The Yamaha Road Star Warrior Forum

Hi all,

I have a 280 kit done by GS Cycles. The fender stays were ordered by them, from BMS Choppers. While I was riding the bike, the stay snapped like a little piece of wood. I don't know if it caused by a bad alignment or pressure from current fender. Still, this is a stay that should support 80lbs of direct pressure.

Can you give me an advice what to do? Who do I contact, GS Cycles or BMS? I have a feeling that I will have to spend another $300 out of my pocket.

 

More details that might solve the metal fracture mystery. The Montreal Choppers shop discovered a crush created by a bad contact between the fender stay and the Warrior frame. They also confirmed that I have a casted pair of struts, they were not welded or modified in any way. This is the place where the bad contact was generated:

Now, look how the stay is crushed:

I went one step further and compared the BMS stay with an original unmodified strut. Note the extra piece of metal that sticks out, while the original strut does not have it in place:

 that sucks sorry to hear. P.E modded mine and they look stronger than the stock ones no problems with them at all and I ride 2 up all the time.

mike

Do you know if they fabricated the stays?

I would call G&S and see what they say Teck. I don't have any personel experience with BMS's stays but would imagine, givin thier excellent reputation, that this is a fluke. Surely they will replace them for free seeing how you just bought it.  Please keep us informed.

Floren, 

Since you contracted G&S to do your bike and they ordered the stays, they are the ones who need to get this resolved . . . . .and in quick order I might add.

Pep:

Floren, 

Since you contracted G&S to do your bike and they ordered the stays, they are the ones who need to get this resolved . . . . .and in quick order I might add.

 

Agreed

I have a set ordered from BMS direct and I notice they have the on all their own bikes. The difference might be theirs are for show and not daily use? I hope not cause I plan to ride mine.

independent_lemming:

Pep:

Floren, 

Since you contracted G&S to do your bike and they ordered the stays, they are the ones who need to get this resolved . . . . .and in quick order I might add.

 

Agreed

I have a set ordered from BMS direct and I notice they have the on all their own bikes. The difference might be theirs are for show and not daily use? I hope not cause I plan to ride mine.

JMHO, I wouldn't order anything from BMS. Yeah they build bikes that look good in pictures and on their website but, they are junk! Definitely 15 footers. Meaning, they look great from 15 feet away but any closer you'll see some serious flaws. I got a glimps of one of their bikes at Cycleworld IMS a couple of years ago and was not impressed by the fit & finish of the bike at all. Looked like an over glorified garage project to me.

07midnite:

JMHO, I wouldn't order anything from BMS. Yeah they build bikes that look good in pictures and on their website but, they are junk! Definitely 15 footers. Meaning, they look great from 15 feet away but any closer you'll see some serious flaws. I got a glimps of one of their bikes at Cycleworld IMS a couple of years ago and was not impressed by the fit & finish of the bike at all. Looked like an over glorified garage project to me.

I don't have a lot of experience with the struts. Honestly, to myself, the stays looked like they being worked with uneven grinding and some jagged edges. I do not know if this was directly out from BMS or if Eric worked the stays to fit them better with the fender. I mentioned all this to Eric from GS Cycles and he said that they look great. Maybe my standards are too high. Sebastien, the fabricator from Montreal Choppers refused to weld the 2 pieces because they will break again. He said: "Floren, if I weld the strut, it is my reputation and name that I put on it. Everyone will know that I did this job. So I would rather not do it then to have you come back and say that the stay broke again."

One thing is sure, the Montreal Choppers guys are damn serious about their job. They refuse to do a project if they are not sure 100% the finished product will look perfect. That's why they charge a lot also, I guess. The new fender in the works looks fantastic. They do a lot of mock-up work and they show me a lot of options, before they do the final cuts.

Anyways, I sent an email to Eric. I will post here what he replies, related to fender stays.
At this point, I would rather deal with another fabricator who stretches the fender stays. Even if BMS fix the issues, how do I know the stays will not snap again? I mean I did not have a passenger, I was simply driving by myself around the block. Let me know if you know other guys doing 280 custom struts for Warrior. Thanks.

It is very interesting that you guys are saying that BMS's finished product isn't that clean up close. I have always assumed thier stuff was as good as it gets. I have never seen any of thier work in person though, just pictures.  Something to think about I guess.

There is no reason the stays should break in my opinion. Even if you would have had a passenger.

