Clutch Whine/Chirp- Lemon Law

[jfoster]

Would the clutch whine be considered a characteristic of a lemon? If I understand what has been said in previous posts, its a flaw in craftsmanship in most RSTDs and RSVs. From what I've read, the dealer has four attempts to repair it within the warranty and if its not fixable they're required to buy it back.

[barend]

Isn't that the noise resulting from the straight cut gears? If so, are you wanting to argue that the entire production run is comprised of lemons? no offense, but sounds like a personal issue,

[Freebird]

I think you could actually argue that point but it would be an uphill battle. First of all, count on it taking up to a couple of years for your case to ever even make it to arbitration. If it's not settled in arbitration, it will take another year or so to make it to court. Yamaha will argue that it is a characteristic of the bike and not a defect. With enough evidence, sound clips, evidence of them trying to resolve the issue on MANY bikes, etc., I think that there is a good chance that you could convince a jury that it is NOT normal.

 

I actually suspect that it would never make it to a jury trial. Yamaha would not want to take a chance of losing in court because that would open them up to many other similar suites. Most likely they would settle with you in arbitration and part of that settlement would be you signing a non-disclosure statement so that they can keep it quiet.

 

So in short, I think you could win. Just be prepared for it to take at least a couple of years. There are plenty of lemon law attorneys who will take your case and it would cost you absolutely nothing until you settle but then they are going to probably take 1/3 of the money which will likely be only replacement cost. Most lemon laws that I have seen result in the manufacturer buying the vehicle back less so many cents per mile that were put on it before the case was filed and then less cents per mile for mileage put on it after the case was filed. Anybody who is truly unhappy would probably be ahead time and money wise to just sell the bike and buy something that they are happy with and THAT is exactly why Yamaha has not done anything about the issue.

[flb_78]

If I didn't want to hear the engine run, I'd drive my car.

[Thom]

it depends on your state lemon laws , here in TX. it is 3 times or more than 30 days in the shop . i almost had to buy back a $92,000 camper because of a design flaw of a $3500 refige , it cost me over 8 grand to fix the problem ! TX. don't care if it is a manufacture problem , it is up to the dealer to fix it or buy it back , the full price + prep and taxes , och !! but because all the dealers know this , TX. is a good state to buy in .

At 1 point i had a good laugh because the the refer manufacture told the cust. they are removing the refer and giving the 3500 to the cust. so he could buy any refer he wanted . but the judge said that they could do it but it will not be $3500 but $92,000 . the judge glared me for laughing !

[yamadawg]

It would be interesting to see if an annoying noise would qualify for such action. I sure hope not. Obviously we all know our society has come to the point that we will seek litigation for anything, but this seems so frivilous. I do not recall my early single cylinder Yamahas, my 350, or my 650 Special as having any "whine" at all. Maybe it was the "idle to wide open" style of riding back then... Then my 750 Maxim sounded like the Jetson's car at times. I simply took that as a charactistic of the bike. There was always excellent, superior performance and never a mechanical issue. If I did not like the sound I could simply have bought another brand. Each of the three Ventures I have since owned have had some degree of "whine". Once again, if that had been an issue I would have sought out another brand. I like Yamaha products and have been very pleased with their dependability over the years and have purchased both new and used bikes. The issue of the gear sound is a minor annoyance at most. Would I like it without the whine? Sure. But I know that this is a characteristic of the bikes and make my buying and riding decisions with that fully in mind. There seem to be a much lower instance of engineering and design flaws on these bikes than some of the other manufacturers products. With the RK pipes I have now on the RSMV if we are not "whining" we are roaring, and I like that just fine. I can take that a lot better than parts falling off, inadequate power, or normal occurances like shifters and linkage coming apart on the road. There are plenty of other choices out there for those that do not feel the same way.

 

Maybe the Fed will require that Yamaha place a warning sticker prominently on the bikes it sells stating that "WARNING: This vehicle may produce a perceptible and possibly annoying sound at various operating conditions."...

[LilBeaver]

If I didn't want to hear the engine run, I'd drive my car.

 

hehe

[buddy]

Every motorcycle I ever owned all had their own whine or sound no matter what brand you buy there is going to be something to hear. Even my GL1800 Gold Wing considered to be one of the quietest & best motors ever built has a sound at a certain rpm, does it bother me? not one bit!. The Venture motor and the GL1800 motor can go well over 250,000 miles. And since the Venture V4 motor is considered world wide as the "Bullet Proof Motor" it would be hard to win this in court in my point of view, There's to many on the road with high mileage some even over 150,000 miles.

[brainfart]

careful what you wish for.....

 

Yamaha may just decide to discontinue the Gen2 RSV

[Guest scarylarry]

The only chrip I hear is Barry Manilow when flipping radio channels, is this the chirp your talking about..

Would that be a radio station issue instead of Yamaha?

[hunter 1500]

I used to hear all kinds of engine noises with my LC when I would be off touring somewhere a few hundred miles away and so I cured it by puting a fairing with a radio on the bike now all I hear is tunes. After hearing this bike I couldn't wait to get the fairing on because it has strange noises.

[jfoster]

I was just curious... Maybe I'm different, but I don't consider a high pitch whine from the clutch that requires ear plugs to be a "normal" engine sound. Sorry, but maybe to a pirate its a welcome sound.

[Guest scarylarry]

careful what you wish for.....

 

Yamaha may just decide to discontinue the Gen2 RSV

 

Yea with Gen3 with pinks flames :rotfl::rotfl:

[SilvrT]

I am so sick and tired of all the whining about the whining that I'm not even going to add any whining to this thread. I heard whining all day today while out whining...errr I mean, riding...I heard enuf.