Buyer Beware: Frank Babuska Sr

Unfortunately, this going to be one of those posts where collateral damage will affect the son who is as nice and decent as a Sunday morning.

In February I was in search of a new motorcycle and I was advised by a friend to contact a confidant of Frank Sr to inquire about various Suzukis he had for sale.

Contact was made with Frank Sr. and he advised me he had numerous Suzukis for sale, a supersport 600 endurance bike, a 2 mil overbore 600 superbike, a 750 and two 1000cc bikes.

My interest was in the 2 mil overbore 600 that had a stainless header system but a titanium Yoshimura secondary system. Frank Sr. told me that the bike was prepared by Mark Junge of Versah. Frank Sr sent me pictures of both 600s. I saw some bits on the supersport, namely the exhaust headers being titanium and I asked if I saw his price on the superbike, could he swap the header system so I could have a full titanium exhaust. He said that he would. At this time I also observed a Brembo master cylinder and remote adjuster on both bikes observed in both pictures.

He asked what my weight was and I told him and he stated as a courtesy, he would put springs in the bike for my weight.

Delivery was made some time later and a certified check was given to Frank Sr at my place.
Upon preparation for the season, I decided to flush the brake fluid as I did not know the age of it. Upon my inspection of the master cylinder, I discovered that an OEM master had been put in the Brembos place. I was annoyed, but after all, I was in the bike for the motor. I decided not to say anything at this time.

I brought the bike down to the second round of CCS at CMP. During the practice round on Friday, I discovered the bike was not sprung for my weight. A ratio of .975 was requested for the forks. A suspension technician, who frequents this board, was on site and removed the springs and observed the suspension rate to be .925.

Also, my butt dyno was telling me that something was not right with the power, but I shrugged it off and chalked it up to lack of seat time and me still recovering from a significant injury from last year.
Fast forward two weeks ago, I entered a race in a smaller series where I was walked by a stock R6 down the front straight of NJMP after a "not so hot" drive from the last turn.

I became suspicious about the motor. I had the bike dynoed on VPR fuel nearby. Six runs were conducted on both maps provided. The bike dynoed at 119hspr on one map and 121hspr on the other map, both on VPR fuel. The torque reading remained in the 44lb ft range.

Suspicion grew and I had a bike-prepper, another person who frequents this forum, remove the clutch cover and inspect the rods. I arrived at his garage and he showed me the difference between a Carillo rod and a stock rod. By his estimation, the bike-prepper stated that any decent 2 mil overbore would have Carillo rods.
The clutch case was removed, the crank turned and a stock rod was observed in the number 4 cyclinder.
Based upon the dyno reading and the rod observed, I concluded that I was given the supersport bike and that the bits observed on the superbike were merely put on the supersport bike and sold.

Contact was made with Frank Sr. after the bike was put back together. I asked him if he knew what rods were in the bike. He texted me Carillo rods. I sent him a picture of a number 4 stock rod. He called me and began screaming and cursing at me over the phone. The convseration never got further than, "You fucking call me to break my balls this early in the morning" (after 10 am). I hung the phone up. Nothing was gained. Text messages were sent back and forth and will be provided once I load them onto my computer. Frank Sr. provided an invoice from Mark Junge, albeit from 2013, for service done on one 600 and a 1000 bike. It does not specify VIN numbers.

I entertained his claim of being swindled by Junge at the time of the service and acknowledged his anger. I requested some form of compensation or solution to the matter. He called me but I declined to answer. I texted back and told him to provide his answer in text form as I would not entertain another screaming match. He texted, "face to face or phone call". I advised him that he was not in the position to control the matter to which he wrote, "have a nice day".

This thread shall serve as a warning to those looking to buy something from Frank Sr. A certified check was made out to Frank Sr for $12,000. Yep, that's a lot of money. It's a competitive hobby for me and nothing else. The missus and I enjoy the trips and I enjoy the challenge, nothing more.

I would like to convey that Frank Jr is a good kid. I believe he has absolutely nothing to do with this transaction and I have conveyed that to those I have spoken to about this matter over the phone.

 

Sounds like its time for a face to face.

 

Wow what a waste of time for you

 

Sorry that happened to you, sucks ass.

 

Concrete galoshes!

 

Yikes!

 

John, again, junior is a great kid. Im sorry for him.

 

As promised, the picture of a stock suzuki rod and the texts that followed.

 

Kinda surpised he's passing the buck to Junge, since google says that Junge is an active sponsor/partner with the Babuska race team.

 

Um, You could have handled that a lot more tactfully. A LOT.

The "Policeman" threat especially. sheesh.

-jim

 

I attempted to by phone. That was after the fuck you i got verbally. Unreasonable?

Forget the cop crap for ansecond and re-read the above and review the cost again.

 

Pretty much.

 

Precisely.

 

this happened to me once when buying a car. was supposed to have racebcams. didn't open up the valve cover for probably the first 3 years of owning it. opened up one day, see stock cams. call the guy who i bought the car from AND the builder since i regularly saw them and considered them both friends. dude i bought it from can't even change his own oil or put air in a tire, so pretty much i believe him that he wouldn't have had any idea one way or the other. the dude who built it however... i hardly ever see, but still tolerate, and everyone seems to have given him a pass under the guise of "we were young, it was the first car i ever built... they came in JUN boxes, i just assumed they were the real deal," i don't believe him at all. he's proven shifty on many occassions with others over the years, although now i guess on the straight and narrow, and he probably kept them for one of his own cars since everyone i know had a 240SX with a turbo motor at some point in their lives. i'm almost 100% on that and i really have no way of ever knowing. the excuse of he couldn't tell billet cams from stock cast cams and he's the mechanic is pretty flimsy in an attempt to do the exact same kinda "well i guess we got swindled too" thing that's going on here.

i don't care about the money, and that was a decade ago at this point... $400-500 (of used car value) lesson for me in trusting some people i guess. overall i was still more than happy with that car for many many years. year's later, dude who sold me the car got burned by another scumbag out of a bunch of money, so that was good enough for me. sorry it happened to you. people suck sometimes.

 

Oooooooh, policeman.