Red Baron, any experience?

[Street Gerbil]

Dear folks,
does anyone have any experience dealing with Red Baron in Auckland?
Can they be trusted in pre-purchase inspection?
Thank you!
SG

[SpankMe]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=10060

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8343

[dawnrazor]

you might want to try doing a search on them in the forums, as I remember there was a long bitter indepth lambasting of the baron not so long ago - it put me off for life.

[Forest]

Avoid at all costs.

You might get a good deal. However as my father once said to me: "Son. You can find a clean looking biscuit in a rubbish bin - but do you really want to look for one in there?"

[McJim]

Bad news travels faster then good news - I've had nothing but good experiences from Red Baron.

[jtzzr]

Iv`e bought too bikes from RB ,got no gripes with the sales , finance , accesories guys, but the workshop well umm,not too great in my opinion,had a bike that kept jumping out of second gear, so took it back and told them the story, and the service manager told me I wasn`t putting it into gear properly, and I thought maybe he`s right ,so took it away and it kept doing it, so took it back once again , then they said it was dentent springs in the gear box and they said they changed them,I don`t think so ,cause the bike kept jumping out of gear and would find a false neutral,so I thought Fu@k this I want another bike , and ended up buying another bike ,at a pretty good price ,so was kinda happy , but this bike misses and farts occasionally , so took this one back and they said it was the idler jets,Wrong,it still does it , well it did till I put some carb cleaner through it, will see how it goes, but my advice to you mate take it somewhere else to have a pre-inspection,cause the workshop ain`t too crash hot.Good luck to you.

[imdying]

Iv`e bought too bikes from RB ,got no gripes with the sales , finance , accesories guys, but the workshop well umm,not too great in my opinion,had a bike that kept jumping out of second gear, so took it back and told them the story, and the service manager told me I wasn`t putting it into gear properly, and I thought maybe he`s right ,so took it away and it kept doing it, so took it back once again , then they said it was dentent springs in the gear box and they said they changed them,I don`t think so ,cause the bike kept jumping out of gear and would find a false neutral,so I thought Fu@k this I want another bike , and ended up buying another bike ,at a pretty good price ,so was kinda happy , but this bike misses and farts occasionally , so took this one back and they said it was the idler jets,Wrong,it still does it , well it did till I put some carb cleaner through it, will see how it goes, but my advice to you mate take it somewhere else to have a pre-inspection,cause the workshop ain`t too crash hot.Good luck to you.

And that saga about sums up what you hear about RB... they appear to import shit, and do as little as possible to help support them after sales. I agree that you only hear the bad stuff, but when you hear it time after time...

[Fishy]

I used to work there years ago, I was staff and got stuffed around when trying to buy a bike from them so i went to the opposition..... that sorted that out!. I would never buy a bike from them now.

[Lou Girardin]

They got roasted to a crisp on here.
But then, I thought Colemans were great.
Who knows? Maybe they're all great until you need help.

[andrea]

nah no problems with RB, but ive been told there interest rate is high.
hmm i think they got sick of me going in every few years and saying i was going to get my learners and going to get a bike from them, but after i finally did get my learners after um i think hmm fark ive forgotten say 8 years maybe, they were so happy hmm.

[Toast]

Mike in service has always been really good in my experience. Geoff is really on to it too. I bought a bike there and said it felt gutless. They probably knew that I didn't know shit, but offered to stick it on the dyno for free as a guide to whether or not it was missing a bit.

Had a couple of bikes inspected there, one of them my own (for the prospective purchaser)...in the 20 mins or so they picked up pretty much everything.

Pre-purchase inspections are usually fairly short remember, so don't expect them to find every area of wear deep within the engine. If it's running a bit off, they should be able to tell you though.

[Macktheknife]

Do a search but the short answer is......
they are crap. Go down and see Mike at Mt Eden Motorcycles, he will sort you out. 5 mins around the corner.

[SlashWylde]

Do a search but the short answer is......
they are crap. Go down and see Mike at Mt Eden Motorcycles, he will sort you out. 5 mins around the corner.

I second that.

[SwanTiger]

We have taken both of our Hyosung motorcycles to Red Baron for their first services and have not had any issues arise from doing so. The decision to use Red Baron was due to the dealership we originally purchased the bikes from being unable to schedule a service date that suited our time frame.

I haven't experienced their sales department, however while browsing their bikes on the show room floor my impressions were what I expected after reading some of the horror experiences shared on this forum.

I'd say they could be trusted with a pre-purchase inspection and a second opinion never mortally wounded anyone, except maybe an ego or two.

[Swoop]

I have bought gloves, lid, etc from them. The sales guys in the parts (upstairs) area seemed really good. Helpful and not pushy.
Cannot comment on the bike sales/service areas though.