What's your bike shop history? How do you choose one?

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

My first bike was bought at a bike shop I never returned to, only because there was one closer to work where I could drop the bike off in the morning, get a service/MOT and collect it after work. The two-man band were very interested in my grey import Yamaha XJR400, which I took as a good sign. No complaints although we never did get to the bottom of the fluffy top end.

When I changed jobs I found another independent close to my new workplace, a one-man-band. He always did a great job, and in those days I was doing big miles (on the XJR400 and then the still current ZX6R, another ZX6R being nicked in the interim) so I was a regular. I was quite shocked to hear the old boy say one day that he wasn't interested in bikes. He may have been once mind, but I don't think modern bikes appealed. He did, however, have a lathe and a large model steam train which he'd built himself, and it was apparent that he was an engineer and a perfectionist

When the old guy retired I turned to another local independent, again highly satisfactory (I've been lucky), led by a former tool maker, TT racer and now owner-mechanic. Guy Martin mentions him in his book on account of the tidy self-prep of the bikes this man raced. Three mechanics plus a guy in the shop (clothing, accessories, spares).

When they and I relocated and became a little too far away I got a recommendation from a neighbour who is a police biker. Another independent workshop, and again highly satisfactory. This two-man band fixed the ZX6R's leaking forks issue by fork seal selection (K-Tech, supposedly a marginally tighter fit) and contracting-out some finishing work on the bush seats. (I'd had them re-chromed.) At the R1's MOT they enthused about it (the pre-electronics era) and we've also had some good chats about "the old days" which I had to admit I'd missed on account of being a late arriver to motorcycles.

I've only had four motorcycles in 20 years, I've never purchased a brand new vehicle, and I've started to do more of my own servicing, but MOTs still require a trip to a workshop. I'm also considering getting the valve clearances checked there, and this thread was prompted by Hetzer's thread on that subject.

What's your bike shop history? How do you choose one?

[stinkwheel]

I've been fucked about and ripped off so much over the years, I only ever take bikes to a bike shop to get an MOT or tyres fitted.

I occasionally put bits of them in to engineers to have specific things done I can't manage at home like renewing valve seats, milling crankcases or reboring cylinders.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[NJD]

[Hetzer]

I was going to say I've never had to have a bike serviced (never owned a new one long enough) but can do all the basic stuff myself anyway. Then remembered totally dismantling a Suzuki GT550 engine when I was 22 and having it running good after reassembling it. I clearly hadn't sussed out how to do the brakes though as I then rode it straight through the wooden gate of a fortunately unoccupied house up the road.

I wouldn't go near the valves unless I had a good workshop and a couple of weeks not to need the bike. And a van and plenty of money to take it to a professional when I fucked it up.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[chickenstrip]

I started out as a Saturday lad at a bike dealer when I was about 15. They taught me a lot of the basics of bike maintenance, had me doing PDIs and stuff. When I got my first little 50, I just bought the manual and got on with it. Also stripped and repaired my brother's fubared Z650.
When I passed my test and bought my 750 Turbo from the local dealer, I continued to do my own maintenance for most stuff - anything I wasn't willing to tackle it went back to them for, which wasn't much. I traded bikes through them for some years, built up a relationship, but still doing most of my own servicing.

After I smashed my arm up, I started to find some jobs a bit tricky, but then went to work at that very same dealer I'd been buying from, so from then on, most of my servicing work was done by the dealers I worked for. A little problematic sometimes, as even though I didn't have to pay for labour anymore, that meant they didn't really want employees bikes blocking up the benches, so had to wait a while sometimes before they got around to doing stuff for me. I worked for 5 different dealerships all told, across about 10 years, not having to do my own servicing. Basically, through that period, working in the trade was how I could afford to have bikes. All that around London/Essex.

When I moved out to Oxfordshire, a local bike accessories place recommended a mechanic to me, who worked out of a farm-based mini industrial estate just outside of Cirencester. He was excellent, had a very good reputation and I soon came to see why. Very knowledgable, always helpful, always welcoming, enthusiastic about bikes.

Up here, I used a local Yam dealership (who have since dropped the Yamaha franchise but are still willing to service them or were, last time I went there). Then money got tight and I started to do my own (basic) servicing again.
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[wr6133]

Similar to Stinkwheel, MOT's and tyres, tyres are done as loose wheels, not having some ape with a rattlegun near my spindle nuts!

