Your Local Bike Shop

There are five local bikeshops in the Greater Alvin area...three are strictly HD, one will work on anything and the owner is old enough that he actually knows what a Z-bike is, and the fifth just folded because of poor business practices (although he had the makin's of what we all want...work on anything, older owner, closed Monday and Tuesday and open on Saturday and Sunday). But, despite that, I still do 99% of all my own wrenching...which probably contributed to the demise of the fifth shop:)

One of the big advantages to Kawasaki as far as I'm concerned is the high degree of interchangability in their parts. Since most of the stuff I work on is of the same basic age it is far easier for me to just play Mr Potato Head with stuff I have around here. And like the rest of you guys if I need new stuff I just call Jeff at Z-1 Ent. I don't think in the last 4 years I've spent over $100.00 on parts from the local Kawi dealer. If I need some obscure vintage discontinued part I call Johnny's Vintage Motorcycle Co. He and I worked together at the same dealer over 20 years ago and he has a huge stock of NOS parts. He always asks top buck for it but he will normally give me a decent deal if I call him a crook.:laugh:

timebomb33 wrote:

just like rick said don't try dealing with the big dealers and try to look for the small one or two man operation that deals with every thing most dealers won't even look at a bike that is older than 3-5 years the motorcycle industry has been under paying there mechanics and parts people for so long that most of the good guy's have left to do other things. the guy's that are left in the trade are if they are over 30 are the true die hards and are in it for the love of motorcycles. the internet has killed a lot of shops as far as parts sales go it doesn't pay for a guy to carry a big list of stocked parts when people are coming into the shop asking if you have such and such and when you say you do and tell them the price they say screw that i can get it off the internet for cheaper,and when they do they are pissed because you quoted them a price that was gonna net 30% for your shop and they think that you are ripping them off so they won't bring the bike in to get worked on because according to them you are screwing people when in actual fact you are trying your damdest to keep the doors open and the lights on. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BIKE SHOP

WHAT HE SAID!!!!

Fortunately, I'm fairly close to two great indie shops, one for my older HD's and another UJM shop for my Z-1's. Unless its a very specific specialty item (such as Z1E's drilled rotors), I prefer to have them order all parts for me. I assume doing so helps the shops stay in business.

Plus the UJM shop hand crafts s/s lines for any purpose. Awesome!

Also very close by is a good off road shop that works on my 1987 4WD. Same deal there. These guys are so good, my sister who used to insist on dealership only now takes her 2WD p/u truck and PTCruiser there for work.

Can we name names?

HD/Ural: Classic Thunder, Des Moines WA
ask for Bill

Classic UJMs: South End Cycles, Burien, WA
ask for Darrin

4WD, or any sort of car/truck for that matter: TC's Off Road, Kent WA
ask for Terry

thanks to you guys, i do all my own wrenching...
the nearest dealer is 25 miles away and the service and pricing arent top notch....i bought two new bikes from them as well as my first bike
(used)....the last time i was in there about a year ago, whole place had changed....
that being said,a couple of days ago i needed a place to get my tires mounted...my boss , the quintesential biker chick, called her friend who owns a bike shop in newport...never knew he was there...small concrete building with no sign and i would have missed it if i hadnt seen a couple
newport tourism mopeds parked outside....dropped em off at 11:30 am and he called at 2:30 pm and said "all set".....cool guy...said he used to have 3 full time guys and said it was too much bs..doesnt advertise...has plenty of work for one..
he fixes all the peds and two seat tourist killers they rent in newport, but can work on anything....he wasnt cheap 40 to r and r two tires and balance and 20 for two tubes, but not a bandit...
small place and shit everywhere....last of a dying breed.........best service i ve had in years.....

that is typical for a small one or two man operation not all of us are out to screw people over and some of us even care how the bike goes back together.

timebomb33 wrote:

that is typical for a small one or two man operation not all of us are out to screw people over and some of us even care how the bike goes back together.

like i said, last of a dying breed...i asked him if he was any good at electrical....he said that was his specialty.....i ll be looking this guy up again if need be....i didnt think guys like him existed on aquidneck island anymore, nevermind the mainland.....

he said that was his specialty

Keith, if he truly is good at that kind of stuff, you want to treat him like a long-lost rich uncle with a heart condition.:laugh:
As you say, guys like that are way too rare nowadays.....
never mind that he's close by. If he likes to have a few wobbly-pops, a flat of his favourite brand will probably go a lonnngggg way to you being on his Christmas card list.

H2RICK wrote:

he said that was his specialty

Keith, if he truly is good at that kind of stuff, you want to treat him like a long-lost rich uncle with a heart condition.:laugh:
As you say, guys like that are way too rare nowadays.....
never mind that he's close by. If he likes to have a few wobbly-pops, a flat of his favourite brand will probably go a lonnngggg way to you being on his Christmas card list.

:laugh: :laugh: i have sneaking suspicion he likes to roll his own, but what the hey, whatever gets ya out of bed....its kind of funny, i used to go to a guy that worked wonders for cheap on my 84 berlinetta camaro and my 87 police package crown vic, and he used to start the day with a "session"..
not my bag, but sometimes the good ,cheap wrenches
do what they have to do........it is what it is....
...:ohmy: ....:laugh:

the really good motorcycle mechanics will have a hard time remembering who the person is but they will never forget a bike it usally takes a few times of you showing up and checking things out or buying a few small items before you will get remembered but the bike is forever. sometimes some left handed cabbage helps or maybe a wobbly or two in my case it's pepsi and doughnuts but eventually we will remember. but mention that bike and it all comes back in a rush

timebomb33 wrote:

the really good motorcycle mechanics will have a hard time remembering who the person is but they will never forget a bike it usally takes a few times of you showing up and checking things out or buying a few small items before you will get remembered but the bike is forever. sometimes some left handed cabbage helps or maybe a wobbly or two in my case it's pepsi and doughnuts but eventually we will remember. but mention that bike and it all comes back in a rush

left handed cabbage.....i ll have to put that one in the cranium.....:laugh: .....totally comprehend the point you make and i totally agree.....always been my experience.....i dont have a lot of cash, but when someone does me right in the way of service, when the bill comes to 88.75 for instance, i will give em a 100, say thanks, and tell em "i ll be back"........customer service goes a long way in my book..........hard to find these days....

and believe me when we get something as small as a couple of extra bucks or even a heartfelt thank you to most of us it really means something special the best one that happened to me was one time i diagnosed an ignition box problem on a couples 85 venture and the only box around was about 300 miles away so we got it coming and the next day i put it on but it was not quite the same so i had to compare schematics and do some wire swaping to get it to work,they had been planning this trip to sturgis for about three years so it was really important to them. i got them going and as they were on the road and from a different town about 150 miles away i cut them a real good deal on the labour. he was over the moon and asked me if i wanted anything from sturgis so isaid the usual t- shirt. didn't think another thing about it and waved them on there way about ten days later i get to work in the morning and what do i see but this same venture parked out front. and sitting on the curb was these people after a long trip with two t-shirts .been freinds every since.i could not believe they went out of there way that much. stuff like that makes you feel pretty good.