I took my motorcycle that was having mechanical issues to Mike Amalfitano for repair. Mr. Amalfitano regularly advertises his services on Craigslist in the San Antonio area. Mike told me he'd evaluate the bike and let me know what's going on with it.
He called me and said my stator was bad and needed to be replaced. He also said he can purchase the stator for me at "dealer cost." The dealer cost was $375. Do a Google search for DRZ400 stator, you'll be hard pressed to find a stator for anything over $200. This is when I should have got my bike back, but I didn't and told him I'd purchase a stator and give it to him to install. I purchased a stator from Ricky Stator which is well known and very reputable stator company. The Ricky Stator cost me $125.
I gave the stator to Mike the "mechanic" to install. Mike called me and said my bike was ready a few days later. The labor charge was $220, which I thought was excessive. I put anywhere from 100-200 miles on the bike and it began to have the same issues as it did before taking it to Mike. I called Mike and told him the bike was acting up again. He said the stator I bought was crap, and that I should have got a stator from him. I decided to give up on this "mechanic" as I questioned his character.
I let the bike sit for a few months before I decided to take a look at it myself. I remember thinking how bizarre it was the stator wires had dirt on them considering I hadn't taken my bike off road once since getting it back from Mike. I contacted Mike Zaran at Ricky Stator to discuss the issue of my faulty stator. I sent him pictures of the stator, and eventually sent the stator to Ricky Stator. Turns out Mike Amalfitano didn't even install the stator. He charged me $220 for labor and kept my $125 stator. I tried to contact Mike the con-artist about this, but his phone was disconnected. Below is the email traffic between myself and Ricky Stator, confirming Mike Amalfitano had ripped me off.
Email traffic between myself and Ricky Stator employee, Mike Zarzan:
Hey Mike,
I sent the stator to you. The UPS tracking number is 1Z3A633Y0357928420.
Just curious, but do you know why every coil was completely charred except one? That one coil was in seemingly perfect condition.
-Ben
Ben,
From the picture you sent the stator looked like it was a stock one. It was a little hard to tell from the photo though. The one coil not burnt is most likely the ignition signal coil. It does not produce much power at all, so less power means less heat.
Mike Zarzan
Mike,
Are you saying that stator may not be a Ricky Stator? I took the bike to a mechanic who worked out of his garge. He said the stator was bad... So I bought a Ricky Stator from you guys and gave it to him asking him to replace it. The bike ran fine for about 200 miles or less. He didn't give me the bad stator back and I didn't ask for it. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think I got ripped off?
Ben
Ben,
I think you may have been ripped off. I can tell you for sure once I have the stator in hand. Do you have any more pics?
Mike Zarzan
Ben,
I received the stator and it is a stock stator. It is very easy to distinguish our stator from a stock stator.
The RS uses Teflon wire and the OEM stator uses a cloth type wire.
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