Ducati Monster Forum

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but I figured I'd give a thumbs up for James at Zeno Damper.

 [thumbsup] [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

I took the S4RS out there today to see if he could assist me with simply setting it up correctly. He didn't waste any time in telling me that I should upgrade the springs for my, shall we say. larger frame, but was extremely happy to just perform whatever work was needed on the bike.

Bloody great guy, and after spending an hour and a half with him (in the workshop, actually helping out !!!) I have absolute confidence that he knows his stuff.

It's not often that people are free with their compliments, usualy this is reserved for their complaints.

I just figured that if anyone is looking for some advice regarding their set up, or an entirely worked over suspension system, he's got my vote.

Yes Betty had her spring done at Jim place too, and he does no his work very well

ive had a less than helpful experience twice  :-\

ill just put it down to a bad day, or should i say two.

I'm with you there^^^
I've spoken to him a few times and always found him very vague and somewhat uninterested in helping me solve any problems I was having.

I'm glad you had a good go with him sorting your suspension out.

maybe the difference is on the phone as opposed to in person?  ???

Probably, he even states that he'd rather deal with people face to face, or via email as he's the only one there. He's there by himself and has no assistance to get the job's done, so perhaps the phone isn't his best friend.

He is a little 'kooky' but seems to know his stuff.

Either way, I was happy........
 [beer]

 [laugh] nailed it.

If you manage to get him on the phone it is not because he wanted to answer it.

well thats not good business practices... i wasnt going to go into details but i feel ppl should know what they are in for if they deal with him by correspondence.

EDIT: well i changed my mind after re-reading my post.

safe to say he WONT get the repeat business i mentioned in our first call in the form of rebuilding my forks when the bike is running again. a 2 minute call to both to terry hayes and teknik proved they were both very helpful and informative.

maybe if ppl want work from zeno they are just best to go see him in person, which was a little hard when i live 20kms away and have no licence atm.

He is only about 70kms from us ... so the closest. Corresponding via email when I was home (and most businesses are closed) made things pretty painless.

Of course I have heard good things about the other businesses as well ... just that they are far less convenient for us - drop-off and pick-up would be two person day long expeditions.

its always going to be difficult when you have no licence

i know he often works sats and when i spoke to him he was happy for me to come down and actually fit the shock myself at his workshop on a saturday , in fact more a preference for him to be a sat rather than a weekday

20k isnt that far imho at all , let alone to get the right work done, i would travel 100+k from good feedback rather that use the bloke down the road that i didnt know from a bar of soap   

I dunno about you but if i am going to spend a fair chunk of change esp on something like suspension which is a real personal preference then i want to know the person and have confidence that they know what they are talking about and what they are doing

'kooky' yes thats a fair comment

I recently required some suspension work done. I had a ohlins shock begging for install and set up. I asked around, Zeno was highly recommended for his knowledge and experience. I was aware that he was a little kooky (not my words) and worked on his own etc. Tried calling him a few times with no luck. Dropped by his workshop one day, not open, signs on door saying by appointment. All got too hard for me, I am a busy person and I have pretty high expectations from service providers. I dropped into Dmoto after leaving zenodamper. Spoke to George and we quickly worked out the details.
I don't mind how Zeno wants to run his business, he is obviously very good at what he does but me personally, I prefer to deal with people that operate at a similar level to me and make it easy for me.

I've had James do work for me quite some time ago when he was working out of Brendan's workshop in Taren Pt. He is a really nice guy, easy to discuss the requirements with and easy to understand - face to face.

However:
A job I scheduled that took him 1.5 hrs to actually do, took him 3 weeks. (rebuild front forks and revalve, shim the springs) and not because there was a legitimate reason, like waiting for parts etc, or huge workload.

The quality of his work is great. The results also v. good.

~BUT~

He was so bloody difficult to deal with, getting him to actually DO any work, after 2 weeks of waiting without a bike, I ended up having to go in there every day, until he actually did start the job, in front of me.

I put it down to 2 things.

1. bad time management.
2. laziness. - i.e. poor work ethic.  He doesn't give a shit about any of his customers needs. (especially with the language he used about customers after the phone was put down) He doesn't understand the word timeframe. He couldn't give any customers a date for pickup. he was too fluid in his 'commitment' to work.

I had observed this behaviour in the workshop prior for a number of weeks, preferring to remain polite and refrain from pushing him to get my job done, purely because I could see it never being done, due to #2.

Not long after he finished my forks, (about a month) he 'left' the workshop (or was asked to leave, $$$) and I'd thought he'd disappeared- giving it away.

But recently I searched around and found him again, although he hasn't changed much.

Which is why Terry Hay got my work on the S4. Good reputation,  Same quality of work, and much easier to deal with.

Bit of a shame really, because James is a great guy, his work was actually really good, it was just a complete PITA to get him to do any work.

I'd just say, if anyone wants him to do their work, to go see him in person, talk about the job, get the price and get a pickup date before you give him the parts. And don't be pushy with him, just ring him the day before pickup and ask him if the job will still be ok to pick up as agreed. That will save the (potential) frustration.

Or if that's too much hassle, take the work elsewhere...

 ???