Nobody dares touch older bikes...

[Jay B]

Cars and trucks are the same way. I took my 65 Ford to the largest dealer in the state to have the tranny looked at. They wouldnt touch it. Its not that its anything special....just a straight Ford C-6 tranny. The truck was actually older than 3/4 of the people working in the shop. Go figure. I finally found a place, thanks to my bike shop buddy that would look at it. Turns out I bent something inside the tranny last time I was out burning off some of the rubber on the back tires. $200 bucks and my tranny and the guy will do the swap out for a rebuilt tranny with a 1 year warranty. Gotta start saving my extra pennies.

[KGB]

I found an ex Suzuki mechanic, 70 miles away, but worth then trip.
He rides a GS1000S, with a sidecar.
His wife rides a GS750ES, with a side car.
He has a V-MAX, with a sidecar.
He also has a Yamaha GTS, trying to install a sidecar on it also.
All he does is mechanic work, and some small part stuff. He will do custom work on ANY brand. He's fair and reasonable.
He's a straight shooter, tells it like it is.

I ask that he's the one that does my work, not one of his mechanics.
No problem.

Look around or ask around. The delaer has too much overhead. They still have make payments on the new bikes on the floor, rent for the building,benefits for the staff, etc.

[daveo]

I He rides a GS1000S, with a sidecar.
His wife rides a GS750ES, with a side car.
He has a V-MAX, with a sidecar.
He also has a Yamaha GTS, trying to install a sidecar on it also.

Wow he sounds like fun!!! Take some pics of the rigs!!!! Does he have an e-mail?

[Anonymous]

I've had the same problem - first was a shop in SF earlier in the year that would gladly replace the chain for me (I was in the middle of a trip), but under other circumstances would not work on a bike more than 10 years old.

And a few months ago I had to go to every shop in town before I found one that would replace the steering head bearings for me. Mind you - all of 'em would order them for me and take a commission, but none would actually install them.

And the reason that every shop gave was liability - you never know what's going to go wrong when working on an older bike, and the last thing they want to have to do is argue with an irate owner on the phone because a $200 tune up turned into an $800 rebuild....


Bastards all the same. The way I see it, every shop with a business license should be REQUIRED to work on old vehicles. At this rate, all motorcycles seem disposable - can't get 'em fixed after 10 years, might as well throw it away and get a new one. That's an impression that I find disgusting.

Imagine what that would to for new bike prices - nobody would want to drop 15 grand on a new bike knowing they'd be throwing it away in a few years. Maybe we should all write letters to Suzuki? I mean, why is this acceptable for motorcycle mechanics? Imagine what the D.O.T. would say if auto mechanics started declining to work on cars pre-1993.

Now, if it were an Harley - you'd have your choice of shops to fix it....


-Q!

Hey Quai,
If you are ever in Oakland theres a great shop that specializes in 80's japanese bikes. Hayasa motorbikes (510)834-0043, i think thats right...yeah

[Anonymous]

Find the small shop in your area, I got hooked up with Joe at Performance Cycle a few years ago and have depended on him to get me out of trouble when job is beyond my present skills. It is a 1 1/2 man shop building killer KZs but will gladly work on any of the old inline 4s.

I went thru the same thing trying to get tires mounted at new bike dealers. Nobody wanted to work on my "classic".
Once you get the manuals and do your homework, most of the repairs can be handled at home.

[Anonymous]

Most line mechanics at dealerships are on commision, so they don't want to eat up a lot of time on jobs that might not pay. Not fair, but reality. I was a mechanic for many years and that was generally the case at several shops. I just got back into bikes this year after a 14 year break. I found a nice '81 450L. Looked like new, but barely got me five blocks home. Cleaned out the carbs and replaced the airfilter after which it runs like new. On a twin you can do a lot yourself even if you have two left hands. Dave J.

[Anonymous]

Hey Jay B, what part of CO is that shop? I'm up near boulder/denver myself, and plan to do most of my own work, but it never hurts to have someone to run to when I forget where I got that nut!!!

[Joe Nardy]

What torques me is when I pay good money for 'Professional' repairs, then end up doing it myself anyway. I had a dealer put globs of Locktite on the tapered shaft for the rotor even though the Suzuki shop manual says to be sure the shaft is absolutely clean of all substances. The Locktite locked up the starter gear which spun the starter at some ridiculous rpm until it melted. So I'm out for the repair AND the starter. Another dealer did some work on my Hurricane and left out the screws that hold a bracket that holds the coolant filler which also holds the water temp sensor which uses the bracket and frame for ground. Made the temp gauge do all sorts of strange stuff while I was on a ride through Texas and New Mexico in 100+ degree heat.

Use the knowledge on this site and fix it yourself!

Joe