Black Widow Exhausts - a cautionary tale!


nobull

New member
Hi guys,
just thought i'd post this thread to warn you of my personal experiences with Black Widow.
Firstly I should say when I had an R6 decat system (when they were known as Sandy Bike Spares) from them it fitted great.
Unfortunately the same cant be said for the £435 titanium decat system I bought for my new R1. Essentially there was no way it would ever fit, its missing a vital flange on the outlet where the end can butts up to. They agreed to accept a return for refund, which I duly did, at my expense (another £25 for insured next day). No response. So I send them an email asking for the refund as promised (I should point out that everything was unmarked, the gasket paste unopened etc), and to my amazement they replied with "well unfortunately we cant refund you as its been too long". Given that I had stated in every communication that it had been 70 days since I purchased the exhaust, this rather pissed me off, as you can imagine. So I pointed out they didn't have a leg to stand on, not fit for purpose, I will chase you through paypal and if necessary small claims court etc. No response, leaving me without an exhaust and £460 out of pocket, whilst they have the exhaust back and all of my money. Now I am sure I will get my money refunded through paypal, eventually, but the stress of all this and their disregard for customers beggars belief. I also wasted 5 hours dismantling my bike then returning it to stock (the exup cables were a real headache, have to remove half the subframe mounted parts to refit them, on top of tank and exhaust).
My advice?
Shop elsewhere, or make sure you fit the thing within 30 days of purchase (ie don't buy when its freezing cold in winter).
I will be going back to Arrow (fantastic quality & fit on my MT07) just wish they did a titanium option
 

bobh

Member
I had an issue with an exhaust I got for my Thundercat some years ago, when they were Sandy Bike Spares. The downpipes and silencer were fine, but the connecting adaptor pipe was way off, and they swore blind it was the correct one. In the end I got them to supply one for a Fazer 600, which did fit, but if I hadn't had a bit of knowledge of interchangeability between bikes I'd have been stuck.

To be fair, they were reasonably helpful, even after quite a long time lapse, but I did have to go to their premises (in the middle of nowhere somewhere beyond Bedford) a couple of times to get it sorted, so in that sense I ended up out of pocket.

So I'd agree - if you do buy from them, at least offer the kit up to the bike as soon as it arrives, to be confident it will fit.
 

nobull

New member
Quick follow up - doing some research & every other seller of decats that claim to fit std can have the flange that the Black Widow is missing! Wish I'd noticed prior to purchase. By chance I also got chatting to someone this weekend who had also had bad experience of their fit.
 


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