What is the story on Roadster Renovations?

[UtahPete]

: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.

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.

95% of small companies fail in the first five years for a reason. Just sayin'

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

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.

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/showthread.php?112023-Just-WOW!&highlight=million+miles. Note that he was referring to total miles on all tensioners, not a million miles on a single tensioner.

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!!!

And then this: https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums...LT-TENSIONER&p=1367952&viewfull=1#post1367952. Here again it's total on total, not total on one.

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.

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.wordpress.com/vibration-damper-kit-2/

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.

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...adster-Renovations-sort-of&highlight=warranty

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.

Here is Doc's last post on SL. https://www.spyderlovers.com/forums...recent-posts&p=1404637&viewfull=1#post1404637

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!

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.

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.