[Sami Ghouri]

Hey guys,

Figured I would share my experience. I have had the Bassani 3" installed on my scout for about a month or a bit less now. Dubai is a desert city that sees no rain (we may get a 1 minute long rainfall once a year) and humidity has been VERY low lately. In general weather has been great and I do not live anywhere near the sea or beach.

One of the nuts that goes over the end cap fastener bolt fell off and I nearly shot the end cap out of the muffler if I had not noticed that the bolt was hanging by a thread (pun intended!). I was a bit surprised because the mufflers came with the end caps installed from factory so I had assumed that they were loctited and torqued to spec prior to shipping, but I was not particularly angry at that little detail and figured I would get a replacement nut and torque and loctite all to spec myself.

The real catch was the ridiculous rust that had formed in about 3 weeks of use in perfect weather conditions. I thought it was just a little surface rust on the inside of the muffler tube but then realized that the plating was flaking off and the chrome was bubbling up on both the muffler and the end caps. I shot an email to X-choppers straight up (no response from them yet) and I emailed Bassani as well and sent them pictures of the damage (the pictures included in this post).

Bassani were quick to apologize and offered to send replacement end caps right away. Now although that is nice and is good customer service, the real issue is that I am an international customer who used a shipment forwarding service which already charged me about $250 to get these mufflers shipped to me in the first place. Bassani want me to ship the defective ones back for them to send me a replacement. The total charge for me doing that (in addition to my original shipping charges) would be well over $500 so it is pointless for me. International buyers: Be aware of these issues prior to ordering heavy parts.

I am very disappointed with the quality of the plating on the mufflers. There is no excuse for rust happening so quickly. Seeing as I am starting a comprehensive motorcycle shop at the beginning of the coming riding season here, I was interested in becoming a Bassani dealer and now I am definitely steering clear from their products. $450 was not a cheap price for a set of slip-ons that would last less than a month before looking like they have seen road salt and rainfall. Couldn't snap a clear pic of the underside of the muffler where the bubbling started but you can get the idea from looking at the picture of the inside.

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[JayFL459]

Sorry to Hear This .. Agree would expect better quality, and that they should foot the bill for return shipping and back to make this right .. Vendors willing to do this will come out ahead in the long run for all involved that give them business .. Why I highly recommend Oriental Express .. When I received the Defective K-Tech Bullit Shocks, did not cost me a nickel in any shipping either way at all for a new set They Picked them up at my Door Prepaid UPS and Delivered a New Set the Same Way .. These are the kind of Vendors I want anyway supplying me ..

 

[RBinTEX]

A lot of scale rust in mufflers is caused by condensation, condensation is a byproduct of combustion....

Short trips on the bike no matter what the humidity is will create condensate rust from internal parts that are not plated if the bike is not allowed to completely come to operating temp's long enough to totally dry out the condensates. There is actually quite a bit of it even in a place as dry as Dubai.

I have noticed that most manufactures have stopped drilling condensate draining holes in the bottom area of the mufflers so that the condensates drain from the inside of the muffler either.
Most OEM mufflers do have drain holes in them but the aftermarket has long neglected to include this important feature.

This is NOT to say that YOU are not letting the bike get warm enough to totally dry up the condensate, but it is just one of the reasons that things like this happen to mufflers.

The lack of condensate drain holes is another major contributing factor!

 

[Sami Ghouri]

@RBinTEX , sad thing is I know that, and I know that there has been NO condensate because all my rides are long (shortest ride here is no less than 20 miles). And my point is, EVEN if there is condensation and that it is the main reason for this happening, less than a month? Really? And only ONE of the two mufflers?

I had a Harley for 6 years which I had bought second hand with your typical SE street performance slip ons. Never at any point in time they showed any sign of rust internally or at joints and the only parts where wear and rust were the parts damaged by a parking slip that I had which scratched the surface on the asphalt. Even then, it was just surface rust that I could clean up. Mind you, that bike went through all sorts of TERRIBLE weather and survived like a champ.

