Pic of my shot tappets

Received an update that parts will take another 1-2 weeks to come in, and no response yet from Piaggio regarding the labor.

Very happy with the professionalism of this shop thus far.

Piaggio in UK has told me that labour is NOT covered. IF a claim is accepted and the kit is supplied, everything else has to be paid by owner: labour, oil pump (which you probably don't need as there not so much metal removed) oil, filter, transport, anything else. They say this is at the insistence of the factory, not Piaggio, so it therefore must be the universal situation, whichever country you live in.

Belfastguzzi wrote:

Piaggio in UK has told me that labour is NOT covered. IF a claim is accepted and the kit is supplied, everything else has to be paid by owner: labour, oil pump (which you probably don't need as there not so much metal removed) oil, filter, transport, anything else. They say this is at the insistence of the  factory, not Piaggio, so it therefore must be the universal situation, whichever country you live in.

I agree - not expecting labor (or labour) to be covered.  LBC may have simply won the tappet lottery...

I went into Thousand Oaks fully expecting that I'd have to pay the labor. I just assumed and didn't even ask. But later when I talked to Alex, he said he was trying to get the labor covered too. I was shocked that he got it done. They are fantastic. I recall two others posting on this forum saying they had labor covered too, so it's not just me. I can't remember who, but if I'm not mistaken, one of them was in the UK. Finding a dealer with staff who care and want you to come back in the future makes all the difference. I don't think the fact that I had filed a complaint with the feds had anything to do with it either. If anyone was aware of it, they didn't mention it to me, and I didn't bring it up either. T.O. is a hard working bunch who wants you to be a repeat customer and they know what it takes. Having said all that, convincing Piaggio to cover labor for your C kit may be a tall order, but I have no doubt Alex is fighting the fight. As for Piaggio's lack of uniformity on the matter? It can't be a surprise when you consider how they got themselves into the mess in the first place. Just plain bush-league business the whole sordid affair.

Over here there is no chance. Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

(Relative) congratulations (in the circumstances) and well done, LBC. It's great you got some help. There does appear to be a degree of inconsistency in the system and a great deal of uncertainty among customers, which is why I asked a similar question in the 'Anyone living outside the dealer network? Anyone had joy dealing with factory in Italy?' topic here. Piaggio UK is 'very certain' about how things should be done, but they have also been very certainly wrong in the years from 2008 to 2016 and have changed their opinion and the rule-book during that time. So yes, it's a bit of a lottery indeed.

The simple truth is they will do anything they can get away with to wriggle out of doing the right thing. In the US because of its far more litigious nature it seems that they may, on a case by case basis, be backing down if people make enough noise. Over here and I'd think certainly in the UK where the importer seems actively disinterested in doing not just the right thing but anything at all there is little chance of getting it covered.

Also, just for the record, the factory time allotted is barely adequate for their very basic swap. Doing the job properly will take longer. Anyone who did manage to get the labour component covered who bought the bike to my shop and refused to pay the extra for what I deem neccessary would be signing a release form stating that I had told them the work was inadequate and I couldn't offer any sort of gaurantee on the work performed. I'm not willing to take it up the arse from Piaggio and then line up for sloppy seconds from a customer. Sorry, ain't happenin'!

Pete

We can only go for the seller here not the manufacturer.

Not fit for the purpose for which it is commonly supplied and not free from defects.

I'd be breaking the dbac rule with someone I've known and respected for a long time if I go the seller.

and to think I owned a 650 lario. Same shit different shovel.

Not Quite. The poor engineering of the Lario top end was another kettle of bananas!

Pete

Yes true. They were bananas.

The 8V roller mill is a score, period.
And matted to a GRiSO it's pure sex.

I just learned my c kit has been installed and the bike is ready to pick up.  A new map was installed so will see how THAT feels (vs. Beetles, which I had before).

Anyway, I did not win the tappet labor lottery like LBC, but parts were covered as expected.  At least I know the shop made some money, which is not a bad thing...

Good John! I was lucky mine was a B kit, much less work. May your GRiSO have a long and worry-free life!

Pity they uploaded the shitty -03 map. Now you'll have to reload the roller map.

Pete

great way to do a back-to-back comparison of what was and what is state of the art though.

I still need to get the roller map on my bike as I have the flaty with with Mistral at the moment...Cold starts are a biatch but once the engine warms up, it's so much better than the factory map already.

I ran mine with the roller Zard map before rollerisation. Also much better than factory map.

LBC Tenni wrote:

Good John! I was lucky mine was a B kit, much less work. May your GRiSO have a long and worry-free life!

Thanks and oh yes, I forgot.  Your only needing a b kit probably was part of the equation...

Well the bike runs great.  Engine sounds are about the same as far as I can tell, the most prevalent still being the high-pitched whine, but maybe the exhaust has a bit more bark?

Total cost was $1,189, which included the initial inspection and a normal maintenance.  The parts cost for the c kit would have been $1,400, I was told.

I met a guy at the shop who, after a 20 year hiatus from motorcycling, was buying a new GRiSO!  Told him good choice.