I'll man up, yes it's me. I ask for info re: cams and I get "we recommend our pistons. You should sell yours", etc. I no doubt believe he is getting a bit frustrated but as a possible customer I want some answers. But I certainly don't believe that my original post is garbage. Yep I'm new to the H-D world where choices are many and I'd like some answers. Guy was a straight up source of info and answered more to me in PM's than Kevin did in several emails. You gotta admit, other than their belief that this is a great cam, they have nothing on paper that a customer can look at. I'm not giving up on the cam but I just want to be sure that it will work with my plan.

 

Yeah, I was looking at the "HQ" 525 too. They could be proactive and be on this site as a sponsor and help out us out as well as themselves, but I guess that they don't need the biz, so I will stick with the "tried, tested and proven" Woods cam, that gets over 100 TQ and 92 HP, that another site sponsor is using on their builds, and that many members can and will attest to.

 

I have a kit on order from them now. EVERY question i had and i posted on their Q&A forum was answered quicky and with detail. They have several very sharp engine builders including Guy and if you read through the post on thier forum i've yet to see them snub anyone.

 

I had Kevin do the cams on my 09 RK 96 CID. It runs a lot stronger now than it did stock. Wrenching those Hogs for performance is a bit esoteric because H-Q builds parts by hand so they are very precise and designed to work in tandem with the other parts. I don't do the wrenching myself but know the tight tolerances and clearances they are building new EPA hogs to are so much tighter than the old oil leaking hogs we used to wrench. Knowing these tight tolerances they use now I would be afraid to try to mix and match components from various manufacturers because they might not work together. jmtc

 

Head Quarters won't be getting any of my money.

I don't understand why they make their customers work hard to buy their product. They're not selling anything, just taking orders. They won't be taking mine. I can't believe they expect you to be sold on a product by posting questions on an internet forum. Seriously. If they had given me the opportunity to talk to them, I would have purchased a 107 kit already, way back when I first got my '10. I was ready to spend the cash, but they left me with negative feelings after a couple of emails.

If they're too lazy or too cheap to hire someone to sell their products and provide customer support, then forget them. I won't give them my money.

I would post the emails here if I had no respect for anyone. But, I am not an *** and there are always two sides to a story. Maybe someone was having a bad week when they emailed me. I dunno...

 

This is what I think about this cry baby thread; Head Quarters has explained to the public on their website, in so many words, that they are sorry for the delays because their is a demand for their products world wide now. Why don't you cry baby's become dealers and help them out. Head Quarters has a very good product(s) and their prices are extremely competative. Their engine packages perform better on the average then anyone elses in the market. I'm sure that you guys could find something that would perform as well or better, but you would be paying much more money. Understand something else; Every dealer/builder out their is going to push their products. That's why they are in business.

 

Kevin never told you "You should sell yours." On the pistons he told you:

"SE pistons are bad for several reasons, including instability due to
narrow wrist pin, and the negative deck height they all have on 103". Add a .040 gasket and you just increased the probability of auto/preignition tenfold! You'd have .050 quench....BAD NEWS! Regardless of compression ratio." [NOTE: At this point in your emails to and from Kevin, you hadn't told him you had already purchased the SE pistons, so he suggested HQ's pistons to you.]

His reply to you was in response to your "plan" to use stock push rods (because you had heard adjustables break or loosen), and a .040 head gasket:

"Hi Kevin, Thanks for the reply. I've just read about incidents with
adjustables loosening/cracking/etc that using the stockers is a safer way
to go. As far as the .040 head gasket, I also thought that that thickness
would also be a safer way to go with some of today's fuel at the expense
of a bit less exhaust scavenging. The .040/stock pushrods sounded like a
safe bet."

Another problem with your OP was and remains that your "plan" didn't have any sense of urgency to it; in fact, you told Kevin you were not in a hurry:

"What I am having trouble finding are results with the use of this cam. I hear "forum" members express + thoughts/opinions but I haven't seen anything yet? This isn't a problem as I'm not in a hurry to get the build done. I also need to accumulate compression releases, hd clutch spring, primary gasket, cam service kit, etc. I just have to decide on a cam, knowing exactly what I can expect out of it with my 103"/.030/10.1:1 cr I know I ask a lot of questions but you are the expert source I need to go to regarding the 525's as I can't find much user info on them. Again, thank you for all of your help..Jeff"

The quoted email was sent by you to Kevin on Tuesday of this week; on Thursday you throw Kevin under the bus claiming he's not responsive and he's just pushing parts on you with no explanation. Those claims are false. Your subsequent post in which you acknowledge you are "Jeff" doesn't acknowledge that Kevin explained his reasons for his recommendations. If you were to really "man up" you would have acknowledged Kevin did more in his responses to you than push parts, and acknowledge that he never told you to sell the SE pistons.

I have no problems with customers of any vendor asking questions (shoot, most of us, including me, are ignorant about many of the products, not just cams,) we are considering for our bikes) or for complaining about a vendor who is not responsive provided the information regarding the communications between potential customer and vendor are fairly/accurately reported. In this specific case, the communications weren't fairly and accurately reported.

Carl

 

I am really trying to stay right in the middle with my comments. There are two sides to every story and Harleypingman has completed the rest of the story when it comes to Troops post.

For those of us that have had no issues, I guess it is really what the individuals perception is of customer service. Doug is actually out in the shop doing the work, and the quality is excellent. Kevin has set up the new Protwin website for retail sales, and there are a couple of ways to reach him through the website and through the HQ forum. I do know at times I get a busy signal, but that happens at all shops. He does return calls.

 

I bought my Kit a few years back and talked directly to Doug. I have no complaints. This may have been before they got big, but Doug had to write down what I wanted, type it up and E-mail me a quote.

 

Well, guys just thought I'd throw my 0.02 in here. I have an 08 Street Glide and ever since I had the dealer install the SE Super Tuner and the SE intake/filter I was'nt too happy with the results. Sure, I felt a little bit of oomph, but it was'nt until I got on these pages asking for help from the likes of : Dalton, Philm, Masterblaster, only to mention a few, that I realized that a person does have other choices other than the SE stuff. Not trying to bash the SE stuff, but I looked at HQ's site did some reading, asked questions on their Q&A group and got answers within 24 hours. Kevin is a great guy, and did'nt try to push anything on me. Just helpful and honest in telling you what would work in your particular application. After, many searches and questions, I ended up going with their HQ-TC-500 cams. I am very happy with them. Sure it does'nt have the full out power of a 107 kit or 103 but for now it wil do. Like some of the members here said, these guys can't be on the phone all day long....when there needed in the shop. Just my 0.02....