Get your bike safetied at Canadian Tire

[Anonymous]

In Quebec you have to get a safety if the vehicle you are buying doesn't have a current plate on it. So, if you buy an out of province bike or one that hasn't been on the road for a while you'll have to safety it. The safeties are supposed to be quite tough and there's usually only one garage per town/city that can do safeties. It's not like in Ontario where any licensed mechanic with a registered garage can do safeties.

Steve

[pidgey]

It's not a government requirement in Alberta to have a vehicle safety checked, although an insurance company can demand it, dependent on the vehicle's age. Out here the riding season lasts about 5 weeks, so there are a lot of 70's and 80's bikes on the road still in great condition, my '80 G.S. 850 GL being one of them!

[Anonymous]

In about '94 I asked my wife to take my Honda Civic to Canadian Tire to get a second quote on replacing a choke cable. They dropped a laundry list of necessary repairs on her, adding up to many hundreds of dollars. They gave her the "If we let you drive away like this we could be sued" speech.

On that list was an oil and filter change. My wife asked the service writer if he was certain that was necessary work. The fellow replied that the oil was "black, and thick as molasses". HOWEVER, I HAD CHANGED THE OIL AND FILTER 2 DAYS, AND 10 KILOMETERS, AGO! When she called him on it, he said we must be using some oddly colored oil! Liars and cheats. I never did get any of that work done.

2 years ago I suggested my wife take advantage of a cheap oil change promotion at CT. They spilled half a cup of oil in a hollow on top of the engine. My wife got half a mile away before the smoking started. CT ultimately steam cleaned the engine, and had the front end and windshield (inside and out) carefully cleaned to make good. I'LL NEVER GO BACK FOR SERVICE.

[mcycle-nut]

Here's a good one, but this is Mr Lube, not Iranian Tire. I picked up my wife's van from the tranny shop, where it just had a service. I stopped in at Mr.Lube to get the oil changed. Now, normally I do oil changes, but not on her van as it's a 3/4 ton with running boards, which I can't get under, and I don't trust those ramps with something that heavy. ANYHOW, after the guys changed the oil, they mentioned the tranny fluid should be changed as the colour was off. I told them I had just come from the tranny shop and they said the tranny shop must use a different colour dye!

Sounded fishy to me. :? Last time I took it in, they mentioned the head of the differential plug was stripped, and I mentioned that they did it, as they were the only ones that had ever been in there. They got it out and didn't charge me for it. 8)

[Anonymous]

CT Stuff

I noticed this rant on CT an figured that I'd put in my 0.02 worth.
I live in a smaller city (20,000) in SE BC (Cranbrook to be specific) and we have a CT here that actually does pretty good work. This part of BC is really dry and vehicles last forever so there are tons of old cars on the road. There are also lots of backyard mechanics out here too. Example there area couple of older chaps who do their errands in 1930 plymouths. Yes thats not a typo 1930's plymouths. One still has original paint. The other is a convertible and there are some 1948-52 fords on the go too for every day use.

Anyway on to my rant. The CT here is pretty good. All mechanics are journeymen with loads of experience. The service advisor is well informed and I have never heard of him trying to sell parts and services someone doesn't need.

Perhaps the difference is that a small town CT has to be better because for the most part no one in my town is anonymous. Bad service will very quickly be noticed and spread around town so perhaps they need to be pretty good.

JB

[Anonymous]

I'm pleased to hear that things might be better in Cranbrook. Are you getting any of that Southern Alberta rain we've been hearing about? Fernie had snow this week, didn't they? Al.

[Anonymous]

Are you getting any of that Southern Alberta rain we've been hearing about?

Hey Al,

I live in Calgary and there was a ton of rain here. We got over 220mm in 5 days (over half our average annual rainfall). Things are drying out now, but there were flood watches and warnings on several rivers and a couple of small towns got evacuated. Pretty bad, all in all. Fortunately, nothing really bad happened. If you count a flooded basement as not bad, I guess (not mine, but lots around the area).


Mark

[nastyjones]

Yah, I've always been skeptical of the service dept at CT. By always, I mean for the last 30 yrs. LOL

Paul

[Mysuzyq]

[quote="satchmo"

Well. Long story short. My friend is 6'2" 300lbs (mostly muscle), and after some quite convincing conversation, left with his sprint in fine working condition on the grounds that he never return to that Canadian Tire, ever (a bargain if I've ever heard one)

Satch[/quote]

Lets chalk one up for brute force, eh?

Tony.