A rant on accident repairs.

[Marmoot]

Wheres this chain thingy people are talking about?

normally wrapped around the front or rear tyre when bike is parked securely.

[pritch]

I know people who take their bike to the shop to have the chain adjusted!

I would do that if I was touring and it needed a tweak. Better than carrying a torque wrench and spanner, or worse, trying to use the ummm inadequate(?) tools that come in the toolkit :-)

[White trash]

But if you cant rely on your local to get it right I mean you take your bike in to get fixed, pay your money (or insurance does) get your bike back supposedly all fixed and it kills you. You shouldn't have to check it out again yourself. I reckon the shop owner would need to be told to hopefully make sure it doesn't happen again to someone whose not so lucky . As said before theres a lot of mechanical illiterates out there.

The shop owner has been told, and is full of apology and concern. He know's too well the dangers and never once tried to fob me off. Fact is, it still happens as it's HUMANS working on our bikes and shit happens.

Tell ya a story about REAL good customer service.

A bloke has had a gutsfull of riding a horible old eighties piece of shit that he's had for a million years and decides to treat himself to a model of bike he always liked the look of. Nice late 90s Jap sports bike, got a hell of a cult following and still a great reputation of being wicked bike. Now this bike's a Jap import and has all these funny, painted seals accross all the engine casing joints. Got a few trick bits on it and goes like a robbers dog too. Bike shop comes to the conclusion it's been used previously as one-make-class race bike back in the land of the rising sun but they're not really sure.

Machanically, it seems good if a little more worn than its 14000km would suggest.

So matey shells out his hard earned savings for this bike in good faith. Can't quite stretch to the one year newer, a little tidier and good deal more expensive same model bike sitting next to it. No biggy, he likes this colour anyway.

Comes back two weeks later a little concerned. It's got a little rattle sort of noise in the engine, guy know's very little about engines and can the salesman check it? Salesman doesn't know alot about rattles either so he wheels the bike out to the workshop to be told by a mecahnic, that's camchain rattle, they all do that. Customer's happy, this is a big shop, they know what they're doing.

Two months later, the salesman answers the phone and it's an out of town bike shop. Guy sez "Hey we've just had an XYZ wheeled in here and it's got your stickers all over it, belongs to Joe Bloggs. Did you guys recently sell it?" Sure we did sez the salesman. "Well it's stopped and it doesn't look good. You want us to check it or do you guys wanna come pick it up for a look?" Of course the shop goes to pick the bike up for a look see.

Customer rings a few times over the next week or two but the workshops real busy see and they haven't had a chance to look. By now our salseman's feeling pretty rat shit about selling this poor guy the bike. Eventually, the workshop get a chance to look over the bike and our young sales guy is told by his sales manager the following.

"Right. The workshops assessed that XYZ, the foreman tells me it's caused by the customer running it out of oil and it's his own fault. They're a dry sump those things and you've got to keep an eye on the level.We're not interested. You go tell the customer that. End of story." Well our old-school-put-it-right style of salesman doesn't like the sound of that response too much. He knows his customer isn't a complete cabbage and thinks he's a bit smarter than that. So he collars the mechanic that actually pulled the motor down in the pub and confronts him.

"That XYZ you pulled down that was fucked. It ran out of oil?"
"Who told you that?"
"Your boss told my boss that's what you found."
"I said no such fucken thing. I said the things been given arseholes it's entire life and was proper fucked. Mostly due to wear and excessive clearances."
"Right."

So our hero calls the customer, full of trepidation and still not decided on what approach to take. Be a cunt? Or find a job?

"Gudday Mr Bloggs it's Frank Zappa from Good Fellows Motorcycles. We've looked at your bike."
"Oh great, what's the problem?"
"I've been told to tell you it's fucked and it's your fault from running it out of oil."
"................"
"What do you think of that Mr Bloggs?"
"......Ummmmmm, I'm not sure what to do. What'll it cost to fix?"
"Thousands."
"Ohhh and ummm, do you guys think I'd get a discount on labour or parts or anything?"
"Nope."
"What should I do."
"Well you didn't hear this from me, but it is still your bike."
"Yeah"
"So you can get the motor looked at by another shop."
"Is that what you'd do?"
"Sure is Mr Bloggs. Now I gotta go and have a sales meeting. Catch ya later."

And do you think that guy can find work in another motorcycle store?

[aff-man]

You're sharp. That's actually my fuck up as I never got 'round to replacing the left side Gixxer one when the shop replaced the R/H unit with an SV unit.

Did you notice the matching brake callipers?

Sooo now everyone is a comedian... sheeesh

[Cajun]

Personally i won't/don't trust the workshops anywhere, any more

I always take my bikes to the dealership less fairings.

1) easyer for them to be worked on
2) gives a good chance to clean the motor and the like when goes in for its servicing
3) Some are very rough with fairings and the like, and don't treat them like they should do.