I don't trust other people turning spanners on my bikes, I want to know when the front wheel falls off that GSXR at 170 nobody but me is to blame.

Time becomes an issue though. The Enfield is (very) easy but the 2 Jap IL4's can eat up alot of time just working through their service schedules.

I do hand the cars to a mechanic, HGV mechanic with 40 odd years in the trade, he used to work for me so I trust him.

[MarJay]

There used to be a backstreet type place in Reading I used called MTC, but they have been taken over now and may not be as good. Now I'm near Basingstoke I use a place called JustMotorcycles which are *nearly* as good as MTC were, but sometimes their attention to detail is a bit wanting.

They tend to do great work but then leave one slight detail not quite right, like one bolt not quite tight enough or something. I tend to use them for stuff like MOTs and tyres, but I want them to do valve clearances on a couple of my bikes so I might have to sweet talk them into just checking everything twice. I'd still trust them, it tends to be towards the end of a long job where they get a bit lax.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[A100man]

I can just recall the last time I had a bike 'serviced'. It was early/mid 80s. I was at university and I have an odd feeling my dear old Dad who would have been early 50s then, rode my XJ550 to Flitwick motorcycles for me . I think it scared him witless as his last road bike at that time had been a 350 AJS of post-war vintage in the 1950/60s
Specifically I wanted the valve clearances done. To this day I have no idea if they did it or not. Perhaps they were checked..
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[blurredman]

Never been to a bike shop.

Tyres, servicing, everything- I do myself.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 17k. , 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 9k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 38k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 49k

[pepperami]

Sadly around this part of East Anglia there does not appear to be any dealers/bike shops. That I’d want to go to again.

Most turn thier noses up at anything that isn’t mainstream.
Some are just plain rude about anything they don’t normally work on.
Franchised dealers are just unhelpful, unless you have thier latest super flagship model still under warranty .
I can think of two large franchised dealerships and two independent shops around my local’ that will not benefit from my wallet , I’d rather pay transportation to a business further away than give them my business, and that’s sad.

I was speaking to someone at an event I was working at the other weekend about bikes in general.
It turned out he owned a bike repair shop not to far away .
He was lamenting how trade has not been so good lately.
In the next breath he was saying how anything under 750cc was crap and not worth working on??.
Each to thier own I suppose?

I live near Ipswich and have to travel nearly to Norwich to get any service from a dealer I can trust to do the job right at a fair? Price.
They will even work on my Honley & Hyosung GT250r, after a bit of cajoling, so long as it’s the quiet time of the year.

I would love to have an independent bike dealership/ repair shop around here that was knowledgeable, honest, and prepared to do a good job in order to retain my patronage, that I’d pay for

I can and do as much on my bikes as I possibly can .
I find the more modern the bike is the harder they are to work on from home .

Maybe this is why I look through rose tinted glasses when I see old two-smoke single cylinder carbed bikes and Suzuki GT250’s.
Even I can do most things on them to keep them on the road to a fashion.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Fisty]

I was ripped off by one in 1997.

I learned to fix stuff myself after that. The only things that get done by a garage are tyres on loose wheels or fork seals on loose forks when I can't be arsed to do them.
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Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[ThatDippyTwat]

I generally do things myself, but if I need something done that I can't do or have the facilities to do, then I use the same guy that does my MOT's - no fuss, no rip-off's, he's just really busy.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[A100man]

To be fair, unless you are doing it as a retirement job working on old stuff is always going to be a thankless task. I mean it could take the best part of day to change let's say fork seals on an 80s bike, once you've cleaned everything out, got th ebitches unstuck etc.. etc..
Most folk would want 200+ quid for that which could be 10-20% of the bikes value..
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[pepperami]

[Brava210]

I also do all my own repairs being a top Engineer etc etc
Only just started fitting my own tyres though..It is quite satisfying.
This was after a local bike shop charged me to fit 2 tyres to my trusty Honda Forza...Cost £45 quid and never even balanced them.
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Honda Novio, Puch Grand Prix, Suzuki AP50, CZ 125, Wassell 125, Montesa 348,Honda 125TDC, Suzuki 100ER, Suzuki GSF650 Bandit, Aprillia Pegaso, Honda PCX125, Honda Forza300, BMW G310 GS, Suzuki SFV650, Honda CB500X

CHARLEY SAYS " ALWAYS TELL YOUR MUMMY BEFORE YOU GO OFF SOMEWHERE"

[DJP]

I'm with Stinkwheel on this: Shops are for tyres and MOTs.

