Printable View
I have been a bit AWOL on the board and recently tuned in and caught a conversation about the belt tensioners that he and some other's offered. The thread went back to 2017 and lots of comments pro and con.
I have one of those RR belt tensioners and got me to thinking about it. So meanwhile I do some searching for Doc and RR and nothing on the net. What happened?
Having this belt tensioner I want to know what is the current option of owners of that item.
Buckskin
I believe that Doc's wife passed on. There has not been much since then.
Sorry to hear that. Just wondered what the general consensus of those that have that tensioner and if they are removing them due to the latest conversations about belts getting torn up.
Buckskin
Quote:
Originally Posted by ARtraveler
Yes his wife passed away from a bad accident, but he is still in business and has his web site setup.
He pretty much is a one man show now and stepped away for the forums.
If concerned about the tensioner he does warranty them.
That is a sad story about his wife. I imagine most of us would not quite be the same. I looked on web for a website and found nothing. I'm not so much looking for warranty, but the recent thread about belt tensioners tearing up belts got me to wondering......
Buckskin
Quote:
Originally Posted by trikermutha
I know what you mean when losing a loved one.. Just checked too. Site seems down right now??Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckskin
There have been a couple of notable failures of the roller on the RR dampeners. I believe that SpyderAnn01 trashed her belt, and I read about 1 other one. I believe he will stand behind the product, but I did remove my RR vibration dampener due to the failures. I find that with the absolute lowest belt tension on my 2018 RTL it doesn't vibrate enough anymore to warrant the risk of trashing my belt in the middle of nowhere. I still think the vibration dampeners are one of the best bang for the buck items you can put on your Spyder if it has belt vibrations, I just wasn't personally comfortable with the roller failures.
I agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by h0gr1der
It sure looks like he's evaporated. His web URL is still alive but the web page is blank. His Facebook is also unavailable. I think he had an ad on the home page here but I don't see one now. The eBay ad he had last year is expired.
Anthony G or Lamont, can either of you shed any light on whats' with Doc?
We live in Indianapolis, about 30-40 minutes north of Columbus, IN where Doc lives. While I wouldn't consider us friends, I would call us acquaintances. Without going into too many details, his Wife Kathy was struck by a deer while on her Spyder while they were both on a ride. She didn't strike the deer, the deer struck her (not the Spyder) knocking her off. She was in the hospital in critical condition for some time after before passing away. I was "friends" with Doc on Facebook. There was much shared and it seemed that he was not doing well emotionally afterward. He changed his FB name to Doc Savage and in recent months was posting some very "strange" stuff (I won't go into details - just didn't seem like himself based on what I'd seen before). It seems now the account that I was friends with has now been deactivated. Before being deactivated I know he was riding a new to him 2 wheeler a lot - and I thought he had stopped all RR projects/sales/etc.
It does indeed seem that he's vanished electronically.
No, he never did anything for Ann. I sent him an email, and no reply. He owes me a refund, a belt, and the labor. His 1,000,000 mile belt tensioner failed at 50,000 miles! Seized up, destroying the belt in the process. YMMV
I was the other one that had a failure at Spyders in the hills. Ruined my belt also. I called him and he was going to send me a replacement but it never came.
He told me the warranty was for 24,000 miles. I had under 22,000 at the time.
Before this turns into a Doc bash lets step back! Good horse sense would tell anyone that if I was to put a item with a little ball bearing in it on my drive belt and really think that it's going to las,t and I don't have to check it the same way you have to check your oil, shame on you!!! Stop and think of where it is and what it goes threw, the dirt and road crap, and how fast that thing is spinning, come on!!! I feel bad for you few that had a belt get munched, I really do!! But there has to be some sort of self responsibility here, to give it a check, spin the wheel to see if it feels like a bearing is going south! Good Luck to all that are running these belt tensioners, myself I will live with a little vibration! Like the man said, Ride more, worry less!!
:agree:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikey
:agree: Should not be a Doc bash. He has had some bad times with the loss of his spouse. Very sorry for all concerned...including those who have had issues with the product.
Im not trying to bash Doc. I have followed the whole story from day one. I had a spring failure and he sent me a spring then later the upgraded version. Just stating the facts. I was hooking up my trailer in Kerrville Tx and noticed the belt torn up. I had to go in and tie off the damper with zip ties to prevent further damage. The next day I rode home on the bad belt hoping it would get me home. I made it home and went from there. Called him and he had me send him a pic. The roller was completely gone and what was left was digging in the belt. He said he would send me a new roller only. I never received it. If I had, I would hot have been able to use it because the hole that it goes in was wallowed out from the damage. Luckily I got a new belt at 15% off from my dealer and Spider extras sent me a new damper at 50% off. I replaced it myself so no labor. I do occasionally reach under the belt and check it but he was saying Its my responsibility to do a roller check every so many miles. All you can do is reach under the Spyder and see if its still in place and has tension on the belt. I had never heard that before. To do the check he spoke of I would have to remove the 2 side panels. Then he said the warranty was for 24,000 miles. I was under that. Im sorry he lost his wife. He has lost all his weight and was posting his great progress. He looked like a new man. I wish him the best and do not intend to pursue further damages.
