XS850 Master Thread

Last season I rebuilt the front master cylinder on the xs850.

I purchased a kit by Parts Unlimited through Dennis kirk (Part #:1912115, Mfg Part #:06-455P).

Photos show the piston material to be cheap powdered metal and it has broken in half after ~300 miles of easy riding. Purchase date puts me outside any warranty from Dennis Kirk or Parts Unlimited.

I dont know if the OE pistons were steel or what. I found another vendor, Brake Crafters, who said he would have warrantied it. He also noted that he and every other vendor gets them from the same factory in China.

For now I did swap in a new DK/PU unit, and if that fails again, I'll make my own from a grade 8 bolt on the lathe.

 

wow.........

 

Never heard of that happening without it being an accident. That happened just from riding and applying the brake? Wow is right!

 

Just normal riding. It was actually working fine, then parked for several weeks, tried to go for a ride, and this is what I found..

The amount of side loading it sees is tiny, which is probably why they chose such cheap metal.. Lucky me.

Was definitely a stress riser at the piston shoulder, where there is a sharp 90deg.

Also, judging from that grain pattern, definitely cheap cheap "metal".

 

Did you send the pictures to Dennis Kirk? I don't know that I would want another bit of their product but I surely would not to let them not at least acknowledge the failure.

 

For the record, I did contact them via their web form with my original order info and written details of the failure.

Their web form does not permit attachments when submitting. I did not receive a reply from the web form.

After no response from the web/contact form, I called and spoke to a human who was unhelpful.. their response was basically, "well you bought it more than a year ago, so...."

So....at this point, I would not recommend Dennis Kirk unless you have no other options....and their are usually other options.

After writing this, and for good measure, I did dig up a proper customer service email address for Dennis Kirk and sent them the photo & details.. I will report back if/when they reply.

 

I do hope they make it right for you or at least put you in touch with the manufacture of the part. Being a middle man Dennis Kirk has done nothing but been outstanding for me. Living in Wisconsin, I get parts supper fast, and they do a great job with good priced tires. I do hope they make it right for you.

 

Ok, so despite the Dennis Kirk web form and direct calling both initially being black holes... After emailing them directly (customerservice@denniskirk.com), and providing the photo of the failed part, Dennis Kirk responded saying they would refund me the full cost of the replacement I just purchased after the first one failed. So, they did honor the warranty once I got to them through via email. A bit of hoop jumping got the replacement cost covered, and I still don't like that these are powdered pot metal. If it breaks again, I'll be making my own replacement on the lathe.

I agree its nice to have a vendor like DK near by, and they do ship fast.. The extra hoop jumping was a bit of a pain, but not a total deal breaker for any future orders.

 

Good for you!
On a slightly related note, warranties. I recently broke Dad's S-K 1/2" breaker bar. I emailed the now owned by somebody else (Stanley?) about it. They quickly sent a replacement repair kit for it. They sent a follow up email shortly thereafter and when I told them the repair kit did not fit despite being the correct part number they sent me a brand new 16" breaker bar for just the cost of shipping. The old part could not have been newer than about 1970. I just thought there should be some positive corporate news and appreciation.