Sandy Bike Spares Ltd.

[brandane]

Ordered new downpipes for a Fazer 600 (£175 + £10 delivery) on Saturday, late afternoon. Arrived today (Tuesday afternoon).

Everything fits; all gaskets were included. Pleasant people to deal with. Recommended.

Website: www.sandybikespares.co.uk/

Al.

[multitune]

Re items from "sandybikeespares.co.uk" I have just odered a pair of front discs and pads. by far the best price and service so far, will keep you updated.

[Padster]

I have found the discs to be excellent.

[m40man]

Apr 24, 2009 6:19:26 GMT Padster said:

I have found the discs to be excellent.

& mine have only been on for a few weeks, but no probs so far.

[CD]

I've always had good service from them.

[speighty]

Yep, have to agree.

Ordered exhaust system for the zxr750, they were quite happy to let me order on the off chance they fitted and had no problem with me returning them and getting a prompt refund.

Always try and use them where i can....

Very helpful

[doyle]

Apr 24, 2009 6:19:26 GMT Padster said:

I have found the discs to be excellent.

I'm trusting your recommendation here. Am about to order a D9 rear disc rotor from Sandy's.

I've been quoted A$300.00 for Yamaha OEM, and A$220.00 for an aftermarket rotor here in Oz. Sandy's price is A$122.00 plus postage. I just hope it is stainless steel.



Cheers

[doyle]

Ordered rotor from Sandy's.

Cost A$127.00 delivered to Oz. Took 8 days to get here. Good service. Looks the ducks guts. Let you know more when it's on the bike next week.



Greg.

[bobh]

Another plug for Sandy Bike Spares.

Nine months ago (early March) I called in to get a stainless system for another bike. While I was there I mentioned that I have a FZ6 and was asked if I’d like to try a cat eliminator (a short length of pipe that fits in place of the catalyser, not something to stop felines crapping in your garden). I thought I’d give it a go, although I pointed out that it would be a couple of months before I’d have a chance to try it.

When I finally got around to trying it, it was too short – I suspect it was sized for the earlier model, which, judging by the pictures in Haynes, looks to havea shorter cat. So I took a couple of photos to show the problem and they e-mailed back saying bring it in and get a refund. That was back in May.

In the event, the first chance I’ve had to get over there was today (4th December), and I was fully expecting a “Sorry, can’t do anything after all this time,” or at the very least “We can’t give you all your cash back after you’ve hung on to it for so long.”

But not a bit of it – a full refund is in the offing. The only reason I didn’t get it today is that they are in the final throes of moving to new premises a couple of miles away – if I’d gone next week I’d have missed them!

They are moving to:

Unit 8
High Barns
Roxton

Phone [phone] (I think that’s unchanged)

I haven’t checked but I presume they’ll have updated their website accordingly.

[bobh]

Another update:

Firstly - the location. If you're thinking of going there in person, they are now round the back of a farm near Great Barford (the address is actually Roxton), which is on the old A428 between Bedford and the A1. To get to it you have to turn off through what looks like a farm entrance and go along a single track lane with a bridge over the new A428 dual carriageway. Then when you get to the farm the building is round the back through the farmyard on the right. They certainly don't encourage casual visitors (a bit like the old place, then).

Secondly - as mentioned in my earlier post, I got a full system for the Thundercat ages ago. When the dowpipes finally rotted through earlier this year I put the stainless ones on, which fitted without too much springing into place. But the connecting pipe to the silencer was wrong - it pushed the silencer out at an angle. Fortunately the original silencer, which has an integral link pipe, fitted the new downpipes perfectly so I've been running it like that, though obviously I wanted to get it sorted before the silencer rotted through as well.

When I had a chance to get over there in the summer I took the link pipe back, complete with photos to show the problem, but was told "It's definitely the right part, we've sold hundreds of these and no-one's ever come back to us with this problem." But they did swap it for a near-identical one, which looked to have a bit more of a bend, but turned out to be no better.

So I've been waiting for a chance to go over there on the bike, with all the bits and a toolkit, and show them exactly what the problem is in the flesh. The opportunity arose yesterday - despite fog being forecast, it turned out to be a really good day for a ride - good job, as it's a 160 mile round trip for me. I should add that I did phone up first and they were OK for me to do a demo.

At first they were a bit "Ah, well, the gasket's flexible so you can bend it over here like this" (rubbish), then it was back to "We've sold hundreds of these and no-one's ever complained, etc., etc". Eventually they said all they could do was give me my money back (which is fair enough, seeing as I bought the stuff nearly 2 years ago), but that would have left me with the hassle of getting a new can and link pipe from somewhere else, which might equally be a poor fit.

So as a final throw of the dice I thought it was worth asking if they might have an alternative link pipe that would be a better fit, and suggested trying one for a FZS600 Fazer. They were dubious, but lo and behold, it seems to be pretty close. It has a lug to act as a stop for the centre stand, which I'll have to grind off, but otherwise it's looking promising, so I think we've got a result.

So, the conclusions - I'll still give them high marks for customer service, as they were a lot more helpful than most sellers I've come across, particularly in view of the time since I first bought the stuff. But there's a question mark over the kit itself, or at least their exhaust systems - I've no reason to think that the other stuff they sell isn't up to scratch.

The moral is - if you buy an exhaust system from them (or in fact from anyone), check the fit of all the parts as soon as it arrives. First of all, assemble it all off the bike, and check that the silencer(s) fit(s) at the correct angle, using the front face of the downpipes as a datum. It's also worth checking at this point that the ends of the downpipes that fit into the exhaust ports are to the correct spacing and are in line, as far as you can measure them. Try to avoid scratching or damaging the parts in any way, in case you have to return them.