I always have oil filter/a 4 pack of oil and the like to go with my bike at each service ready with the bike. I usual like to hang around while they service the bike, since it really should only take 1-2 hours tops. for a basic every day service on a jap bike. In turn most of those services are done to cover the warranty of bike.

Anyone who rides/drives should have a good tool kit sitting in there garage at least. with a good set of most things they need(spanner set, screw drivers, allen keys, sockets) to do just the basic things, even for doing stuff around the house. I am amazed at the amount of people now days who don't even service cars/bikes regularly and then wonder why they have problems.

One of the ideas of washing your vechiles is made so you can look at it vehicle to see if there is anything out of place, or something that needs looking at.


Tell you a little story about bike dealers.
"little while ago, a bike went to a dealer to get assed about some damage, They came back with the rear subframe was bent. So insurnace wrote it off. Which we believe was incorrect. And with in space of 2 weeks(mind you this was over xmas/new years time) It was back on the road & repainted. Then about 3 weeks later again a letter arrives in mail asking to register said vehicle. "

[F5 Dave]

. . . I know people who take their bike to the shop to have the chain adjusted!

Yeah an ex’s GS500 came back from a 1st or 2nd service (at some prominent shop somewhere) & they’d adjusted the chain after I’d adjusted it only the week before. Hmm, yeah ok it looks about right, but I always check on a new bike that the tension doesn’t change when you sit on it. The GS was a bit old style & when you sat on it; the tension was ‘boing’ tight. So I adjusted it back. Reckoned I saved them a gearbox bearing warranty job there.

But they did replace the scratched panel when we pointed out that it certainly wasn’t garked when it went in for service. I can see how it would be easy to scratch a bike with so many crammed in there, but worth removing plastics as Caj sez.

I stopped taking bikes into shops maybe 15 yrs ago when I got lazy & took the whole bike in to get both tires fitted & the calliper bolt fell out the next day. & yeah I did tell them & I'm glad I heard it hit the ground at low speed.

[Zed]

...And do you think that guy can find work in another motorcycle store?

I'd hire him in a heartbeat! Just the kind of moral fibre I appreciate and require in an employee. Problem with sales though is that your morals are often tempted and tried. If that was you Jimmy you did a good thing!

Now with accident repairs, I find Riff Raff's tale all too common, and if it was my bike I would have been in the shop after the 3rd phonecall made to them for an update, citing their lack of communication and shocking customer service to the manager. The carelessness of the employee who did the work is worth a verbal warning imo, that may seem hard but it's just not up to a satisfactory standard, and i'd hope the manager of the shop agrees. People will dismiss it claiming it happens often and human error blah blah, but that doesn't cut it with me, we pay a truckload to these shops sometimes and blow me if i'm gonna work a hard weeks work or two to pay top dollar for mechanical work on my bike that is substandard. The whole story angered me, you let them off lightly Trashman, but that's your prerogative.

[Momentum]

I got new rubber fitted on the back of the bike. Next day I go for a blat out to Ragland. Get back into hamilton and I am heading over to a mates place. Take off from a set of lights and bike seems really jerky and I hear abit of a clunking sound. I pull over jump off the bike going WHAT THE F*$K. Chain is almost dragging on the ground. Crap no tools with me nanner the bike over to my mates place. The main bolt in the back wheel was just a little tighter than finger tight

[manuboy]

The bottom line here is that the shop took responsibility and fixed it. RR will use them again (until they prove that taking responsibility was just lip service).

Seems similars to Hitchers thread. His experiences with bike shops don't mirror mine. Sportzone down here give top service. As long as people are honest with them they'll do right by ya. And after 3 services i've had one bolt come loose and that was 1/2 way between services - actually Dangerous found it while he was cleaning it (dont ask)...

Probably more people get reasonable / reliable service than not.

[ajturbo]

can anyone tell me where my chain is?.... i have looked everywhere for one... i think it has fallen off:spudwhat:

[Marmoot]

can anyone tell me where my chain is?.... i have looked everywhere for one... i think it has fallen off:spudwhat:

It's right next to the flux hydromatriculator

[mr me]

I wood have to take my bike to the shop to get the chain done because WT got a new tool box for christmas and has stolen half my tools.

[cowpoos]

Everyone makes mistakes, its how you react to them that defines you.

you be watching Dr Phil aint ya....or does ya misses tape for u while your at work...

[madboy]

Well my bike is missing three bolts at present... two from the fork seal job at the shop, and one from the plate removal job I did myself... but as both are cosmetic, and both speed tested to over 250k (verified) I'm not too concerned.

But God help the poor mechanic that has a bad day with my brakes... WT, I've gotta admit it takes a big man to not lose the plot over that, and an equally big shopman to sort it.

[Pixie]

as mchanics are only human and unfortunately shit does get missed.

I'm not so sure.
I was watching Walking with Cavemen the other day.The big difference between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals was that the latter's brain had not developed to the extent where they had imagination and the ability to consider future consequences.
The mechanic couldn't foresee that you would come back to get the bike fixed properly.
I rest my case.