gigi
Veteran
Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
| From Gigi, with Love...I want to say a few things:
1) I bought a used Bergen. That was my mistake. I paid too much for it, not to mention the $1,000 dollars worth of new parts I also bought at the same time from the seller. That was also my mistake. I bought more parts for it when it needed them, such as the fan shroud. That was my mistake. I assume ALL those mistakes and am stuck with the machine until I sell it, if I ever do.
2) The machine is in perfect mechanical condition. Any loose bearings have been repaced. All shafts turn true. The "vibration" I have is tail fin buzz. It does have a cosmetic defect, the canopy is cracked, but it came that way from the painter. Bad luck shipping, I guess. But the machine runs. It has not flown long enough recently for me to dial the needles from the position where the motor starts, idles, transitions, and seems to run quite well. Since it's my fault for using blue Loctite, I'll try again with the bottle of red Loctite I bought specially for the purpose. What happens is one thing or another loosens and cuts short my "learning".
3) I have a GV-1 / Stator Gator on it, and only ran it below 1,650 rpm ONCE. I had it hovering at 1,500 rpm. I'll never do that blunder again, since Chris was indeed very helpful in telling me that's why the clutch I never heard slip overheated the main gear. I *NEVER* hovered let alone fly my heli at 1,250 rpm. All right, I'm wrong, I may have done that just for kicks to my Raptor  I did hover it once like that for a couple of minutes. That was a lot of fun.
4) I am extremely impressed with the level of service of Bergen. It's excellent and friendly, bar none. I have spoken to them on the phone, they have bent over backwards to help me. I appreciate it, and mean them no harm. This post on RR was the result of reading a magazine review which made me feel vindicated, and helped me move past my frustration with the machine, which has been sitting disassembled for months since its last "problem". Incidentally, I did not put it in the BRC forum, I put it in the main forum. The Adminstrator decided to move it.
5) I don't know about anybody else, but I, personally, am indeed not satisfied with the used Bergen Intrepid I bought (And that's a polite understatement.) I would not have been satisfied with a brand-spanking new one. The reality of it is that I don't like the layout, the tiny fasteners, the make-do cut-off ball-links on the tail rotor, the 11,000 rpm-or-bust clutch, the multiple adjustments which always seem to be required to the myriad of assemblies in slots, and I've been extremely diappointed with the price of the parts, no matter how big the smile from the Bergen staff when I am told they have shipped. Most importantly, I feel just like Rappy 60, I simply have no confidence in the machine, as I never know WHEN (not if) it's going to shed a bolt, or a bearing, or a gear, or whatever else these things shed when they feel like it.
6) For those who are happy with their Bergens, I'm glad that it's working out for you. Personally, I hate mine! That doesn't mean I will sell it for a pitance. I'd rather keep it safely unpowered on the ground as a reminder to fully investigate both sides of the story when making a significant purchase in the future. Lesson learned for the rest of my life!
Caveat Emptor... (Buyer Beware!)
Gigi
My heli spending has gone way down since I got a Honda 919 :-) |
