Lesson learned: Check your mechanic's work!

[cfcubed]

Maybe this will help someone or maybe this is just common sense, but checking work done by others (before riding away!) is a must. I've just learned this the hard way (could have been worse... much worse)...

So far I've done all the work on my GS.. I've tools, experience w/various engines, manuals, etc. The GS needed new tires & that seemed like a good thing to leave to a shop. Brought her to a local bike shop (not a Suz dealer) that came recommended. They did the job for a decent price & I rode off w/o looking closely at the areas of work. Turns out the work was sloppy:

1) On the 15 mi ride home, mostly 50/55 mph zones, I noticed the front brake was a little soft/squishy. Thought maybe it just needed bleeding. WRONG! As I was riding along the lower of the 2 front brake caliper bolts fell out! I heard it bang against the front fender & when I looked down, the top bolt was about 1/2" out too. Used back brake to pull over, spotted bolt & ran out & got it. Guess they were hand tight w/o any locktite. A bad thing. Got home, called shop & they offered to go over work. I handled it myself...

2) Also found NO/ZERO chain slack... Tight as can be & should have an inch or so of slack. While fixing this I find;

3) Rear axle bolt so tight I could barely remove it. Rear wheel could not free-wheel due to tight chain, way over-tightened axle bolt and brake rubbing (no freeplay).

(Obvious?) Lessons: Don't implicitly trust shops work, Pull over & stop at 1st sign of *any* strangeness w/bike - no matter how short the trip.

[Tarbash 27]

Wow, they must of just half a$$ed it back together. I do all the work on my bike myself. I would never bring it to a shop. I have changed my own tires myself. I always go over everything quite a few times.

[Tom MLC]

I have done all the work on my bikes so far. When I needed new tires I took the wheels off and brought them to the shop. I trust my work far more than I trust others.

[cfcubed]

I have done all the work on my bikes so far. When I needed new tires I took the wheels off and brought them to the shop. I trust my work far more than I trust others.

Yep, that's what I'll do next time... Would do my own tires but from reading around here, could be tough to get right the 1st time (but guess that's true of pretty much everything

BTW, The head mech (owner?) of the shop probably didn't do the work... Has a youngin' or two around & they'd prob be given tire jobs...

[crag antler]

Glad you caught these problems before they came dangerous.
I am with everyone else where I take my rims to the shop to change the tires.
Everything else I leave the work to someone I trust.........................myself\\/

[fatkid89704]

well i do most of my own work but when i needed tires i took them to a shop a friend of mine owns.i dont know about you guys but i dont want to spend the money for a spin balancer for bike tires and i sure as hell dont want to be doing 100+ on an unbalanced tire.have a good one and be safe.

[Tom MLC]

i sure as hell dont want to be doing 100+ on an unbalanced tire.have a good one and be safe.

:shock: Steve, you crack me up!

[MissFabulous]

Adding this to my notes - thanks!

[Billyboy]

I read this in David Hough's "Proficient Motorcycling": "No-one cares about the condition of your bike as much as you do."

[tkent02]

Make that shop buy you a new chain....

If it was run while it was that tight then it has been damaged.
They need slack for a reason.

[cfcubed]

I read this in David Hough's "Proficient Motorcycling": "No-one cares about the condition of your bike as much as you do."

Thanks for the "Proficient Motorcycling" ref. I think I'll be picking that up...

If it was run while it was that tight then it has been damaged.

Only went a couple hundred miles w/it that tight, so maybe not much damage...
Although I could try to extract things from the shop for their blunder (refunding the "labor" comes to mind), I'll settle for the experience gained. Wouldn't help others going there anyway.

BTW, when I called the lead mech his first reaction was "Boy, we haven't had something like this happen in years!"... Making me wonder what happened to that guy.

[duaneage]

I sold my Honda FT500 Ascot to a friend in 87. He took it in for a new rear tire and they did not torque the rear axle bolt properly. 60 miles later the rear axle came loose and the rear wheel locked up. The rear disk jammed the caliper. The settlement ran into the thousands, fortunately he was not seriously injured. The bike was toast.

I use a torque wrench on those bolts everytime.

[bwringer]

well i do most of my own work but when i needed tires i took them to a shop a friend of mine owns.i dont know about you guys but i dont want to spend the money for a spin balancer for bike tires and i sure as hell dont want to be doing 100+ on an unbalanced tire.have a good one and be safe.

You can get the balance a helluva lot closer with static balancing where you're actually paying attention. Spin balancing isn't inherently any better or safer -- it's just faster and takes less thought for untrained monkeys. Stick it on the machine, slap on the weight the machine tells you to. Look around in the pits at a race -- the pros all have static balancing stands in the pits.

Anyway, everyone who lives in a place with seasons should keep in mind that all the mechanics who actually have a clue are working over at the Buick dealership, where they can earn steady money year-round and get health insurance for their kids. The work at a motorcycle shop is very seasonal, so all you can get are basically surly teenagers, jittery apathetic wastoids, and greasy drifters. If there is somehow a decent motorcycle mechanic nearby, he's got six months of work stacked up and waiting.

The tire changes at any dealer are done by the least experienced, cheapest rubber monkey they can find. And frankly, that's not healthy for you.

If you find yourself too afraid or consumptive to yank the tire irons yourself, at least remove the wheels yourself and take them to have the tires mounted. Just don't leave any axles or spacers attached for them to lose. Prepare to bend over and grab your ankles -- even if you buy the tires through the shop, most places charge $30 - $50 each to mount tires. Most shops around here refuse to mount tires at all unless you buy them through the shop.

If they charge for balancing, see if you can get them to skip this step and save a buck or two. You can do a far better job of balancing at home in about 10-20 minutes.