I really felt like I should share this. I bought my GSXS1000F back in October from a local dealer and had massive issues. This is part of the letter I wrote to Suzuki's and their response below. I really hope this helps someone in the future.
"I had been waiting to buy a GSX S1000F for over one year ever since I first saw it online. I even went this entire season without a bike to make sure I could afford one when they were finally released this fall. There is nothing else like this bike for comfort and power and I knew it was the one for me when I saw it at a motorcycle show in Minneapolis last February. I called dealers every month after that viewing to get in line for my purchase. Last month I put in an order with Leo’s South in Lakeville, MN to have a GSX S1000F delivered. To say I was excited is an understatement. I even went so far as to order Suzuki heated grips, tank protectors, and valve stem caps.
On October 17th I went to pick up my bike and I got a less than good feeling right away. When I completed the paperwork and went out to see my bike, I was greeted by a left mirror that had a rounded adjustment nut, forks that were in position 1 on the Renthal fat bar instead of the “dot” being lined up with the top clamps, and my heated grip controller being way out of alignment with my other controls. I spoke to the service writer and explained that I wanted these things corrected. The issues were corrected but I got a lot of excuses like “this bike is so new we don’t know how to set it up” and “we can’t help but scratch up the mirror nuts because Suzuki made them out of black painted aluminum”. I stated that the bar has a “dot” for alignment and why would you think I would accept a mirror with a nut that is rounded off?
I found more problems when I got the bike to my house. The adjuster for compression on the right fork was really deformed as if it was turned hard against the internal stop with a screwdriver. This was straight from the factory as far as I can tell. I managed to very lightly sand down the aluminum adjuster with 600 grit abrasive paper to take out the damage and polish out the adjuster to a very nice shine. I did this because if it were warrantied, I don’t trust Leo’s South not to do damage to the fork or other parts as they would be removed and installed. Most concerning is that I will always wonder if the compression adjuster was damaged internally from being over torqued. I guess I will never know.
Then I noticed a scratch on the pointed part of my blue fairing side panel. It is about 1/8” long and down to the plastic. It was really disappointing on a new bike. I have asked Leo’s South to look into warranty replacement on this. The final let down for me was how the heated grip control is mounted. It almost guarantees that the plating on the bracket is scratched off as the mirror is tightened down and cannot be set in a fixed position as the mirror is tightened. This makes alignment of the mirror and heated grip controls an incredibly difficult task.
After all of this I went for a 100 mile ride on October 17th. About 60 miles in I noticed that my right mirror kept coming loose and swinging around. I went back to the dealer to have this addressed and once again it was excuse after excuse about Suzuki build quality. Leo’s South ended up removing my front windshield to adjust my right mirror which I felt was unnecessary and will not guarantee the mirror will stay in position. I also let them know that I had a hard time seeing out of the mirrors and it looks as if they rotated my controls to move the mirrors. They did not state this was done but I have a chip on my front brake master cylinder now that was not there before I brought it in. I really wanted my controls in the stock position. I even went so far as to purchase the Suzuki shop manual to see if there is a dot or some other procedure to line up the controls but I could find nothing in the manual. This was really disappointing and gave the dealer another excuse to set my bike up any way they want. Another issue I pointed out after Leo’s South re-tightened my right mirror was that the heated grip control on my left mirror was out of place and up against my left hand controls. I stated that they must have tried to tighten my left mirror. The response from the technician was “I did not move the left mirror”. I responded with “then why has my heated grip control been moved”? At this point the technician became frustrated and loosened the mirror with his hands adjusted the bracket and retightened the mirror with his hands. No tools were used and this was completely unprofessional.
After all of this I have a bike in my garage that is 2 weeks old with suspension adjusters I had to sand and polish with possible internal damage, a chipped master cylinder bracket, a scratched fairing, mirrors with scratched up adjuster nuts, and a heated grip bracket that has plating scratched off by the adjuster nut. There is no guarantee my mirrors will stay in place and I cannot trust Leo’s South. I just wanted you to know about this experience because it has me wanting to sell my bike and go back to the many Honda motorcycles I have had over the years. Honda build quality seems to be taken with greater consideration to error proofing and the dealers I have dealt with are more quality and customer service oriented.
Now that I have brought my concerns about build quality and dealer support to light, I wanted to offer a solution instead of just pointing out flaws. If Suzuki could have all of my damaged parts replaced with new ones at a new dealer under warranty that would be a reasonable solution to me. This would consist of new forks, new mirrors, a new painted side fairing, master cylinder and heated grip controller. I realize that these are a lot of expensive items so I am relying on Suzuki’s honor and reputation to make this right."
I got a call today from Suzuki after reading my letter and they said they would stand behind their dealer and will do NOTHING for me. Suzuki said the dealer trumps the customer. Not even a "we are sorry about your experience". Unbelievable. I hate to say this but as great as this bike is, I have owned my last Suzuki.