What we don't know, and can't know until he tells us, if ever, is how much product liability issues may have been looming in his future. When you market a product with a warranty like he was doing, your butt is swinging way out there, potentially. If any of the roller failures could have, or did, cause loss of control of the bike that would be bad news indeed. It's conceivable to me he may have seen his future threatened and the best way to avoid it was to evaporate from the Spyder product scene. If I were in his shoes that's probably what I would feel forced to do. Product liability can be a business, and livelihood killer. Over 40 years ago I had Professional Engineer license and stamp. I was young and innocent. I signed and stamped one drawing, ever. When I was signing it I got to thinking, "What the hell am I doing? If anything were to go wrong with this product I could be in deep doo doo for the rest of my life." And all I was signing off on was a change to one bolt, increasing it's size. I let the license lapse a few years later.
I feel for Doc. To start to have product problems on top of losing his wife he is carrying one helluva burden.
No, it said in writing “million mile belt tensioner”. We wash and inspect weekly. Our machines are meticulously maintained, as we ride 30,000 miles every year. Not bashing Doc. He has had a time. A bad time. Roadster renovations, however, needs to stand behind their products. I will factually report my experiences, as it is the truth.
:agree: x 2. I think you hit the nail on the head here. Liability issues have taken many a good person/company down. They usually do not show up early on either.Quote:
Originally Posted by IdahoMtnSpyder
I think buyers need to take a little more care when when buying products such as this, made by entrepreneurs with no real expertise or capital behind them. Understand that it's really a buyer beware situation, as the creator really has no way of standing behind the product and the consequences of using it, other than to perhaps replace it with an equally faulty product.Quote:
Originally Posted by ARtraveler
95% of small companies fail in the first five years for a reason. Just sayin'
Joe, I think you may be mixing up marketing braggadocio with bona fide product information. Here's a quote from this thread: https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...=million+miles. Note that he was referring to total miles on all tensioners, not a million miles on a single tensioner.Quote:
Originally Posted by cptjam
And then this: https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...=1#post1367952. Here again it's total on total, not total on one.Quote:
Based upon sales in the past year and factoring an average mileage of 10,000 miles ridden per Spyder (and we all know how low an estimate that is), that comes out to ONE MILLION MILES. Now, that my fellow ryders is many miles of smiles!!!
Then there is this on the only web presence of Doc's that I find still alive. It's his product information sheet. https://roadsterrenovations.wordpres...-damper-kit-2/Quote:
In the almost 2 years of producing these, we have yet to have a roller or bearings fail. Based upon our sales and figuring an average of 10,000 miles per ryder, that puts us well past 5 million total miles without a roller or bearing failure.
Roadster Renovations was a sole proprietership in Kathy's name. After she died so did the company. He planned to keep it alive as a subsidiary of Humphreys Automotive but I don't know if that ever happened. At least it's not the case now from all appearances since even Humphreys Automotive is gone. Here is what he said about that plan. https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...light=warrantyQuote:
WARRANTY
The entire kit is warrantied for 1 year against defects. The roller is warrantied for 2 years, regardless of mileage. There is no limitation on mileage within the two years, however as ryders get closer to 20k miles, they should be more diligent with checking not only for any play in the roller, but for any roughness or noise. If either of those situations is present, replace immediately. Since we have no way to determine whether proper maintenance has been done, we will take each case on a case by case basis and make a determination of the failure.
Here is Doc's last post on SL. https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...=1#post1404637Quote:
We are back up and running and could use some sales. This last 3 months has been devastating financially, but we have made it through it.
Since my late wife's' company was a sole proprietorship, it actually stopped when she passed.
What I have done was to have Humphreys Automotive assume all the debt that Roadster Renovations had and will now have RR as a subsidiary of Humphreys Automotive.
We will honor all existing warranties and will maintain or exceed the quality of products that we produce and sell.
Rest assured that all of the creation, development, and fabrication was done by me, and Kathy's part was more administrative. So, I will continue to make the parts, but now I will also keep the books and mail out the orders.
I looked to see if I could find any of his web pages on the Wayback Machine, but there is none. Sadly, his RT saddlebag door hinge reinforcement kits and his air bag Rock Guard are also now gone.Quote:
I'm around. I am coping. Kathy died exactly 2 months ago tomorrow.
I am out of the State, but have my entire inventory with me and have been shipping orders out occasionally. Business is still open. Thanks for asking!
All we can do is wish him well, hope to see him again someday, and relegate all things RR related to history.
I tracked down the church that Kathy, and presumably Doc, were members of and have sent a message to the pastor to ask if there is anything he can share with us about Doc. If I get something back I'll post it.