The friend that was helping me learn to ride (who had been riding for 10 years) said sportbikes are geared really tall and going up 2 on the rear sprocket would make it easier to take off at redlights, and would mean less downshifting while riding. I had no reason to doubt him, so I did it. I have done some really silly shit on bikes, including ridiculous downshifts on race bikes with crazy gearing, and have never had a head gasket leak...except that one. I refuse to believe going up 2t on the rear sprocket, which might add an additional 300-400rpm at any particular time, caused the head gasket to leak on a street bike with less than 800 miles on it that had never seen 11k rpm.
I never felt minor gearing changes like that made a black and white difference for street riding. Noticeable, yeah, sure. But nothing that would make you do a 12 o clock wheelie from letting the clutch out a little faster than normal. A little higher cruising RPM's like Broome said, but nothing too major.
It may make a difference, it may not - but it's more than enough for a service rep to deny a warranty claim based on the what ifs of a bike modified like that.
Well it's the dealerships loss. They lost a lot more money from losing a customer (And to those friends that the same customer told not to buy a bike from) than just fixing the head gasket. You can argue your point which holds close to zero merit (Yet enough merit where it counts, I'll give you that) all you want, but any competent person knows a +2 rear sprocket did nothing to cause a head gasket leak.
You're on a roll today. Dealers don't deny claims. OEM reps do. The dealer could have fixed it and taken the hit for their known customer who brings in lots of business. Why do street riders put on a +2 sprocket? Serious answer not Broomes talk about easier take off from lights because that is ridiculous - yes I know his friend said it not him. I only know of one reason. I also know having worked at a dealership for a bit how people who do that treat their machines. Hell, I was friends with a bunch of them. As I said, I totally get the rep denying the claim. I believe Broome mostly that he didn't overrev but again, that can happen and people forget easily enough. But either way, what he did is a moot point, the rep wasn't riding with him every mile, the rep went on what had been done to the bike and their procedures for warranty claims.
The bike is made to redline without engine damage. Changing gearing doesn't change the redline and fuel cutout of the bike, therefor the oem rep was way out of line denying the claim in this example.
Hence my continual use of the word (even if it's not real) over overrev - as in going well past redline when downshifting. And just because - I'm not saying it happened. I'm not saying it's even a really good reason to deny a claim. Just saying I get why it could be used to deny a claim by a service rep.
Over revving won't cause a head gasket to blow. Just take that and put it in the trash. That's where that opinion belongs. Look how many faggot stunters rev their shit to the moon. Drop a valve yes, missed shift will also cause valve issues. Head gasket is made to seal. No amount of revving is gonna blow a gasket unless the rod came through the gasket first
It really comes back to the dealer being a dick over it because the Suz. rep wouldn't even know unless told about it. All the dealer had to do was put the stock sprocket back on if the tech rep wanted to come look at it. That's what I would have done for one of my customers, I'm sure Rob and most of the other dealers on here or anywhere would have done the same.
your entire warranty is not voided due to a ecu reflash, there are good dealers out there, bikes pretty much need oil changes which you can do yourself apriliaforum is your best source for info, 2016 motors are way better than previous RF or RR
Good point, wasn't actually thinking about the specific damage so much as overrevving hurting it. So now we're at all the slow speed learning stuff overheated it? (yes I know the fan will prevent that )
Did you tune or put the race ecu in the RF? If not that fueling is so far off when you put a pipe on it, it's not even funny. Be careful! Killer bike, the RF is awesome. I rode a factory and an RF back to back and the RF is much much much better. Done a pretty decent amount of work on the RF's lately too.
I've been working with Aprilia m/c exclusively for over 10 years and I can tell you first hand that your statement is not quite true. If the ECU is properly re-flashed with Aprilia's own race map, and you have proper maintenance records, and the bike has not been raced, the warranty is not void. But if you have the ECU flashed with some kind of aftermarket software like REXXER or who know what esle, then yes they can tell when they connect to the ECU and they will deny your warranty claim if it is an engine related problem. edit: I don't work for Aprilia, I am an independent mechanic working out of my own shop.
From what I've gathered from being in and around the aprilia forum and the aprilia motorcycle brand itself, Amauri seems to be one of the top authorities when it comes to these bikes, state-side.
