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Edited Date/Time
9/24/2020 3:33pm
I bought a new Clarke white tank for my 1987 YZ 125 project and it is not even close to Yamaha white. I sent them a photo and they said they are all that color, I am not trying to be a perfectionist but this thing is not even close! The real bad thing is that they are making me pay to ship it back and won't refund the original shipping charge either, almost $50 cost to me for nothing. If you are going to make a stock size tank for the YZ you should make sure it is the right color, I mean get a shroud and match it and then write the color code down so they come out the right color. They were rude and told me there are no managers or owners that will talk to me and I am just SOL. I am sure some of you will say you love them and how great they are, but great company's don't treat customers like this when they are the ones who can't make the right product. Photo of Clarke tank with a new Yamaha shroud. Oh and I already ordered a new NOS tank from Japan so the bike will look right. Shame on you Clarke!
Glad I did now
The Shop
My new genuine Yamaha tank turned up and it's not an exact match to the shrouds, it's pretty close but not exact. The shrouds are UFO so I'm wondering if genuine Yamaha shrouds would match better.
I'm not overly happy with the fitment of the UFO shrouds anyway so I think I'll order a genuine Yamaha set instead. I have the graphics turning up soon so it would be better to put them on a set of shrouds I'm happy with in the first instance.
By the way, the part number for my tank ends with 10-01 so it looks like this is one of the revised parts with the new formulation.
Here's a pic of the new Genuine Yamaha tank against the UFO shroud.
You guys complaining about NOS parts and colors should see the two NOS 1976-78 CR125 Honda front fenders I have. Obviously Honda ran out and had an aftermarket company make some for them. Totally different than stock, looks vacuum formed out of translucent plastic with some small ribbed reinforcements plastic welded to the underside and painted Tahitian Red. One was a freebie from a friend and the other was a little bit of an Ebay burn with poor quality pics in wrapping paper. They are NOS Honda parts though.....
Pit Row
As far as a problem with a Clarke tank for the '95-6 CR250 Team Honda clones, what's the diff? The tank is covered with the graphics anyway. I have a fairly decent '95 Doug Henry repro, and it's impossible to tell the difference between the tanks after the graphics.
If I remember correctly, you were the guy who was going to restore yours "as new," so pony up the dollars for NOS.
At least if you're restoring (and I've been there), go in with eyes open that you are going to have to troll eBay and outspend someone for the part. There's no magic formula or shortcut... Right? Check out my avatar. I spent probably $1K on NOS plastic and an NOS seat on that bike. That's what as new means.
>Newmann I have no idea what they "manufacture", its' crazy.
Should Clarke just shut down? Unless someone can contradict me, you have problem because they are selling replacements-- NOT reproductions?
Think about the flip side. See how fun it is to find a tank for odd bikes nobody else has (like Yamaha ITs and so on).
If you're restoring, fine, pay a premium for NOS when you can find it. For a rider buy Clarke. I used a Clarke tank on a '97 RM250 that was super low hours (but had cracked OEM tank). Matched perfectly.
And as far as outsourcing, get used to it. Years of Trickle Down economic policy and endless spending for things other than investment to produce great engineers and builders have sent manufacturing elsewhere.
I think this will be noticeable at the top of the tank, I don't have shit loads of money to throw at this bike so I think I'm going to just have to deal with it
shroud graphic. It's also the same exact color as the other NOS Honda tank I bought years ago, so it's not an aberration. I
would say that Clarke is a nice match to the frame which is really what you want. Here's a picture of a brand new OE Honda
CR250 tank. To me, it looks pretty close in color to your Clarke:
Striving to get all the colors to match on a bike is noble, but believe me, the manufacturers didn't put that much time or effort in
to doing the same. Colors and shades varied in each production run as well as from each OE vendor. For instance, the best
way to tell if a Honda "Red Rocket" has been over-restored, is when all the Red matches. When Honda built those bikes, some
frames were a slightly different shade compared to the engine, and some engines were a slightly different shade than the plastic.
As far as using aftermarket parts for a "concours" level resto, again, this goes back to what your idea of concours is. To me,
concours means the bike looks just like it did when sitting in the dealers showroom (also known as "showroom" quality). To
others, concours may mean a perfect example of that bike i.e. a bike taken off the assembly line then gone over with any
part not perfect being replaced. This would be a showpiece used for an event or promotion. If your idea of concours is the
latter, be prepared to sort through the aftermarket plastic if you want plastic to exactly match the OE colors. Most of the OE
plastic that's still available is going to be a different shade than what was originally offered as some of you have already found.
I ran into this with my '93 CR250. The OE front and rear fenders are much darker than the original Nuclear Red that came on
the bike due to color variation over the years. Fortunately the aftermarket came to the rescue because I was able to find a
much better match through UFO.
Finally, regarding the poor customer service from Clarke, this is not the first time I've heard of this. Seems like there is a sweet
niche market waiting for some entrepreneur to start an injection molding business casting fuel tanks. Between the restorations
and the Aluminum frame conversions, looks like there would be a steady stream of customers for the foreseeable future.
dogger
Yes, the blue doesn't match, nor does the white on my husky, but fuel will turn them another shade once you start mixing gas and haulin ass...
It's unfortunate that a post like this gets so much negative attention. Having 35 year old replacement parts is very valuable to me since I restore race bikes.
If Clark stopped making these tanks, most of these bikes would end up in the scrap pile.
Try not to put them out of business just because of your experience. There are other guys out there that rely on companies like this to keep our old bikes racing.
Not trying to start a war, but I'd like to see this thread get deleted. thanks Mike
1: Why would anyone buy a aftermarket tank for a concourse level restoration where points would be deducted for color match, a non correct part would surly be a bigger penalty? I get it for the Ferrari, Mercedes restoration crowd but is this even a thing for plastic tank dirt bikes? A NOS OEM tank that's been stored away from light is your only option, even then I'd be shocked if it matched anything.
2: Why would you expect it to mach anything perfectly? The OEM parts available today aren't even the same color as 20-40 years ago! It's a dirt bike, as mentioned every plastic manufacturer has variations on color not to mention variations in batches and raw materials within manufacturer... I thought the tank looked reasonable when all these factors are taken into consideration.
Honestly, I understand the customer is always right but they can be unreasonable. It's an inexpensive aftermarket gas tank for a racing machine that will (should) be getting pelted with rocks and mud slung onto it... Clarke had every right to blow off the guy complaining about a slight color mismatch, they offered a return to him and only asked he pay return shipping, they make no parallel to themselves and OEM, they do make reasonable replacement and oversize tanks that sorta fit. It's like people that bitch about DC plastic, it was never meant to perfectly match OEM parts, it simply fills a void, hardly a reason to wish any company out of business.
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