I thought I'd take Baby Beast (the Hyosung cruiser) to the local mechanic for it's first service since I have no experience with bikes and wanted to start from a known good point (or as 'known' as you can be with an unknown mechanic). $195 for a service I thought was okay for a quote but I asked for a new air filter as well and I asked for them to bump up the rear pre-set to 2, as discussed elsewhere on these forums. I don't own the spanner yet and I thought "While you've got it..." When the mechanic came out to check the bike over and asked if I had any problems he looked at the rear tyre, crouched down and looked closer, stood up and said "Did you ride this here?" "Sure," I said "is there a problem?" "Well, it's up to you, you do what you like, but I wouldn't ride that bike ten metres." I asked what the problem was and he said the tyre was not far from exploding. I said there is plenty of tread on that tyre and he invited me to crouch down, saying the tread wasn't the problem. Turned out there was a series of 1 inch high bubbles in one segment of the tyre, on the "corner" between the sidewall and the face of the tyre. "Holy carp," I said, or words to that effect. "Mate, if you want to cancel the service and take it to a tyre joint we can always reschedule. Or we can do the service and you can get it done afterwards, if you like, but it has to be replaced." "Can't you do it?" "Sure, but I don't want you thinking I'm just trying to rip you off so I wanted to suggest a tyre place first." That seemed fair enough, so I asked them to replace it while they were doing everything else. Today, two days later, I went down to collect the bike and got a bill for $650. "Holy carp" I said, or words to that effect "that's a big jump from $195." "Well, service, oil change, air filter, tyre, new brakes all round, adjust the pre-set, add the labour and the GST and it all adds up." "What's this about the brake light?" I asked, looking at the receipt. "Yeah, the bulb was blown but when we replaced it, it turned out your switch on the pedal had failed as well, so we replaced that too." Now my wife insists the brake light was working when she watched me ride off to take it to the mechanic but, hey, these things can both fail in a 2 kilometre ride, can't they? And $230 for the tyre (plus GST but including fitting) seems a bit much to me but, as I've never bought one before, what do I know? And I didn't ask for the brakes to be done but I did ask them to check the rest of the bike so I can't really complain, can I? Oh well, it's done now and it does ride like a completely different Baby Beast so I'll just have to get out there and make sure I can justify the expense. And, honestly, both the dealer and the mechanic were good blokes to talk to and a bunch of things have been fixed, just like I asked, so I guess my whinging is just what they call 'bill shock' and I'll get over it.
When I had my blue fizzer wheels fitted with new tyres (swap a good used front and a brand new rear tyre) the total bill was $245 from the local bike shop, with new valve stems too. Changing tyres is a chore and it's why I take it to the bike shop - they have the proper tools to do it quickly.
Unauthorised work can be a problem, but there is a flip side to that story. I had an issue where a customer had a siezed front brake master cylinder on his Ducati single and he did not want it fixed. It turned into a major saga, but I had already testified at one coroners inquest and no wish to do it again, so I wasn't about to back down. Fortunately the kid's father came with him to settle the issue and he quickly understood the gravity of the situation. It ended in smiles all round.
Yeah, I can see that @maelstrom and it must have been awful having to testify. Don't get me wrong, I was nice as pie to these guys, despite the shock, because A/I did ask them to check things out and B/everything they did on top of the service was safety related and I'm never going to kick up about that. Luckily, my wife feels the same and she's always happy to pay for brakes and tyres. They are my local and a little independent shop so I will be going back and, let's face it, lots of important stuff is done now and I won't have to worry about it for a while. I'm really kicking myself for missing the deformed tyre when I bought the bike but that's a lesson learned.
Well the problem with the inquest issue is that I have to live with the possibility that if I had stood my ground with that customer perhaps he would still be alive. The inquest ruled that alcohol was the major factor, but if he had decent front brakes then who knows. What do you do? The owner had a bit of an attitude and was a lot bigger than me. I couldn't go much further than strongly suggesting. He had just bought the bike from a shop and the disc pads were down to the steel. Roadworthy certificates did not exist for bikes at that time. In fact I was a part of an industry group that was lobbying for them. A detail that I brought up at the inquest and it was taken very seriously.
Tyre cost sounds normal, servicing cost also sounds normal. Normal rates now are about $100/hr so depending on how much the parts cost... air filter, brake pads, brake light, switch... the extras add up and it doesn't sound totally unreasonable to be honest. Try K-Tek in welshpool, they have a reputation amongst motorcycling circles for being good but I haven't used them personally. So you don't get any surprises I tell them to do the service and make a list of other things they find then call me for permission to do them before doing them. If you want to save yourself coin pads, oil & filter, air filter - all simple to do yourself.
Thanks @joker, Welshpool is pretty close but, to be honest, I took the bike for a longer ride this morning and the difference is worth every cent of the price so I'll be pretty happy about taking it back to them in the future I did ask them to call before doing other work but I also asked them to check everything so I guess it's my bad. And, yes, I will be doing pads, filters and oil myself from now on
Price for tyre is fair if a decent one if u asked for brakes and that then yes would be a fair price but u did t and to be honest brakes are easy to do but if u don't feel confident in doing that stuff then a mechanic is best option so in all if u were gonna get him to do brakes if needed then that price seems fair
At dyno day today a kid came in with a cb500 u could pull brake lever to bar He didnt notice it we all shook are heads Brakes are most important thing on a bike the few dollars u save not doing pads or fluid or putting cheap crap on are risking ur life
