New Bike Prep Conniptions

Arriving in their little boxes

One thing about the USA that drives me nuts (ok nuttier), that I have never seen anywhere else is the preparation of new machines when they arrive in their neat shipping boxes.

When I was a certified mechanic back in 1985 I was to Japan for training for this sort of scheme.

It is amazing how many here get everything wrong with uncrating and assembly faux pas.

When I bought my first KLX 300 last March I assumed the owner had meddled and got it wrong but soon after I was examining a lot of these brand new as everyone was having problems.

That PowerSport store was in Aubern but I saw similar setups that had hiccups from Sacramento to Elk Grove.

I have fixed 9 different California KLX 300's so far.

Now the manufacturing for a lot of stuff has moved from Japan to Vietnam but it seems nobody gets trained on unpacking and setup in the right way anymore.

When I bought my new KLX 650 last December I thought it was ok, but I focused on the throttle and clutch cables and assumed they had done the core stuff right.

Dark Duck as of Feb 5th 2026

As I upgraded bits and bobs the vibration noise it made was getting worse and my mood grew rather terse.

Even after the dealer 600 mile service, it still rattled and was driving me crazy.

Finally this last Tuesday I could take it no more and I changed all the oil and then began to explore. I wanted to check they had actually changed the oil and they had.

As I suspected though none of the extras it came with had been bolted together right.

I tore it all down and what I found made me frown.

Under the tank there was shipping insulation and it was coming apart in a way that was very definitely not very ok.

I did lots of investigations and ripped it asunder and rebuilt it with my comments turning the air blue with what I was told sounded like loud thunder.

One screw was on tight the others had just been started with no finish or final check for QA anywhere obvious.

I dunno who signed off on the assemblers build but I score him a Grade G and am surprised he is not embarrassed to collect his weekly check because his work is as fickle as feck!

I put in 30 hours on this task and when I fired her up there was not a single rattle or murmur that could even affect the tea in my teacup.

Some of my pals have been marveling at the sound of silence from my machine as now you can hear just the engine as it should be!

So if any of you are experiencing similar things, gather your tools to rectify the work of fools and take it all apart then put it together right.

My KLR is totally transformed and its now 3 days that she does not sound like a bucket of old British bolts.

Even my old Velocette 350 of this problem was cured, though that took me a long time and several years of rebuilding.

You would not expect this problem in this day and age, but sadly you do.

Each side now has a quick seat release

As I paid $5790 I was not going to quibble but let me tell you if I had spent $18K on that Honda I would have forced them to strip it down to every bolt and do it right.

It's quite an eye opener how many new Aprilia's, KTM's, Moto Guzzi's, Ducati's and Truimphs are in this same pickle. Don't even get me started on the Jap Crap!

Are there no Powersports dealers with any pride anymore?

Contra Costa PowerSports ain't getting any of my custom ever again.

They specialize in KTM but I have already run into a herd of unhappy customers and when I looked it was plain this dereliction of service they can never explain.

Buy from them new, but then find a shop that has a decent service crew or your money you are lining up for a good screw.