Once you're happy with that, try fitting them to the bike - it's a lot easier to work out what, if anything, is wrong if you're not having to work in the confined space around and under the bike.

[mryelly]

I've used these guys twice before and theyv'e always been helpful and delivery is quick

[showaddydadito]

Yep - they get a tick from me.

Just bought a full 4-1 exhaust for my D6. Ordered on a Wednesday at 4.20pm. Delivered next morning. £294 all in.

Went on with no hiccups, and (so far) works a treat.

[tomcat]

Yep, very helpful. They were not taken aback when I phoned them and asked them to sell me somthing they don't have listed for sale.
I have a full Motad stainless system for my XJ900S and asked Sandys to sell me a set of the stainless exhaust flanges they supply with their own systems.
They sold me set of 4 for £20 and even scheduled an overnight postal date to suit my requirements. Top marks.

[lodekka]

I recently purchased a 4 into 2 system for my XJ600 from Sandys and would agree that by using their courier service it was a very quick delivery, however a week ago I ordered a spare pair of the silencer to down pipe gaskets and as there was no hurry told them to send them by their normal service which is Royal Mail. A week later I still have not received them and when I phoned them yesterday they said that they do not go to the Post Office every day to despatch their orders. I would therefore recommend anyone to definately use their courier service.

[bobh]

Oct 31, 2012 20:33:13 GMT lodekka said:

.... they said that they do not go to the Post Office every day to despatch their orders.

Well, they are an awful long way away from the nearest post office. A long way from anything, in fact.

[CD]

When I bought my downpipes they threw in the clips and gaskets free all because I had previously bought a collector box from them.

[lodekka]

Having never visited them I have no idea where they are but accept 'bobh' obviously knows them well. I phoned them today as the parts still had not arrived and after a while it became apparent they have despatched the bits to another address. They were very apologetic, took my address again and promised to send another lot out tomorrow.

[lodekka]

The 2nd despatch of gaskets arrived today, so all is well.

[m40man]

Nov 6, 2012 19:21:07 GMT lodekka said:

The 2nd despatch of gaskets arrived today, so all is well.

I didn't think they'd let you down again .

[sleekitwan]

Yes, sandy bike spares...do the words 'rain' and 'parade' sound familiar? I really apologise in advance to fans of theirs, this won't be pretty.

Just fitted my stainless steel twin exhausts from them - it's 3am - here's what's not right so far:
1 - gaskets for cyl head oversized - couldn't even jam them in with a pipe, damaged one. sandy spares say the microsoft answer (the ones we have here work just fine). Re-sourced elsewhere.
2 - Ok, it's only another 8 quid on top of the 360 quid already spent, what the heck, got some fresh gaskets. These fit no probs. 39.x mm not 40.x mm.
3 - it's 2.30am sleekitwan standard time, and have just finished bodging these shoddy flimsy sandy bike spares exhausts into place.

The things needed spread apart/squashed (downpipes), the connection with the big muffler part is RUBBISH. A rock-solid gasket is supplied, a weedy clamp that I could hear cracking as I tried to use up some of the enormous slack and grip on to the end of the downpipe, so in the end I have siliconed it up - yeah, my nice new shiny 360 quid twin exhaust system -and tried to align the two horribly misaligned bits as best I can.

Heater on it now as I type, by 3.30am it might have cured silicone enough to run the engine. Neighbours? This is the very definition of payback. Especially as leaks are anticipated.

Sandy Bike Spares? DIRE on this occasion.

Thes pipes are like they used some misaligned jig to weld them up, nothing like as strong as originals, and in addition to points above - 1) the centre stand now flaps up and down a half-inch when in 'up' position, and 2) no use whatsoever is made of the '3rd mounting point' in the middle of the bike.

This last partly explains why the exhaust can still waggle even when tightened up - basically, the original has two mounting points for the big shiny muffler bit, plus the headers are into the cyl head.

These shoddy flimsy things do not offer the protection to the cylinder head in the event of a spill, that the originals do ie when the back muffler parts get bashed, they will definitely flex the downpipes at the header end.

RUBBISH pipes, RUBBISH service, this time around. Basically, the guy told me that he would refund the cost of the gaskets when I spoke about these at first. I was - ahem - baffled. What exactly use would the pipes be without these gaskets? I bought the things as a set to avoid misfit-sized stuff.

His entire gambit was that he had sold billions of them, had loads there that were all the right size, never had a complaint, etc etc. What, I wondered, does this have to do with the 4 little gaskets I have, that DON'T fit? Think about it, it's absolutely immaterial. If the customer says they can't even ram the things in with a pipe 40mm in dia and a lump hammer, doesn't this suggest what he has in stock is an irrelevance?

And yes, I tried gently pushing them in by hand first.

I am contacting them now - try finding their email from scratch eg on ebay it is not easy - to give them the chance to say something equally useless about the latest problem!

I think I sound a little irritable - that's 'cos I have been up all night trying to make this OVERPRICED and OVERSOLD mis-jigged tin foil fit. Please forgive the vitriolic tone on that basis.

So, I suppose they will let me return the parts...!

Best to all of you this season, no matter what. It can't rain forever, can it?

[CD]

You did of course first remove the old header gaskets from the cylinder exhaust ports?

But I also had a struggle with the pipe to collector gaskets. They slipped too far into the collector as the pipe was pushed in. But there is a knack to it and Yamaha's original design is much the same.

TBH I prefer metal to metal joints with clear silicone sealant. It dismantles easily and (at least on the collector end) easily handles the temperature. Sandy's products would benefit from a design that deletes the pipe sleeve gaskets.

[TonyV]

I think I might just wait until they get new discs in stock - a few months they said.. :`-(