Your bike is too old for us to put tires on...

flht1997 wrote:

When I was in the dealership we would change tires on everything. It is real nice when a new bike comes in with tubeless mags; it is a 30-minute job beginning to end. We would do any vintage bike, BUT in the the dealers defense I can guarantee you that in the recent past an older bike, lets say a KZ came in they accepted it and, first off the axle is rusted in, the threads ripper off the end cause a cotter key was rusted in, the bearing, sprocket, swing arm bushing and chain are bad. The old tire was 30 years old and hard as a rock, the rim had tire locks that were rusted on, they ended up cutting the tire off, the customer wanted them to reuse the inner tube and put duct tape on for a rim strip, the customer refused all other work then complained about waiting so long and the high bill, when the tech just wasted 4 hours on a "half hour" job, remember that fella is doing this for a living. It is easy for the service manager to say, "no, the bike is too old, we won't work on it" it is not good PR but that is the way it is at alot of places.

very much understood.

i was more upset that the lady I spoke with failed to mention it to me until I'd waited for her to call back twice about tire prices. if she had said it early on it would have saved both of us time.

the dealership i'm talking about is big time in town too. it is the main one. they have a big service staff...all certified with lots of experience... i'd been in previously looking at helmets and gloves and had no offers for assistance, just some disapproving looks because i had on shorts and a tshirt instead of the typical harley/biker look. they lost money that day. part of me was glad they said no, because i had to find a better option, and i'd already had a crap experience. i've always liked helping out smaller shops anyway. this all just cemented further my avoidance of ever buying a new bike from a big shop (aside from i don't care much for any newer bikes).

i'm glad i found the smaller shop. guy on the phone actually knew what a kz was. Now I've found a good local shop in case i get in over my head in the future!

thanks all for the perspectives.

I just order my tires, when they come in, I pull the wheel and change the tire. Hardest part is breaking the bead. Then I take the 40-60 bucks I saved doing it myself, and buy a nice bottle of booze to toast myself on a job well done......it is not a hard job to do, think large bicycle wheel......chris3

I've done mine since I was 13 yrs old. Besides saving money by doing it myself, I don't trust anyone to work on my motorcycles but me. Even something as simple as a tire change can be turned into a nightmare by incompetent "experts".

I have a local place (yeah, there is actually an 'all brand' bike shop in Alvin, TX)...I bring in the new tires and wheels...US$30.00 to mount/balance each wheel.