I did purchase from an authorized dealer. Unfortunately the ownership of the shop changed a few months after I bought the bike and the new owner is not very customer focused. Nice enough guy, but any help needs to be pulled out of him. (I also understand that maybe as a North American my sense of service is different and I expect more.) He is now doing the painting over the crack in the surface which is fine, but the length of time to respond is ridiculous. The equally annoying part of this is how uninterested Kuota themselves were during the process. A simple response or show of life would have been appreciated after I phoned and emailed multiple times. To not even respond is unacceptable and it leaves me wondering about the seriousness of the company. How can a business grow and survive when they behave like this? There's too much competition out there to ignore customers and treat them so poorly.

The good news is that my bike is ready for pickup and it's sunny and pleasant. Can't wait to get my otherwise great bike back out on the road. Thanks again to everyone for the feedback.