Some you win, some you lose.
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:21 am
I asked my local bike shop how much they'd charge to balance the carbs (after months of buying gaskets, oils, odd nuts and bolts etc), and the answer was: Nothing, if you want to do it yourself just borrowing the tools!
So, I went last Friday, after cancelling the Monday appointment, and bringing the following Monday's reschedule forward.
Got there at 13:15. Rode the bike into the workshop and got to work. Unfortunately he'd had the gauges recalibrated and two of the hook-ups to the manifolds hadn't come back with it, so we had to do the middle two first, followed by the outside pair, and that took a bit longer, plus the engine was hot and the middle two screws are a bitch to get at without burning yourself.
Whatever, after one and a half hours I'd finished, in the end with a lot of help from Miguel; he went to lunch over an hour late with a handshake and a big smile and he still refused to charge me.
Today I went to a different shop in the city centre, a breakers where I bought the R1 brakes, SV handlebars, GSXR radial MC and clutch MC etc, and mainly non OEM stuff like lights, indicators, tail tidy filters etc. I've spent over a thousand euros there in the last 3 years and I wanted to borrow a fibreglass CBR1000 race tail unit to see how it would mock up on the Spondon. When I say borrow, I mean pay the 250 euros, take it away this lunch time and take t back tomorrow lunch time in perfect condition. So the manager starts on with, bring it back and I'll give you a credit note, and I'm saying... hang on, it's no special order, you've got it in stock, I'm a good customer and I'll buy it if there's hope in hell of making it fit without completely butchering it. So he tells me that he's got a hundred thousand customers like me and if they all took stuff away and then brought it back asking for their money back....
I told him to keep it.
Like my dad always said: There's nowt as queer as folk!
John
So, I went last Friday, after cancelling the Monday appointment, and bringing the following Monday's reschedule forward.
Got there at 13:15. Rode the bike into the workshop and got to work. Unfortunately he'd had the gauges recalibrated and two of the hook-ups to the manifolds hadn't come back with it, so we had to do the middle two first, followed by the outside pair, and that took a bit longer, plus the engine was hot and the middle two screws are a bitch to get at without burning yourself.
Whatever, after one and a half hours I'd finished, in the end with a lot of help from Miguel; he went to lunch over an hour late with a handshake and a big smile and he still refused to charge me.
Today I went to a different shop in the city centre, a breakers where I bought the R1 brakes, SV handlebars, GSXR radial MC and clutch MC etc, and mainly non OEM stuff like lights, indicators, tail tidy filters etc. I've spent over a thousand euros there in the last 3 years and I wanted to borrow a fibreglass CBR1000 race tail unit to see how it would mock up on the Spondon. When I say borrow, I mean pay the 250 euros, take it away this lunch time and take t back tomorrow lunch time in perfect condition. So the manager starts on with, bring it back and I'll give you a credit note, and I'm saying... hang on, it's no special order, you've got it in stock, I'm a good customer and I'll buy it if there's hope in hell of making it fit without completely butchering it. So he tells me that he's got a hundred thousand customers like me and if they all took stuff away and then brought it back asking for their money back....
I told him to keep it.
Like my dad always said: There's nowt as queer as folk!
John
