It's not like that Ross. In my case; Yam have a tie up with Akra who produce Stage I end cans and a Stage II/III full system (with different cans than stage I) for the MT-01. These are exclusively sold by Yamaha and their dealers. You will not find nor can you buy these directly from akra nor from any of the akra dealers.

Same goes with a tie up between Arrow and Triumph for the Speedie.

The Yam shop opened here just a month or so ago. When I was looking for the MT Bangalore and Ahmedabad were the closest places where I could find a dealer. It was bought from Bangalore Wheels. Yours from?

Yeah the same Bangalore Wheels. The guys there were telling me about an MT01 which was shipped out from here to Mumbai. Guess you were the one

My bike's got a colourful, celebrity kind of history. Ask the Wheels guys they should know I can demand a couple of lacs extra when I sell just for this reason

Some senior guy there called Prabhu, do you know him? You know what; he even told me they will send technicians down to Mumbai for the service. I did not believe him though.

The story I get from the Yam shop here is that Yam have a central (per state or region) pool of technicians for the CBUs. So when you make an appointment at the Yam shop they will schedule with the central office and co-ordinate accordingly. They are not allowed to ride your bike, no pick up no drop off. No other technician from the Yam shop is allowed to touch a CBU bike. They address each other with the 'San" suffix. Understood Rossiter-San?

Of course all this may not apply for dealer showrooms and service like Bangalore Wheels.

plz Post some more pics n of the blue flames coming out n of the complete speedo unit

Interesting! Will ask them the next time I'm there. But in the meantime, you could fill in the blanks hopefully?

Yes I know Prabhu, he's a stand up guy. He put up with all the nonsense I gave him in the initial stages

And yeah, my old R1 thread had all the info about the service arrangements Yamaha has put in. At the time of the launch, the dealers were identified and made known to anyone interested in booking. All the dealers identified could take booking, but the only ones who could deliver the bikes, were the ones whose technicians had passed the training course(s) prescribed by Yamaha before the launch.

Apparently, only Bangalore Wheels had the certified technicians, along with Ambal in Chennai for a very long time. So they were they only ones who were allowed to deliver the bikes to the customers I guess.

As for the central pool, I'm not sure what that's about. Like I said, each dealer has his own bunch of approved guys to work on the CBUs by now. And only they work on it. When you schedule a service, the info is passed on to the guys in Delhi who collect the information and track it. It's a very systematic process and quite good. I've been very impressed with the way it's carried out.

Like I said earlier, Suzuki and Honda would do well to follow the benchmark set by Yamaha when it comes to the after sales support of the CBUs.

And yes, the "san" culture is widely present in the Yamaha circles. It's a nice way of addressing each other with respect. Agree with me Streetfighter-san?

I agree Rossiter. And I'm pretty used to the 'San' way of life , I lived and worked in Tokyo for a year.

I think the procedure for service here is different as this is not a dealer outlet. It is a Yamaha shop.

I'm surprised that there's a different procedure. Makes sense to follow the same system followed by the other dealers.

What's the update with the service?

Met the head of products, Yamaha; at the Expo. He seemed surprised at my service woes and he has promised that no matter what, the service will be done at my convenience at the day/date of my choice. If he comes through with that then yeah, thumbs up for customer satisfaction. I'm going to call the Yam shop and see what's the story in a bit.

Some pics from the ride 2 nights ago with Jay, FarfromNormal, Anku, Gautam, Clayton, Mikhail and a few others (too many to remember for one trip).

Cheers brother!

Jay.

Nice pics there SF!

Nice Pics.

1st Service done

Got the first service done this morning. The Banglore Wheels guys came to do it, all the the way to Mumbai. Kudos to them, thoroughly professional, knowledgeable and very nice people too. Total cost was 8.5k. It would be a wee bit cheaper if done in their shop but the ride to Bangalore would be uncomfortable and expensive

Let me tell you why I got them to do the service instead of the Yam shop here in Mumbai. I live 50 kms away from the Yam shop here, I have been requesting them for over a month now to organise my service and I have to do it on a Sunday. There's no way in hell I'm riding all the way to Malad and back on a weekday. After a lot of negotiation they agreed for this Sunday, but on Saturday night they called and said they will do it on Monday. No reason given, they just decided to move the day according to their convenience. This inspite of assurances from the Yamaha India Product Manager that the service will be done according to the customer's convenience. I have also been requesting them as an alternative to pick up and drop off the bike, they won't do it. Then I requested they organise a truck to transport it and back, I'd pay for it but again they refused.

I couldn't take this crap from them anymore so called Banglore wheels. Luckily, Mukesh (Service Manager) was leaving for a service to Kolhapur the next day. He called me back in 10 mins and asked if he could come directly from Kolhapur on Monday to sevice the bike. Of course I immediately agreed and it was all smooth sailing thereafter. Mukesh and his assistant looked red eyed, obviously they hadn't slept for a while. I offered them breakfast, tea, biscuits, etc. and after that they started the service. Thanks Bangalore Wheels and thanks Mukesh (and his assistant whose name I fogot now, he is the chief for R15s in Bangalore).

I don't think I'm going back to the local Yam shop anytime soon, at least not till they get their house in order. I will suggest to them they stop selling bikes till they have the infrastructure set up and they get their house in order.

Here are some pics fom the service, not terribly good quality I'm afraid, my N95 has conked and I'm using my spare N81.

@SF: I should be irritated with you, because Mahesh and Prabha were supposed to work on my R1 today, and they've gone to Mumbai to work on your bike.

But objectively speaking, good move man. And you lucked out with the timing as well by the looks of it.

Now I hope everyone has an idea why I keep raving about the superb service I get from these guys, and stop thinking I'm a Yammie fanboy

Wonderful and talented guys.. both of them.

PS: Should've asked about me, they'll tell you plenty of stories of my own

PPS: And next time, ride your bike to BW instead of wrecking others' service schedules!

Just kidding man

You know I wanted to ask about you, but you won't believe it.... I forgot your real name I thought they wouldn't know who Rossiter is

It was a spur of the moment schedule, he came over since he was coming to Kolhapur anyway. Earlier he told me he coudl come by end of the month and I was cool with that too but I'm not complaining now

Ask him about my bike, they seemed to like it a lot, with all the mods. And they both seemed pretty bowled over with the sound. Give them my regards when you see them and tell them I was all praises.