Servicing an "older" bike

**MikeL** · 14th November 2006, 08:50

I have been a loyal customer of Mt Eden Motorcycles for several years. Both my bikes have been serviced there regularly. I went in yesterday to book the Honda in for a service, only to be told that they won't do it. New policy: bikes older than 5 years take too long, too much hassle, not economical, blah blah blah. WTF???

Thoroughly bewildered I am. Does this policy make any sense at all? If my 1989 bike genuinely takes longer to service than a 2006 bike, I'll pay the extra cost.
Now I'm faced with taking the bike somewhere else, further away and a lot less convenient for me.

I'm not a happy chappy. If Mt Eden don't want my Honda, they're not going to get my XJR either. Or my money for accessories or anything else.

**Ixion** · 14th November 2006, 08:56

Well, that's all my bikes out then. 'Twould seem that Mt Eden don't really want to do servicing, just have to for new bikes.

Just as well I do my own, eh.

Silly though, 5 years is not much. One must assume that they reckon their new bike customers will never be able to keep a bike for more than five years . But they sell secondhand bikes more than 5 years old. So presumably they won't service what they sell.

Note not to ever buy a bike from Mt Eden

(BTW I believe Experience BMW will be happy to service any BMW ever made)

**The Stranger:Me** · 14th November 2006, 08:58

Motohaus is not that far away from Mt Eden Motorcycles.

**jim.cox** · 14th November 2006, 09:06

Originally Posted by MikeL

I have been a loyal customer of Mt Eden Motorcycles for several years. Both my bikes have been serviced there regularly. I went in yesterday to book the Honda in for a service, only to be told that they won't do it. New policy: bikes older than 5 years take too long, too much hassle, not economical, blah blah blah. WTF???

Time to learn to do it yourself ?

You can you know, it's not that hard

=mjc=

**Motu** · 14th November 2006, 09:24

As a repairer I can see the sense in that,although I'd say 10 years,5 years is a bit extreme.There are a lot of unrelated things that can go wrong when fiddling around with an older bike,and we've all seen how the bike shops get blasted on this forum for doing nothing more than try to fix some overprice piece of crap.It's unprofitable to waste time chasing faults that the customer won't pay for because ''there was nothing wrong with it before''.Think of it as the down side of Consumer Rights - the consumer has been given far too much power,we now have a generation of consumers who now know they can hold a business accountable for their own stupidity.If I was working on new vwehicles I wouldn't allow older stuff into the shop either.

**WRT** · 14th November 2006, 09:46

Interesting . . . I see they have 23 bikes listed on their website that are at least 5 years old . . .

**Devil** · 14th November 2006, 09:50

What part of town are you in, Mike?
Always had great service from Spectrum in Takapuna.

**BNZ** · 14th November 2006, 10:27

Originally Posted by Devil

What part of town are you in, Mike?
Always had great service from Spectrum in Takapuna.

Me too. I do my own oil changes, plugs, minor stuff etc but use spectrum for anything above this.

**jrandom** · 14th November 2006, 10:32

What the hell?

I never grumped about spending $600 per service at Mt Eden MC for my '92 Zeal. I was happy, in fact, that someone was taking the time to look after the old girl. Surely billable workshop hours are profitable?

Sounds like laziness to me, not good business. But maybe your average workshop customer is more cuntish than I give them credit for.

A sad day indeed.

**MSTRS:Me** · 14th November 2006, 10:42

This will get more common too. Mechanics are now 'technicians'. This means that they replace, not fix, stuff. Which also means that planned obselescence is beginning to bite.

**frogfeaturesFZR** · 14th November 2006, 10:54

You book your pride n'joy in for a service. And thats what they should provide. Service. Not ' it's to old ' or something ,WTF, sounds like marketing suicide. Have the management there thought this thing through ? You can't sell 5 year old bikes but then refuse to service them. I mean.....really ?

**The Stranger:Me** · 14th November 2006, 11:00

Originally Posted by Motu

As a repairer I can see the sense in that,although I'd say 10 years,5 years is a bit extreme.There are a lot of unrelated things that can go wrong when fiddling around with an older bike,and we've all seen how the bike shops get blasted on this forum for doing nothing more than try to fix some overprice piece of crap.It's unprofitable to waste time chasing faults that the customer won't pay for because ''there was nothing wrong with it before''.Think of it as the down side of Consumer Rights - the consumer has been given far too much power,we now have a generation of consumers who now know they can hold a business accountable for their own stupidity.If I was working on new vwehicles I wouldn't allow older stuff into the shop either.

Agh, my worst nightmare... Agreeing with Motu.

We get it with computers. Someone wants their Windows 98 machine repaired. You just can't do it and actually make money.

**sunhuntin** · 14th November 2006, 11:11

thats not good is it? seems to be the way things are going. i had a friend in canada...needed work done on his early 80s harley motor....the nearest dealer refused to even look at it, with the same excuse "too old" wtf? so, my buddy brought the motor and some beers to my partners place, got out some tools and a blow torch and nearly burnt the house down. lol.

take it elsewhere. thats what i did after repeated crap service...

**Ixion** · 14th November 2006, 11:16

So, assume that everyone takes the same approach. Where does that leaves bike owners. Unless you can do your own (getting harder , with computer systems anbd such like) that means that a bike has to be regarded as a disposable thing, junk it after 6 years.

Buggered if I'd ever buy a bike on that basis.

Reality is of course that there'll always be independants will service the older stuff. But I thinbk it says a lot about Mt Edens service ethic (or lack of it) that they brought in such a policy without making some arrangement with one (or more) of those independants, so that they could refer owners of older machines to them .No "Sorry , Sir, we can't handle those older machines . But we have an agreement with X and Y , they're very good and experienced and will be happy to help you. I'll just give them a call for you". Nope, just "Piss off".

One more bike shop off the list, I guess.