Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Make of it what you will.

David,
Good evening.
You recently built a set of chambers for my H2 Kawasaki. When I received them about a month ago and took them out of the box, I was very disappointed with the weld quality. A good friends reaction when he saw them was "wow those welds look like S&%$". My 1st thought was that it was normal for your pipes and I would just live with it. I look at the pipes every day and the poor welds always catch my eye so I felt like I needed to say something about it. I also had to make 1" hangers so the pipes wouldn't be in a bind, but I am ok with that.

I'm not sure if there is a solution, given that I am in the US, but feel like this is a big enough cosmetic issue to be addressed. I can send you a few photos tomorrow.
I own a machine shop and know I wouldn't want this level of quality representing my work. I have a feeling you wouldn't either.

On a positive note, the style, sound and power curve are great.
Please let me know your thoughts.

Best,
Bill


Hi Bill,
thanks for letting me know your thoughts. All my pipes are hand tig welded. I make every effort to be as neat as possible, and i am sorry they fall short of your expectations. I did have an issue recently with the polishers i use, as they started using a new soap and the welds looked black and stained instead of the usual bright finish. I can only assume you must have one these sets, as my welding has never changed in all the years i have been making them, but the welds may stand out more with poor polishing. I am sorry you are disappointed with my hand made products.

David Higgs
Higgspeed Performance Products
Unit 4K Moor Park Ind Est
Blackpool
FY2 0JY
07923 360343
HIGGSPEED.COM

Surprising exchange, I've see quite a few Higgsy pipes and the welds looked really nice. How about some photos?

soo...the polisher turned a tig weld into a birdshit mig weld ??? amazing he can pass the blame..or maybe a blind guy on the tig ???

_________________
downwind of three mile island

taking the liberty to post the pic of workmanship in question

_________________
downwind of three mile island

Picking fly crap out of pepper? Not at $1000.00
I would not have posted had the response been more palatable
1st photo is of the hangers because they were in a bad bind at the peg hole
2nd photo shows the dent where the weld sucked in
3-5 are what they are
Poor polishing... I don't think so

Did you send Mr. Higgs the pics of the welds on your pipes received? If not, you should. You have every right to not be satisfied. Something's not right with his reply to you....

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1972 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV (Candytone Blue), 1976 Suzuki GT750 (Maui Blue)
1984 Yamaha RZ350 (KRR- Yellow/Black).

“Jeff and Chris are THE MEN!”
RIP John E. Evans

Evans,
I offered but in his reply, he showed no interest.
My reason for posting was just to give folks a heads up. If what people see in the pics is acceptable, then maybe the pipes are
for them. Some people are into function and they are fine for that, but IMO they are not cosmetically acceptable. When given the opportunity to look into the issue, he basically blew me off. I would not have posted if I had seen some genuine concern, and an effort to correct the issue, even if it had been on future orders. Instead he chose to defend his workmanship and point fingers at the polisher.
I know I am not far off the mark given the numerous PM's I have received, with the same concerns/issues.
Best,
Bill

I have to wonder if the "factory rejects" are saved and sent to the US. One way to get rid of them and a pretty good chance you aren't going to get them back.

They could at least made a halfass attempt to run the torch back over the welds to try and smooth/blend them in a little better. I would not have been a happy camper if I had received them.

Somethings not right !!!!! That is terrible !!!!! Sorry have to be honest !!!!!

I received my pipes at about the same time as Bill. He and I shared some information via PM. The welds on my pipes were not as good as I thought they should be but not as bad as Bill's. I wrote to David to tell him that I was surprised by the low weld quality but that I can live with it. I just wanted him to know about it.

Looking at the welds I have to believe that there is a new guy being trained to weld on these pipes. He is not learning very quickly but is making some progress. I don't believe David's statement "my welding has never changed in all the years i have been making them". I have done a variety of welding and I know what poor work looks like.

I also had to put the spigots in the lathe to face the end that goes up against the copper gasket. It was finished on a belt sander and was not flat. I told David about this as well. His response to me was "That is what the gasket is for". That's not good enough for me so I fixed it. I plan to install them this weekend. Once they are on the bike I am sure that I will be happy with them.

Kevin

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Rotortech
Indianapolis
1974 S3