I come from a family of DIY mechanics and in my early biking days I owned stuff that was simple enough to work on myself. Hence, I have done everything from engine rebuilds to bare frame restorations.

But I can't be arsed with working on modern vehicles, there's too much stuff crammed in there. So these days I deal with it by owning vehicles that are new enough to only require routine maintenance, which I can do myself and when they start needing more than that I buy a new one.
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Suzuki Bandit 1250
https://deejayp999.atwebpages.com/index.html
That's http not https

[Polarbear]

Other than new bike work and guarantee stuff I won't use a mainstream dealer ever since Grafton Honda in MK sold me a lovely Goldwing and then promptly told me they couldn't do any work on it as they hadn't sent anyone on the correct course. WTF!

However we are exceedingly lucky to have an independant M/C workshop and the owner is one hell of a knowledgable and nice guy.

It's actually a place where they customise bikes as well as doing MOTs and any servicing etc.

He is about what you would expect pricewise for a decent mechanic but the thing that endeared them to me was how they treated wifie when I was away at sea and her bike had issues. He showed her everything that was wrong, told her prices, didn't speak down to her and gave her a totally itemised bill and offered her the parts they had changed.

It's a bloody good all round operation.

I'll put the name below. I'm not spamming, just recomending.

https://hollandengineeringservices.co.uk/
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Robby]

It's only since buying a new bike that I've gone to a shop for servicing, which I will continue to do probably. Certainly for its warranty period, maybe afterwards. I don't mind the cost when it's just a service once a year, rather than something every other week.

On the other bikes I do everything myself.

[Baffler186]

The first one I tried, the owner was a complete bellend. He was rude, left marks on the bike, and after putting a new tyre on set the chain so tight I couldn't even move it.

Second ones were a main dealer (but close to home) and failed to diagnose a failed reg/rec so i replaced it myself and didn't use them again.

The one I use now is polite, does a great job, is very honest and prices are good. I'll keep using him even though it's 25mins from my house.
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Current: 2009 SV650 S, 1990 Kawasaki GT550
Previous: 2009 CBF125, 1998 GSF600, 2004 FZ6 Fazer, 1978 CB400a Hondamatic

[Barnoe]

I used to do most of the work myself... i wasnt too bothered with cheap old bikes.
However now im spending 12k plus, its usually under warranty so that takes care of most things.

if you ask old bikers they tend to know good bike mechanics locally.
there is a very good one in Rochdale that ive used a fair bit, and so have my mates.. nobody has a bad word for him.
Building trust in any sort of mechanic is difficult usually.
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You know you are old when you're told to slow down by your doctor and not the police.

[Evil Hans]

The last bike shop I used was Sid Mullarney's in Leighton Buzzard

I think he closed down in about 1986.
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Triumph Sprint ST 1050. And it's Red.

[Enduro Numpty]

The only time I've got anything to do with bike shops these days is if I'm buying a bike from them. If the bikes are new then I'm obliged to get it serviced to preserve warranty. Normally I do all my own servicing.

Those of us old enough to have had bikes in the 70's, 80's and probably 90's will no doubt be familiar with the hassle involved of dealing with bike shop parts counters. The routine involved standing in a queue and eventually dealing with some completely uninterested person. When the part was identified after much shuffling of micro-fiches, it was never in stock. When asked when they would have it, they were never able or willing to commit. Many hours were spent over many weeks waiting for them to give the answer that you wanted to hear - "Yes sir, your part is in". Usually your hopes were dashed by the phrase that was like a dagger in the heart - "Your part isn't in stock, it's currently on BACK ORDER, maybe give us a call next week". BACK ORDER translates to "we don't give a shit about you, the customer as we know you have to come to us or an equally useless dealer".

The internet has many annoyances but not having to deal with bike shops is one of the great things. I can find my part, pay for it and be fairly confident I'll have it in my possession within days. All that and I don't need to talk to anyone.

[Pete.]

I don't take my bike to people - people usually bring them to me!

Not for servicing though, I'll normally only look at something that's not supposed to be fixable.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Poseidon]

Repairs I've always done myself. MOTs are typically done by the nearest independent one man outfit I can find. Parts and such I went to transit in York on the recommendation of a friend and never looked back. Prices are always good, I feel better about supporting a local business and Andy in the parts department is not only a shining example of what good customer service should be, but he also seems to be able to find any part you could ever possibly need.
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1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)