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Conspiracy Theory on Shipping Delays

4K views 27 replies 14 participants last post by  WYO Challenger 
#1 ·
The delays with the Scout are due to outsourced parts from Asia that can’t make it to Iowa due to the west coast port delays.

And Polaris does not want it to come out how much the Scout and other Indian motorcycles are dependent on parts not made in America.

Pure speculation on my part. But this article made me think my speculation may not be so far fetched.

Does anyone know how much Indian Motorcycle production relies on parts coming in from off-shore?

Tire Business
 
#3 ·
The delays with the Scout are due to outsourced parts from Asia that can’t make it to Iowa due to the west coast port delays.

And Polaris does not want it to come out how much the Scout and other Indian motorcycles are dependent on parts not made in America.

Pure speculation on my part. But this article made me think my speculation may not be so far fetched.

Does anyone know how much Indian Motorcycle production relies on parts coming in from off-shore?

Tire Business
I placed my order in oct. Canceled in dec.. I'm still getting updates.

This came yesterday.



Dear Jeffrey,
We are writing today to update you on the status of your Indian Scout. Before we do that, we want to say again, we appreciate your patience during our production delays.As you know, manufacturing and delivering the highest quality 2015 Indian Scout is our primary focus. Production delays were clearly not in our plan when we launched this great bike, however, providing the highest quality was in our plans from day one. I truly apologize to you, our valued Scout owner for your experience, but I’m confident that you’ll find the Scout worth the wait.As a team, we've corrected our paint system issue and have increased our capacity levels in our Spirit Lake, IA facility. In addition, we resolved the minor cosmetic issue that had previously hindered us from our ability to ship you product as quickly as anticipated. We are confident that every bike we ship meets our rigorous standards and that your Indian Scout will deliver on our promise of quality and exceed your expectations.
We know that not all of these bikes will ship to dealerships by the end of March, but please know that your Indian Scout is on its way. We are as excited as you are for you to get out and ride.We will continue to send updates to your dealer regarding the delivery details of every order as soon as they are available. If you have a question that your dealer is unable to answer or is not addressed in this communication, please call Indian Motorcycle at 877-204-3697.Sincerely,
Steve Menneto
Vice President, Motorcycles
 
#5 ·
Truth be known, Polaris caught one of their major vendors here in the good ole USA taking short cuts and not following the written procedure for the gasoline tank testing and painting. Polaris writes the procedure out in detail as part of their quality control and this one vender decided to short cut the procedure, do it their way and turned out inferior gas tank paint jobs. Obviously after these hit the show rooms Polaris investigated and caught them. So it was an American owned and operated company that caused all of the debockle and scheduling mess. I guess they did not want to re-paint or replace every tank on the Scouts. Go figure?
 
#6 ·
Hey Roadgypsy,
My sources tell me a similar story to yours, but it was an issue with the weldment of the fuel tank at the filler cap area. The weld was not completely air tight, and the fuel fumes were able to escape through the weld and get under the paint. This caused the paint to bubble.
I believe that you are correct in that this was an American sub contract manufacturer welding and painting the tanks. They took the shortcut of not pressure testing every tank after welding and before paint. Once the paint was applied, it filled in the tiny holes enough to pass a low pressure test, but the gas fumes still got under the paint later. Indian went back and tested all of the tanks at high pressure to reveal the weld issue. This caused them to remove, strip and reweld the tanks... Then repaint. Or, it caused them to replace all of the tanks (I think this is more likely).
I personally viewed a Scout getting customized at my dealer and looked at the rumored weld. The explanation above is very plausible from a technical standpoint.
But yes, Roadgypsy, you are correct. It was an American supplier/company that caused a delay and not this port conspiracy (good thought though).
 
#19 ·
Actually the tank supplier was terminated from the contract. A new source was contracted. Then some other issues came into play in the line. AIUI (as I understand it), SL reconfigures a second production line to make good on the orders until they are caught up. Then taht line goes back to whatever it was previously (new Sturgis release mybe?)
Ok I have a question for you. Does Polaris stamp any of their own tins ?
 
#7 · (Edited)
I met a a couple of guys at the HD dealership.. One was riding a 1998 Honda shadow.. Very low miles..
This is the bike that HD originally sued over..

The other guy just bought a new (not sure what year but new) Yamaha, star of some sort... 1700cc I think he said..

But the interesting part is that Yamaha had forgot about a couple of warehouses full of these bikes.

So he got the bike at less then 1/2 price.. He was looking at the chief.
But to him this was a much better deal.
 
#23 ·
This is odd. Several Indian dealers that I have been to lately have a Scout or two setting around, actually "for sale". Were these bikes turned down by their original owners? Or have you guys just ordered special custom made bikes? Or did some of the dealers get early orders placed on the Scout so they could have some extras while the rest of you set around waiting? There's at least 12 - 15 Chieftans, Classics, Roadmasters, etc at nearly every dealer I visit.
 
#26 ·
Hey LuftWolf, if you get one, and as you'll not be riding it, cos you got the mighty Gussi, And cos Indian will lose it and never trace it back to you, can I have dibs on the seat? I'm putting, or trying the ER seat on mine but sat on Silk without a seat and thought, hey this REALLY sinks you down into the bike! So, Buddy, Pal ,Friend, how about it?,.........
 
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