Thomas Racing Service

westonboege

XS650 Addict
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Have any of you bought an engine or had one rebuilt by Thomas Racing Service?

Heres the short story:

Paid for a motor from them last July. Had to call him every week trying to find out why my motor was taking so long. Finally received my motor in DECEMBER. Took him six months to build? --when he said it would take two weeks.

Bike was in the garage all winter getting finished. Took the bike out as soon as it got warm and the motor was missing 4th and 5th gear. Had to take the motor out of the bike, crate it, and ship it back to Indiana. Im in providence RI right now.

Now i just got the motor back from him, and put it in the frame last weekend. I took it for a ride a few days ago and everything seemed great... motor runs pretty good. Parked it at the shop and went back the next day and there is a puddle of oil underneath. Turns out the guy stripped two of the bolts on the bottom of the motor where the oil drain plug is :wtf::wtf::wtf:

So now i guess i have to drain the oil AGAIN, and either helicoil the bolts or tap them out for a bigger bolt.

And I am gonna do it because i dont trust that jackass at Thomas....


Has anyone else had an experience like this with them? Im seriously thinking about calling a lawyer to get my money back. :banghead:
 
How did you find them? This + the Daddy G thing (let's NOT TALK ABOUT IT) make me wonder about these small shops, where their accountability and guarantees are.

They may be okay guys who are just wildly incompetent, maybe send them an email or give them a call and ask for your money back before taking it to court? Since you're under $2500 you can go to small claims (I think that's the cutoff), but being in different states might make it more difficult.

I don't think I'm going to order services from anyone who doesn't have a nice website. That may seem odd, but the logic is that most mechanics aren't good HTML coders so if they have a good website they probably hired it out. I take that to mean that they are *serious* about their business, have money invested, and are more interested in protecting their reputation and advertising their services. They may still be shitty mechanics but at least they'll be easier to deal with. No more of this outta the garage shit.
 
Small claims will NOT give you your money back... They might reimburse you for the repair parts and labor, but its not a fight worth having...


Not that it makes your ordeal suck any less...
 
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I have not heard the Daddy G thing... ?

Thomas Racing Service had a website and everything... 'specializing' in the xs 650... Ive called the guy countless times over the course of the last year trying to figure out wtf was going on...

What a load of crap... I should have just rebuilt the motor myself...
 
I have not heard the Daddy G thing... ?

Thomas Racing Service had a website and everything... 'specializing' in the xs 650... Ive called the guy countless times over the course of the last year trying to figure out wtf was going on...

What a load of crap... I should have just rebuilt the motor myself...

If you want to catch up on the Daddy G thing, read this thread and this thread.

Oh, I could only find a Myspace page when I googled them.
 
Well i just talked to Jeff on the phone and he basically cussed me out... im done...

This guy is a hack and I feel bad for anyone that does business with him...
 
I've seen there website. Now don't hold me to this but I think Ardcore ( used/ recommended ) this shop back in the day. I don't know anything bout them or there product. Thomas that is.... sucks you got the short end of the stick. Seems to be going around these days!

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Yeah... remember seeing that Ardcore used them... Thats one of the reasons I went with it. I wanted to build an xs that had really good reliability and was fun to ride/comfortable for longer trips.

Now im afraid to ride the bike as I dont know what else he "messed up".

This is whats wrong with this country... there is no accountability for anything anymore... you pay for something and get ripped off -- its your own fault. I know I sound like an old man, but I REALLY get pissed off when my hard earned money gets abused by some guy promising more than he can deliver...

Once again proves that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself...

Egh... thanks for letting me rant... just another life lesson learned... or some shit like that...
 
I mentioned before about a guy at work who's friend bought some $100K west coast bike and the frame cracked. So he bought a $100K piece of shit. I don't give a shit if God recommended someone. If they give you a shitty product, then they are shitty people, end of story.
 
I wonder if I should post anything about this on 650 chopper... ? They just put my bike up on their site... I am thinking about commenting and telling people to watch out for Thomas, but I dont want to piss too many people off, as they seem closely tied to Thomas/Ardcore....

http://www.xs650chopper.com/2011/06/79-xs650-by-counterbalance-motorcycles/

I admire your poise throughout this whole deal, a scenario like this will have had me on a war path, but that's my control freak nature, and the same reason I wouldn't be interested in anyone touching my bike except me.

There's no reason the dude should have cussed you out. Call him out on your page on 650chopper, let everyone know that Thomas Racing is a bullshit service. If you're right and you know you're right, then this should be no problem.

I mean, one thread on Daddy G and his business is effectively wiped out. The XS cult is small and we all hang out on the same boards.
 
Between Daddy G and Thomas Racing, my phone has been blowing up! I need to send those folks a gift card :laugh: :thumbsup:

I had lots of people ask if I could compete pricewise with Thomas Racing, and I always said NO... They have to be cutting corners somewhere for the price...
 
Between Daddy G and Thomas Racing, my phone has been blowing up! I need to send those folks a gift card :laugh: :thumbsup:

I had lots of people ask if I could compete pricewise with Thomas Racing, and I always said NO... They have to be cutting corners somewhere for the price...

You get what you pay for, if something seems too good to be true it probably is.
 
Please dont ever be afraid to post legit complaints on here, it really does help us all weed through these sites.. i even just saw that ebay post from them on fb and was thinkin i would maybe do that if i go to rebuild. Stay tight everyone and we can push all these crooks out!
 
Between Daddy G and Thomas Racing, my phone has been blowing up! I need to send those folks a gift card :laugh: :thumbsup:

I had lots of people ask if I could compete pricewise with Thomas Racing, and I always said NO... They have to be cutting corners somewhere for the price...

As I see the XS scene just getting bigger by the day, I fully expect you to get so busy you will have to keep on hiring people. All the work I have seen you do has had amazing attention to detail and always comes out top notch. I am surprised you aren't much busier than you are.

As far as Thomas Racing, it appears that their website has "expired", but Ardcore used them on the Get Bent build. I would make sure to do a yahoo and google review of this business because that is on the first page of results when you search Thomas Racing. I would also do a YouTube video review of the business, a lot of times the video will be on the google first search page once you search Thomas Racing.
 
That's what makes Hugh stand out in the 650 business. He's on here, adding to the forum and always moving forward. Some of these other people post one or two things about how good they are or how cheaply they can build something. Yet, you never see them take the time to help a rider with a simple question. Now, some "other" shops have commented on certain threads, but somehow still find a way to either belittle the person asking the question or saying that they should send it to them to fix. I have never dealt with Hugh business wise, but after reading what people have to say, and from asking him tech questions, I would pay him whatever he asked 'cuz I know it will be done properly. You do get what you pay for.
 
I agree with everything said, but honestly I thought i WOULD get what I paid for. I dont think Thomas Racing is cheap by any means... I dont know what hugh or Punkskalar would charge for a complete rebuild, but know what I know now I will definately be more selective of who I give my money to..
 
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