It is not the end of the world that I have a lemon, but the issue is Bassani is one of the big names around and I had expected a response and action that matched their reputation but instead got a half a$$ed solution that made me lose interest in selling their product in the future (and there is a BIG market for them here that is yet to be tapped). Oh well, I lose $600, they lose a big business opportunity. I even openly voiced my interest in becoming a dealer and asked for the details and they completely ignored that too.

 

[RBinTEX]

@RBinTEX , sad thing is I know that, and I know that there has been NO condensate because all my rides are long (shortest ride here is no less than 20 miles). And my point is, EVEN if there is condensation and that it is the main reason for this happening, less than a month? Really? And only ONE of the two mufflers?

I had a Harley for 6 years which I had bought second hand with your typical SE street performance slip ons. Never at any point in time they showed any sign of rust internally or at joints and the only parts where wear and rust were the parts damaged by a parking slip that I had which scratched the surface on the asphalt. Even then, it was just surface rust that I could clean up. Mind you, that bike went through all sorts of TERRIBLE weather and survived like a champ.

It is not the end of the world that I have a lemon, but the issue is Bassani is one of the big names around and I had expected a response and action that matched their reputation but instead got a half a$$ed solution that made me lose interest in selling their product in the future (and there is a BIG market for them here that is yet to be tapped). Oh well, I lose $600, they lose a big business opportunity. I even openly voiced my interest in becoming a dealer and asked for the details and they completely ignored that too.

The main point that I was trying to make is.... for there to be rust there has to be moisture from somewhere.

Either condensation, water from being washed, living very close to an ocean, or some like condition.
Rust will not form without water or moisture from some source, pure and simple!

Somehow your muffler(s) is getting wet from some source. (Was it the bottom muffler on the Scout?)

Now to the other problem, bad chrome, or some damage of some sort to the protective surface has been compromised somehow.
If it is bad chrome Bassani should indeed step up and replace free of charge to you.
They need to bite the bullet and compensate you.

But since all of the rust damage shown from your pictures it is originating in or from the inside of the muffler I will still stick with my original thoughts that there is moisture from an internal source that is causing the damage in an area where drainage is poor underneath and inside the end caps.
Have you considered that the rust may be forming from/on a compromised baffle bolt and not the chrome on the muffler?

 

[Sami Ghouri]

No disagreement or dispute there. Agreed.

 

[RBinTEX]

No disagreement or dispute there. Agreed.

I'm sorry if I sounded like I was arguing, I was only trying to present some possible reasons for the rust forming.
I wish you good luck with Bassani.

 

[G.Army]

Hey guys,

Figured I would share my experience. I have had the Bassani 3" installed on my scout for about a month or a bit less now. Dubai is a desert city that sees no rain (we may get a 1 minute long rainfall once a year) and humidity has been VERY low lately. In general weather has been great and I do not live anywhere near the sea or beach.

One of the nuts that goes over the end cap fastener bolt fell off and I nearly shot the end cap out of the muffler if I had not noticed that the bolt was hanging by a thread (pun intended!). I was a bit surprised because the mufflers came with the end caps installed from factory so I had assumed that they were loctited and torqued to spec prior to shipping, but I was not particularly angry at that little detail and figured I would get a replacement nut and torque and loctite all to spec myself.

The real catch was the ridiculous rust that had formed in about 3 weeks of use in perfect weather conditions. I thought it was just a little surface rust on the inside of the muffler tube but then realized that the plating was flaking off and the chrome was bubbling up on both the muffler and the end caps. I shot an email to X-choppers straight up (no response from them yet) and I emailed Bassani as well and sent them pictures of the damage (the pictures included in this post).

