Poor, unprofessional attitude...

[OmniGLH]

I hesitated to post anything about this, but got to thinking about it again today and it kinda ticked me off.  So I'm going to share a story  :)

This past weekend at MAM, I was pitted with a good friend of mine, Am#43 Mike Shallcross.  I had brought my bike up, just to run some practice sessions to see how my shoulder held up.  Mike crashed hard early Saturday, taking out his bike - so it was decided he would run mine for the rest of the weekend.  I wasn't sure how my tires would hold up, and had brought along a set of Bridgestones I purchased from Jason (owns BRP, and is the Bridgestone distributor for most of the MW region of CCS) at the last BHF weekend (originally intended to be put on my streetbike.)  

Well, with Shallcross riding, he obviously wore out the Pirellis i had on the bike.  I had the Bridgestones there, so we swapped them on.  Now before some of you guys get all in a huff, yes, I know that tires change the geometry, etc.  My bike is actually set up for Michelins, but since I was just up there to check out my shoulder, I wasn't too concerned with geometry. Not to mention, I don't think the geometry is THAT far off, with a tire change.  It may handle less than optimally, but not so huge as to cause a crash.  Case in point:  my bike is set up for Michelins... was on Pirellis, and eventually swapped to Dunlops at the end of the weekend - and Mike ran the same lap times, regardless of tire choice.

So we mounted the tires, and Mike went out.  Scrubbed them in on the warmup lap (as he has done many times before with Dunlops, Michelins, Pirellis.)  Made it about a half-lap into the race, and the front tire went flat, causing him to crash.

So it could've been a faulty tire, faulty installation, who knows.  Sh*t happens.  But we were nonetheless disappointed.  Jason was pitted next to us and tried to help out as much as he could, but he could tell we were less than happy.  Since several of us have had horrible luck with Bridgestones in the past (BT50s, BT56s), we made the decision to yank the Bridgestones. We swapped on a set of used Dunlops we had kicking around, just to finish out the last race of the weekend.

Out of nowhere, some guy comes over, and basically starts ripping on all of us.  Telling us we must not know how to ride (nevermind the fact that Shallcross took a 2nd OVERALL this weekend, just barely behind the 1st place OVERALL winner, Am#69 Hall) and was running fairly consistent high-35s/low-36s.  He stood there and told us our bikes were junk, that the Dunlops Mike normally runs are junk, that Mike must not know how to set up a bike, or scrub in tires.  He was INCREDIBLY rude, arrogant, and insulting.  

It turns out, this ass was the Bridgestone distributor for the MAM CCS round, and for CRA.  He didn't bother to find out WHO we were, how fast we were going, etc.  I commented that after this incident, they couldn't PAY me to run Bridgestones, to which his reply was "Well I'll wave as I pass you then."  Excuse me?  You have NO IDEA who I am, or how fast I am.  He didn't even know who Shallcross was, for crying out loud.  As it turns out, this guy was barely going faster than *I* was all weekend, and this was the first time back on my bike since a huge shoulder injury in April.

If any of the other Bridgestone reps are like this, then it's no wonder nobody runs their tires.  I will NEVER buy a set from this guy, or anyone if I find out the money goes back through this prick.  

Now, Jason, guy who owns BRP (and is another Bridgestone dealer) is actually a really nice, helpful guy.  If I were to ever try out another set, I'd get 'em from this guy.

Anyways, just wanted to vent.  That guy really ticked me off.
  

[DanO966]

Yeah he was an ass!
He didn't know how fast or slow we were going.  Heck, we were going pretty slow (35s/36s) since Wood, Jensen etc at the Fusa weekend were turning 31/32s...
But back on the Subject, I highly doubt that I'll ever buy ANYTHING from that Tire guy.  
I'm not totally against Bridgestones, you never know what they might come out with, right??

[Burt Munro]

{I was pitted with a good friend of mine, Am#43 Mike Shallcross.  I had brought my bike up, just to run some practice sessions to see how my shoulder held up.  Mike crashed hard early Saturday, taking out his bike - so it was decided he would run mine for the rest of the weekend.}

Jim,

I can't comment on any any dealings with the Bridgestone guy..... never met him.