How is it that they modify the brackets? I can't ever tell in pictures what they have done to make them wider. Good luck with it Floren and definatley keep us updated.

baclay9:

How is it that they modify the brackets? I can't ever tell in pictures what they have done to make them wider.

•  I've never had their modified part in my hand to inspect but i suspect that the cast aluminum bracket is severed on a compound angle with a metal cutting saw adjacent to the frame mounting bolts in a strategic location. Inserted into a welding jig to the new required dimension and welded together. It's possible that they add a reinforcement, etc ....
• The rest is probably grunt work, based on speculation, with a grinder/sander and not CNC. I would expect that no 2-parts are exactly the same on the exterior beauty surface. The offset to accommodate the wider fender is probably dead on though.

Good luck with it Floren and definatley keep us updated.

Floren, i'm really saddened to hear of this failure and i would expect that BMS will warranty this part for G&S. 

 Hey Teck,

   I have the BMS fender stays for the 280 also. I have ridden 2 up several times with no problems.Also the place where your stay broke is not where they do there mod.Your stay is broke about where it bolts to the frame.Could you have over tightened the stay in some way?Not judging just asking. Where they cut your stay,they put in a lot thicker piece to join them back together.No way it would break there.If not overtightened,the only thing I can think of that could attribute to the break is maybe to much heat in that area. I think that BMS is one of the best shops for what we do to our bikes.I think that BMS was one of,if not the first custom shop to customize the warrior. Most the other shops use BMS to do some of there work,such as the 280 swingarm. I don't work for them or anything like that,but with the products they sell I will always do bussiness with them. I think your fender stay problem is the only one I have ever heard of, otherwise Eric wouldn't have used them,cause he does great work.Good luck Teck.

       Guy

Thanks for the info, Guy. Well, the stays were installed by Eric at GS Cycles, when he did the fender job. So I presume he did not over tighten the stay since he has experience with the Warrior. Beside that, every bolt I remove, I torque it to the Yamaha specifications with 2 torque wrenches from Precision Instruments.

TECK:

Thanks Gilly. Well, the stays were installed by Eric at GS Cycles, when he did the fender job. So I presume he did not over tighten the stay since he has experience with the Warrior. Beside that, every bolt I remove, I torque it to the Yamaha specifications with 2 torque wrenches from Precision Instruments.

 

I'm going to assume one wrench is foot pounds while the other is inch pounds?  I looked at the breaks again - if it came from over tightening, wouldn't it cracked at the bolts??  Thats always been my experience.

i know one thing and one thing only.  If BMS sold those to you and they installed them, I wouldnt even let them check the air in my tires.  Thats unacceptable.  My life and my girls are way more important than someone doing half rate work...I would unbolt them, put them in a box and put them at his doorspet and leave a note telling him to put them on his bike and ride it...Then I would find a better set of fenderstays...well not really, I wouldnt change the fenderstays, but I am sure there are fab guys out there that do better work...maybe the montreal chopper guy.. Spend the money.

Arkansas Warrior:

I'm going to assume one wrench is foot pounds while the other is inch pounds?  I looked at the breaks again - if it came from over tightening, wouldn't it cracked at the bolts??  Thats always been my experience.

Ya, one wrench is a dial for 0-25 ft/lb and the other is 20-100 lb/ft. I think the dial wrench that measures 0-25 ft/lb is not made anymore by PI so I'm really happy I got it when it was on sale.

parkinglot:

i know one thing and one thing only.  If BMS sold those to you and they installed them, I wouldnt even let them check the air in my tires.  Thats unacceptable.  My life and my girls are way more important than someone doing half rate work...I would unbolt them, put them in a box and put them at his doorspet and leave a note telling him to put them on his bike and ride it...Then I would find a better set of fenderstays...well not really, I wouldnt change the fenderstays, but I am sure there are fab guys out there that do better work...maybe the montreal chopper guy.. Spend the money.

Well, ya. The Montreal Choppers can make me a pair of struts identical to the Warrior ones, machined from solid metal. But they will charge me like $1,000+ for the work labor + $275 for the 2 pieces of metal. So I can end up with a bill for pair of custom fender stays... worth $1,500. They are not cheap, that's why they guarantee their work. Unfortunatelly, I cannot afford this kind of cash expense for the struts. I will stick with BMS, for now.