"I had been waiting to buy a GSX S1000F for over one year ever since I first saw it online. I even went this entire season without a bike to make sure I could afford one when they were finally released this fall. There is nothing else like this bike for comfort and power and I knew it was the one for me when I saw it at a motorcycle show in Minneapolis last February. I called dealers every month after that viewing to get in line for my purchase. Last month I put in an order with Leo’s South in Lakeville, MN to have a GSX S1000F delivered. To say I was excited is an understatement. I even went so far as to order Suzuki heated grips, tank protectors, and valve stem caps.
On October 17th I went to pick up my bike and I got a less than good feeling right away. When I completed the paperwork and went out to see my bike, I was greeted by a left mirror that had a rounded adjustment nut, forks that were in position 1 on the Renthal fat bar instead of the “dot” being lined up with the top clamps, and my heated grip controller being way out of alignment with my other controls. I spoke to the service writer and explained that I wanted these things corrected. The issues were corrected but I got a lot of excuses like “this bike is so new we don’t know how to set it up” and “we can’t help but scratch up the mirror nuts because Suzuki made them out of black painted aluminum”. I stated that the bar has a “dot” for alignment and why would you think I would accept a mirror with a nut that is rounded off?
I found more problems when I got the bike to my house. The adjuster for compression on the right fork was really deformed as if it was turned hard against the internal stop with a screwdriver. This was straight from the factory as far as I can tell. I managed to very lightly sand down the aluminum adjuster with 600 grit abrasive paper to take out the damage and polish out the adjuster to a very nice shine. I did this because if it were warrantied, I don’t trust Leo’s South not to do damage to the fork or other parts as they would be removed and installed. Most concerning is that I will always wonder if the compression adjuster was damaged internally from being over torqued. I guess I will never know.
Then I noticed a scratch on the pointed part of my blue fairing side panel. It is about 1/8” long and down to the plastic. It was really disappointing on a new bike. I have asked Leo’s South to look into warranty replacement on this. The final let down for me was how the heated grip control is mounted. It almost guarantees that the plating on the bracket is scratched off as the mirror is tightened down and cannot be set in a fixed position as the mirror is tightened. This makes alignment of the mirror and heated grip controls an incredibly difficult task.
After all of this I went for a 100 mile ride on October 17th. About 60 miles in I noticed that my right mirror kept coming loose and swinging around. I went back to the dealer to have this addressed and once again it was excuse after excuse about Suzuki build quality. Leo’s South ended up removing my front windshield to adjust my right mirror which I felt was unnecessary and will not guarantee the mirror will stay in position. I also let them know that I had a hard time seeing out of the mirrors and it looks as if they rotated my controls to move the mirrors. They did not state this was done but I have a chip on my front brake master cylinder now that was not there before I brought it in. I really wanted my controls in the stock position. I even went so far as to purchase the Suzuki shop manual to see if there is a dot or some other procedure to line up the controls but I could find nothing in the manual. This was really disappointing and gave the dealer another excuse to set my bike up any way they want. Another issue I pointed out after Leo’s South re-tightened my right mirror was that the heated grip control on my left mirror was out of place and up against my left hand controls. I stated that they must have tried to tighten my left mirror. The response from the technician was “I did not move the left mirror”. I responded with “then why has my heated grip control been moved”? At this point the technician became frustrated and loosened the mirror with his hands adjusted the bracket and retightened the mirror with his hands. No tools were used and this was completely unprofessional.
After all of this I have a bike in my garage that is 2 weeks old with suspension adjusters I had to sand and polish with possible internal damage, a chipped master cylinder bracket, a scratched fairing, mirrors with scratched up adjuster nuts, and a heated grip bracket that has plating scratched off by the adjuster nut. There is no guarantee my mirrors will stay in place and I cannot trust Leo’s South. I just wanted you to know about this experience because it has me wanting to sell my bike and go back to the many Honda motorcycles I have had over the years. Honda build quality seems to be taken with greater consideration to error proofing and the dealers I have dealt with are more quality and customer service oriented.
Now that I have brought my concerns about build quality and dealer support to light, I wanted to offer a solution instead of just pointing out flaws. If Suzuki could have all of my damaged parts replaced with new ones at a new dealer under warranty that would be a reasonable solution to me. This would consist of new forks, new mirrors, a new painted side fairing, master cylinder and heated grip controller. I realize that these are a lot of expensive items so I am relying on Suzuki’s honor and reputation to make this right."
I got a call today from Suzuki after reading my letter and they said they would stand behind their dealer and will do NOTHING for me. Suzuki said the dealer trumps the customer. Not even a "we are sorry about your experience". Unbelievable. I hate to say this but as great as this bike is, I have owned my last Suzuki.