Bassani were quick to apologize and offered to send replacement end caps right away. Now although that is nice and is good customer service, the real issue is that I am an international customer who used a shipment forwarding service which already charged me about $250 to get these mufflers shipped to me in the first place. Bassani want me to ship the defective ones back for them to send me a replacement. The total charge for me doing that (in addition to my original shipping charges) would be well over $500 so it is pointless for me. International buyers: Be aware of these issues prior to ordering heavy parts.

I am very disappointed with the quality of the plating on the mufflers. There is no excuse for rust happening so quickly. Seeing as I am starting a comprehensive motorcycle shop at the beginning of the coming riding season here, I was interested in becoming a Bassani dealer and now I am definitely steering clear from their products. $450 was not a cheap price for a set of slip-ons that would last less than a month before looking like they have seen road salt and rainfall. Couldn't snap a clear pic of the underside of the muffler where the bubbling started but you can get the idea from looking at the picture of the inside.

. View attachment 25562 View attachment 25563

I just installed the same Bassani's on my Scout this weekend. I will have to keep an eye on the tips for this possible rust issue. Surprising as they seem to be very high quality and the chrome plating is nice. I will definitely say that they sound fantastic. They give the Scout that deep growl it should have!

 

[Sami Ghouri]

I'm sorry if I sounded like I was arguing, I was only trying to present some possible reasons for the rust forming.
I wish you good luck with Bassani.

Hey man I never said it sounded like you were! And I understand what you said. Besides, it is a motorcycle forum and not a Justin Bieber forum, I expect that people here would not be offended that easily -myself included.

 

[Sami Ghouri]

Update: So far no response from @Xchoppers at all. Gary Naito from Bassani has been coming back to me with aggravating responses and drip feeding information. Bottom line is, he pulled back his offer to at least send the replacement caps and pretty much outright accused me of intending to sell my damaged pipes hence the reason for them not wanting to send me any parts without me paying in excess of $500 to send the old parts back "for inspection".

His first communication was basically him apologizing about the issue and promising to send end caps to my "US address" which I agreed to since regular mail packages may get lost here anyway, but his last email was just pure terrible customer service. See below.

 

[TheDude]

Sami, I think you're reading intent that isn't there regarding 'selling used parts'. It's good policy for Bassani to retrieve defective parts so they can do two things: 1) inspect exactly where and how the defect occurred, and 2) ensuring that defective parts are destroyed and aren't resold on the used market so their brand/name isn't harmed from parts which are known to be defective. They don't seem to be arguing about the defect at all. They just want the parts back for the reasons stated above. I wouldn't take it as an accusation at all.

In my opinion, they should offer you free everything. Free return shipping of the defective parts. Free replacement parts, and free shipping to you. They should also offer something to sweeten the deal considering your time and aggravation spent on bad parts.

 

[Sami Ghouri]

I could have misread that seeing as where I come from that counts as a hidden accusation. But like I told Gary, if they are worried about defective parts being circulated then how about reimburse me for shipping them and problem is solved. It really is not like I want a free set. I am pretty happy with one fully functional set which I do not intend on replacing or exchanging at any point in time. I have been buying parts and products from the US for over 10 years and paying ridiculous premiums to ship them to DXB through shipment forwarders and expensive FedEx, never at any point in time had I gotten something as silly as Bassani's responses in general.

A recent example of how American customer service should be like (based on how it is perceived internationally at least) is how the X-Arc guys dealt with their initial mistake of sending me one set of turn signals instead of two. They sent the other one straight away with free shipping direct to my DXB address (which was a mistake as local post office does not accept packages with no PO Box number which I do not have). When they realized that again the second set was probably not going to reach (local post office was yet to confirm sending it back to origin) they simply sent me YET ANOTHER set to my US address, all of this free of charge, and they even told me to keep the third set if I ever get it to give it to a friend.

Now that is customer service. Not spending about 2 weeks trying to get a manufacturer to honour their warranty or at least share the cost of sending them back their junk.

/rant.