Just bought a brand new pair of Baker Mirror "Hand Wings" to replace many pairs of broken Tulsa Mirror Wings. So I open the factory sealed package and go to install them. Now I might be crazy, but the hardware on these things is installed incorrectly! :evil: See the pics below, and verify for me if it is installed incorrectly so I don't feel like I'm going nuts!
Well hey, I've attacked bigger mechanical challenges, so why don't I just remove and reinstall the hardware correctly, right? Well, that's what I'm going to do because I hate dealing with crap quality and I don't feel like dealing with their customer service. After all... shouldn't it just be right when you buy it!
So question is... which side do I reverse to make it right? Does the horizontal part of the bracket that comes away from the deflector go on top or on bottom? And just to make it more fun, does the bolt hole go closer to the bike or farther from the bike?
:evil::twisted::evil::twisted:
On second thought, I'm going to post this right now and give Baker a call and see how that goes. I'm taking bets that I'll get a better answer here... and quicker than making the call to Baker. Any takers?
Only kidding... Baker Built let me down. 14 minute phone call, 2 customer service reps later, and a little debate amongst themselves whether they put the wrong hardware on there and would have to send me a new one, or if I could just reverse it. (I emailed them the pics... with a link to this thread) I asked them to just send me correctly assembled wing, but they wouldn't. They also pointed out to me that the protective (removable) plastic was improperly installed under the bracket.
They gave me verbal instructions on correct installation and cautioned about stripping the plastic screws and said that they were backed up and had new employees, and agreed that this lack of quality control was unfortunate. (for me :twisted Blah blah blah!
Guess I'll wonder out to my 100 degree stable and put them on the correct way.
I hate when this crap happens. Good ol' American quality control.
Maybe it's just me, but I have way too many far more serious problems happen in my life to call a manufacturer to complain about a bracket being installed backwards that I can fix myself faster than it takes to find the phone number to call.
Baker used to ship all the parts in a separate bag, and you had to put the whole thing together yourself. Maybe they should save the labor and just go back to the old way.
Doesn't only happen to you. I ordered those little hinged wings that attach to the sides of the windshield directly from Honda. They arrived assembled...incorrectly. No matter what I did they just looked weird so I got the neighbor, who's a vintage Wing nut, to come over for a second opinion. He came to the same conclusion as me, the mounting hardware was backwards. Directly from whatever supplier Honda uses. Switched around the hardware, they mounted properly and work fine. At least all the hardware was present, there's that I guess.
Don't want to seem too hard on Baker, but that sounds like the same excuse they were using over a year ago. Maybe their idea of a shift change is to hand everyone a pink slip and start anew for the next day.
Did they include the rubber stops that you fix to the bottom of the mirror housing? If not, I would try to get a couple of them. They keep the wings from turning to far. Also there is a round piece of rubber that you put on the fairing to keep it from rubbing the paint off.
I ordered the full set of Baker wings in March and all showed up assembled correctly and work exactly as advertised. Guess I'll count my blessings :lol:
One day a couple of years ago, my wife and I were riding around the countryside, and I just happened to see a small pole sign on the side of the road about 12x12 that said Bakerbuilt. I knew we were nearby since we were in Ohio City, so I just had to turn around and check it out.
Despite the incredible number of Wing owners that have Baker products, Bakerbuilt is a small operation in a large shop on the other side of his driveway across from the house. It is smack dab in the middle of hundreds of acres of farmland on a gravel road that would be hard to even call two lanes.
This is a family operation if there ever was one. Heck, he probably has an 12 year old daughter who put that bracket on backwards. It's an inexcusable mistake however, and she should probably be fired and not allowed to collect unemployment.
You can probably go to a big company like Tulsa or Showchrome, and you might get a product with slightly more finish and accuracy in the packaging. For me, I love little businesses like Baker. Getting a bracket out of wack wouldn't get much more than a chuckle out of me. Despite the miscue, they still make what I think are the best Wings in the business. Everything else is just a copy.
Don't want to seem too hard on Baker, but that sounds like the same excuse they were using over a year ago. Maybe their idea of a shift change is to hand everyone a pink slip and start anew for the next day.
That's the same load of crap the told me in August of '06!
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