But Mr. Shallcross got our attention in a big way Saturday!..... and I'm trying to remember how far into the day this happened......

I was working grid and he scared the crap out of us coming down the front straight.  About 150 yards into the straight he got a massive front end wobble going - bad enough that you could hear it!  I have no idea how he managed to not have that go into a full blown tank slapper!  If I remember right he ran off on turn #1 after that - not sure if that was when he had the front flat.  But even in later races he had a significant wobble at about the same point on the track on each lap.  

I did notice that you guys got it sorted out on Sunday as he came thru the same section clean as can be on each lap.

Just wanted to pass that on .....  hope it makes sense in relation to the tire issues you were dealing with!

Rick  

[TreyBone]

Either way,    Bridgestone tires SUCK!! and that is a fact :-/

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Well do you know his name Jim? Send a nice letter to Bridgestone about this ass. I'm sure they would love to hear that their 'reps' are very rude and obnoxious.


One reason I'm not willing to buy a Pirelli either is I had Pirelli's on my Shelby CSX and had front left disintegrate at 80 or so mph on I-90 north of Beliot. Car got real squirrly and destroyed the rim. Tires were less than a month old with 2500 miles on them. Pirelli told me to literally "Go f*ck yourself" >:( That was back in 91, so I wont even look at them anymore.

[spyderchick]

The thin line between customer and friend/foe in any business is a tricky one to walk. I treat everyone I meet with dignity and respect, no matter the situation. Why? They might need my service, and I'm in business to make money.

This guy is a REP, that means he's "representing" the company and the product. By all means contact Bridgestone to let them know the situation. Make sure your corospondence is business like and precise. I'm sure if they want your business in the future, they will handle it in a business like manner.

If not? Well, my daddy always told me that word of mouth is a powerful thing, it can make you or break you. They might be a big mighty corporation, but it's still the individual customer who either repeat the business, or take their dollars elsewhere.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Well, my daddy always told me that word of mouth is a powerful thing, it can make you or break you. They might be a big mighty corporation, but it's still the individual customer who either repeat the business, or take their dollars elsewhere.

     This is very true, I was once told "It takes 100 positives to cover up 1 negative" and "Word of mouth is your best freind or your worst enemy!" I think both of those statements very much apply to your situation.

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

In the future, try dealing with Tom Mason of Mason Racin Tires.  He was there at MAM selling Michilens and Pirellis.  Tom is an outstanding guy.  He'll work just as hard for a guy who's 20 seconds off the pace as he will for a superhero.  Deal with him for a short while and he'll become one of your racing friends who just happens to also sell you tires...

[EX#996]

In the future, try dealing with Tom Mason of Mason Racin Tires.  He was there at MAM selling Michilens and Pirellis.  Tom is an outstanding guy.  He'll work just as hard for a guy who's 20 seconds off the pace as he will for a superhero.  Deal with him for a short while and he'll become one of your racing friends who just happens to also sell you tires...

Ditto!

Tom's the best!

Dawn   8)

[dwilson]

1 sales-person shouldn't destroy the image of an entire company.  He is only 1 sales-person after all.  I'd find out who he is, find out who his boss is, and write letters.  I believe letters really do work.

My opinion on Briggestone; I ride an FZR, I HAVE to like Bridgestone Battlax  :-/

[Jeff]

Gotta throw in my plug for Andy the dunlop tire guy.  Andy's an excellent guy as well.  He's always got time to help you out, and definitely gets kudos because he's cool to my kids...

[spyderchick]

My opinion on Briggestone; I ride an FZR, I HAVE to like Bridgestone Battlax  :-/

You don't have to like the BattleAxe, cuz Pirelli also makes tires for the 18" rear of the FZR. That said, I love the Bridgestones, and so does Roger (he's running Michelins on his CB1 though). TheBT series makes an awesome intermediate tire. If you're not a front runner, a good economical choice for an all around tire.