)

Yea, I went there to drop off my cylinder to get bored on Saturday. He said if I could come back in 1 hour he would do it right now. Went to lunch, came back and it was done. He even dropped his price $5 then what he quoted me.

It was also kind of cool. He had some young kid with his Dad come in and he was going to start teaching him about my motors.

Really nice guy.

[86350x]

He doesn't advertise because he doesn't need to. He'll do banshee porting for like 250. Thats 200 less then the average cost of it. I don't think I ever heard anyone ***** about him either.

[dunnonuttin]

i thought i had it bad today. i called shannons bike shop today to ask about buyin a haro sx expert and he tells me he dont have any in stock and he is shippin in some and that he is with a customer so i ask him if he could jus give me a price on one and he said he would have to look it up and call back as soon as he is done with the customer so i give him my name and number. i go outside and start jumpin my new jump to pass time and take the phone with me (checked to see if it was in range of the receiver). an hour passes an he doesnt call so i call him back and he has closed the freakin shop up for the day.:mad:

[roostin_dale]

Originally posted by bradley300
its on thier site at www.gthunder.com

also, ive heard from more than one builder that you can get more horse from a big bore 250x/300ex than a stroker

no, i've had numerous 250x motors....and i can say a 250x with a big bore is very weak. A stroker makes a world of difference in a 250x...

I was amazed....A 250x with a .80 bore hardly feels different than stock....but my motor that blew up (300cc sparks stroker) could hang with 400's with ease...

But with the 300ex, yes a big bore does make a big difference....