Mechanic costs

[Motu]

The comodity a mechanic sells is his time,that's all he has on offer - the more difficult your bike is to work on the longer he/she will take,so it will cost you more.A simple single cylinder bike with everything accesable will take less time to do a service on than a multi cyl where everything will have to be removed for such simple tasks as sparkplug checks - and he's pretty silly if after spending an hour to get to said plugs if he doesn't replace them...cause sure as the owner will be back next week with a miss....User pays - if your bike is complicated and difficult to work on,you will pay through the nose...enjoy your expensive ride....

[Ixion]

Yes, everything that makes the process take longer ends up costing more.

That's why when I went looking for Li'l rat Bike I wanted an aircooled carburetted single.

Radiator ? More to do, more $. Four cylinders ? Four times as many spark plugs to change, compressions to test, carbs to adjust and sync. Fairings ? More to remove and put back before you can get at the goodies.

$60 - $70 is pretty reasonable for a chargeout rate. The garage has to pay rent, wages, buy (expensive) service tools, WOF "membership" costs, downtime, training courses, GST, depreciation [ and the list goes on]

Cut to the chase, avoiding expensive servicing bills means either doing it yourself (which can end up being a *lot* more expensive !) ; or choosing a simple bike

The wonderful technological complexity that gives all that power has a price. There is no free lunch.

[TwoSeven]

Sorry, I dont hold with that 'its more complex' so should cost more excuse - but it does depend on the way charging is done. Some outfits charge per job - changing a clutch is changing a clutch. Its fixed rate - the kind I like best

Other outfits charge by the hour. Thats where it gets sticky because then changing plugs on a GN250 is a bucket load easier than doing them on a vfr400. But the argument should be - the price really shouldnt change that much because any qualified mechanic should be treating it as a simple job.

Also, factory trained (what I called qualified) should be taking no longer than the factory specified time to do a job. I know Honda use F.R.T (flat rate time), so there is no excuse for a mechanic to take longer - if they do, you shouldnt be paying the extra.

Finally, if someone is charging $70/hour then I wouldnt touch them with a barge pole. There is a difference in charging parts and labour and charging me for the 40 bikes sitting out in the shop, a bunch of old spares taking up shelf space and two people standing at the til.

On the funny side tho - it is a bit of an insult to bloke-ism if someone cant do at least the basic maintenance on a vehicle

[chickenfunkstar]

Thinking about it, I know I can at least change the oil, filter and rear spark plug by myself. Perhaps i'll do those myself next time.

Would doing this impact negativly on the re-sale value or would it not really matter?

I also dont want to miss something important which a qualified mechanic would easily pick up. I've got no ideas about carbs or wheel alignment or stuff like that.

On the funny side tho - it is a bit of an insult to bloke-ism if someone cant do at least the basic maintenance on a vehicle

Lol, i know people that don't even know how to fill their vehicles with petrol.

[Motu]

Sorry, I dont hold with that 'its more complex' so should cost more excuse - but it does depend on the way charging is done. Some outfits charge per job - changing a clutch is changing a clutch. Its fixed rate - the kind I like best

So if they charge 5 hrs to do the clutch on your CB250RS because that's how long it takes on a Goldwing (take more....I know) then you are happy to pay...when it took the apprentice 1/2 an hour?.I flat rate my jobs on the cars I work on - if the guys actualy take as long as I charge I'm pissed off...I charge 5 hrs for a clutch,if it's not done in 3 i'm on the case.

[Ixion]

Sorry, I dont hold with that 'its more complex' so should cost more excuse - but it does depend on the way charging is done. Some outfits charge per job - changing a clutch is changing a clutch. Its fixed rate - the kind I like best ..

So should I expect to get my BMW clutch changed for the same price as Mr Chickenfunkstar's SV ?

[Ixion]

Thinking about it, I know I can at least change the oil, filter and rear spark plug by myself. Perhaps i'll do those myself next time.

Would doing this impact negativly on the re-sale value or would it not really matter?
...

Shouldn't have any impact if you do it properly. Go along to Messrs Bugjuice and Frostys' maintaince evening and learn how.

[Two Smoker]

Thats nothing... my service bill on the 400 cost me $1600... but that did include tyres...

[Ixion]

..
Also, factory trained (what I called qualified) should be taking no longer than the factory specified time to do a job. I know Honda use F.R.T (flat rate time), so there is no excuse for a mechanic to take longer - if they do, you shouldnt be paying the extra.
..

Factory time is used for warranty work. Nobody makes money on warranty work, they only do it because they get the profit of the new bike sale. It also assumes everything is new and perfect. Working on older bikes (or cars) is always harder and takes longer.

Service shops have to make a profit, if they don't they go out of business. Which doesn't help anyone.

The biker world is a small one. No bike shop is going to around long if they rip people off, because word quickly gets around.

[SlashWylde]

Oil + filter + air filter, adjusted Scott oiler, WOF and a general check over / adjustment. 2.5 hours labour.

It actually sounds quite good value when I read everything thats been checked.

Never really been anywhere else with my current bike.

Dude, not to sound critical but you could do all that your self, save your self a bundle and have the satisfaction of servicing your own bike. Sure get the pros to look it over and tune it twice a year, but the basic stuff shouldn' be beyond the average rider. The service manual for the bike should spell it all out.

P.S. Plugs and air filters are a once a year thing, oil three monthly and oil filter six monthly.

[FlyingDutchMan]

I do everything myself - I now have enough tools and bits to de-hydrolock my engine in the middle of nowhere (after an unforunate incident in Tekapo). saves me time/money from having to arrange a trailer/mechanic out there to attend to the bike. And if you do the servicing yourself, the more you know about your bike, and that is never a bad thing (unless you just paid way too much $$$ for it).

[nodrog:Me]

$20 for a spark plug... ouch that is expensive....

My last lot only cost $6 each.

i wish mine only cost $6, hell i would be happy if they cost $20!!

[gav]

Hard to see 2.5 hours work in that little lot. I'd be interested to know how often they replace your air filter too, maybe look at a K&N filter that will breathe a bit better and is servicable, ie can be cleaned and reused. PLugs $20 maybe, think plugs for my ZXR400 were about $28-$30 each, first time I bought a set and the guy goes $110!! I'm like, your farkin joking mate? argggh nope... damn, so what sort of miles you doing, are they replacing plugs every 6 months? Got your last bill handy? Oh, we're a car workshop and charge $55 + gst per hour. Std service will cost ya $102.25 incl gst, approx 4 litres Pennzoil and oil filter. $35 for a warrant.

[chickenfunkstar]

Seemed like a reasonable amount to do in 2.5 hours to me. I think you'd have to take the radiator off just to change the front spark plug.

I've had the bike for about 8 months and done about 16,000kms. The air filter has been done once, but it may have been dirty when I bought it.
I was going to get a K&N or a BMC? air filter but they didn't have any in stock.

[TwoSeven]

One of the things I do when I learn to fix something for the first time, is repeat it another 5 times. Partly its so that I can do it fast and remember what tools are used in the job, but partly it because I was tought that I should be able to fix something at night with no lights (which has actually happened).

If someone took 5 hours to do a clutch on a goldwing i'd be worried. I'd be expecting them to put half the bike together in that time.