after all the wonderful comments re rainbow i will add my views.
I returned to biking after a 30 yr layoff took cbt and test so got real licence.went to rainbow and saw a nice used r850 so bought it and had year of nice biking ,all ok so far.
Decided to take plunge and move up so tested a gs1150, ok on brief test run so took it back and said ill have one.Quoted 9 months waiting time.
Not being a nerdy boring t..t and not calling in every verse end to have coffee and donuts and talk b.......s ,after about 9 months id heard sweet fa so i phoned and after a slightly vague conversation a bike was materialised for me to pick up.
OK traded old one in took new bike out bought 3 phase suit ,new system helmet, autocom system.
Then things turned to s..t ,took bike in for first service , no spare bike so left to wander around area for 4 hours while bike serviced.
After about 9 months the fork yokes suffered the not uncommon corrosion fault so i reported this and was told i would need to take the bike in to have it inspected to see if the fork yokes really were corroding (Idont know why i would make this up),so after a 60 mile round trip it was confirmed that yes they really were corroded,so parts were duly ordered,to be fitted at the time of the 1 year service.
Took bike in for service and while handing bike over was told by service manager/ receptionist? youve left your bike with the steering lock on but you dont want to do that because you could end up with a broken headstock if it falls over .also youve got crashbars on and if you have a crash this could break the bike where the mountings go on.by this time im thinking what a pile of crap ive paid thousands of pounds for, not to mention telling the insurance co "no i didnt lock the bike securely when it got pinched because i was told it might break"
However this time I have a loan bike ,guess what, its my old bike that i traded in and believe me the engine in that bike was as sweet as a nut(the previous owner serviced it himself) and when i rode my gs home i realised how much better and smoother running my old bike was, the gsfeeling as rough as a bears arse.
By the way the yoke wasnt changed on the service as it was not on the sheet to be done at the time,i was told they had to order one,lets not forget the 60 mile trip the month before when they said they would order one ,but i was told yet another mod had been done this time with the fuel lines.
I then laid the bike up for a couple of months,but when i took it out for a run, the first time i fired it up i could smell petrol, which was peeing out of the feed lines so no run out that day.
Not brave enough to ride a petrol bomb to rotherham i contacted my local bmw dealer and arranged to have the bike fixed there as they were aware of the problems and told me how THEY fixed the fuel problems.
Carefully i rode the bike to them and they fixed the fuel leaking problem and while there i mentioned the corroded yokes and they said they could fix them the next week when the parts they would order for me had arrived.
A week later a phone call said the parts were there so an appointment made and within the hour the new forks.yokes were changed.
On the 1st of this month my 2 year warranty expired and the dealer who supplied my bike RAINBOW has still not contacted me to say my parts have arrived.
I phoned on several occasions to express dissatisfaction.
So because of my personal experience i cannot recommend Rainbow for after sales service.
Mike Akroyd
