Posted by Bruce Richmond on November 28, 2007, 12:35 pm
> > You're lucky. Although, I guess I could hunt down a guy
> > like that if I tried. I think my last tire was right at $300.
> > That's a rear Valkyrie, ~$215/tire, ~$60/mount, tax, shop
> > supplies, comes out to about $295/$298.
> > BTW. That was a Dunlop D251 - 150.70.R16
> http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code= ...
> $132,
> figure $35 to install and balance after you take the wheel off the
> bike. It's not hard and you got screwed. I have to maintain tires on
> three bikes. I went the HF tire mounter and built a static balancer.
> It paid for itself on the first set of tires. I'm cheap, but I can now
> buy better quality tires online and still come out ahead. I can relate
> some horror stories of taking the bike into have tires put on at our
> local dealers. More than once and not a good one in the bunch.
> --
> sleazy
> R1150GSA - "Terminator"
> Trophy 1200 - "The Fast One"
Years ago I had decided that my time was worth enough to have a dealer
do a tire change for me rather than do it myself. First time I went
to adjust the chain, the day after they mounted the tires, the
adjuster bolts were gone. They had forgotten to tighten the lock nuts
or something. Went back to the shop and, oh no, they would never do a
thing like that, but they could sell me some new ones.
Later at a different shop I had picked out a set of tires off their
rack. Didn't mind paying a bit more for the convenience of having
them right there. Had a freind follow me to the shop so I could leave
the bike while I went to work. When we came back I noticed that they
had put the wrong tire on the back. Left the bike overnight and
imposed on my friend for another ride. Next day they had the correct
tire on, along with some jam marks in the mag wheel from tire irons.
Oh no, there's no way they could have done that. They must have been
there before. Yeah, right. Paid the bill, got on the bike and took
off. Hadn't gone a mile when I noticed it was riding awful stiff.
Found they had adjusted the chain so tight that it was binding as the
swingarm tried to pivot up. Two days later the speedometer stopped
working. Looked down and the cable was dragging on the ground. The
screw on fitting was still where it belonged, but it had not been
tightened so the cable worked around until the flair pulled through
the fitting. Wrapped the cable around the handlebar and rode straight
to the dealers. Oh no, they would never have left that loose. But
the did have a new cable if I needed one.
That was the last time I ever had a dealer change a tire for me.
Bruce
Posted by Anonymous on November 28, 2007, 1:38 pm
>>
>> > You're lucky. Although, I guess I could hunt down a guy
>> > like that if I tried. I think my last tire was right at $300.
>>
>> > That's a rear Valkyrie, ~$215/tire, ~$60/mount, tax, shop
>> > supplies, comes out to about $295/$298.
>>
>> > BTW. That was a Dunlop D251 - 150.70.R16
>>
>> http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code= ...
>>
>> $132,
>>
>> figure $35 to install and balance after you take the wheel off the
>> bike. It's not hard and you got screwed. I have to maintain tires on
>> three bikes. I went the HF tire mounter and built a static balancer.
>> It paid for itself on the first set of tires. I'm cheap, but I can now
>> buy better quality tires online and still come out ahead. I can relate
>> some horror stories of taking the bike into have tires put on at our
>> local dealers. More than once and not a good one in the bunch.
>>
>> --
>> sleazy
>>
>> R1150GSA - "Terminator"
>> Trophy 1200 - "The Fast One"
> Years ago I had decided that my time was worth enough to have a dealer
> do a tire change for me rather than do it myself. First time I went
> to adjust the chain, the day after they mounted the tires, the
> adjuster bolts were gone. They had forgotten to tighten the lock nuts
> or something. Went back to the shop and, oh no, they would never do a
> thing like that, but they could sell me some new ones.
> Later at a different shop I had picked out a set of tires off their
> rack. Didn't mind paying a bit more for the convenience of having
> them right there. Had a freind follow me to the shop so I could leave
> the bike while I went to work. When we came back I noticed that they
> had put the wrong tire on the back. Left the bike overnight and
> imposed on my friend for another ride. Next day they had the correct
> tire on, along with some jam marks in the mag wheel from tire irons.
> Oh no, there's no way they could have done that. They must have been
> there before. Yeah, right. Paid the bill, got on the bike and took
> off. Hadn't gone a mile when I noticed it was riding awful stiff.
> Found they had adjusted the chain so tight that it was binding as the
> swingarm tried to pivot up. Two days later the speedometer stopped
> working. Looked down and the cable was dragging on the ground. The
> screw on fitting was still where it belonged, but it had not been
> tightened so the cable worked around until the flair pulled through
> the fitting. Wrapped the cable around the handlebar and rode straight
> to the dealers. Oh no, they would never have left that loose. But
> the did have a new cable if I needed one.
> That was the last time I ever had a dealer change a tire for me.
> Bruce
LOL. "I feel your pain". Although I've never really had
any problems, I do sometimes worry about the people
which I entrusted my life, to change my tire.
As I said earlier, when you see new faces every time
you visit the shop, you kinda' begin to wonder.
About the only problem I've ever actually encountered
was a mechanic failed to route a speedo cable through
it's intended path during a front tire R&R.
But, I do have a companion story of a friend, to augment
your descriptions....
I have a friend who one owned one of those Yamaha
Road Star's/Royal Star's. It's the one that's a vtwin of
about 1600-1800cc. It was called a Silverado.
He got a rear tire change at a dealer for an upcoming
Sturgis ride. He made the ride, and upon his return to
Texas, displayed a completely bald rear tire.
As it turns out, the dealer had mounted a tire made for
front end use, on the rear axle. I don't really know the
difference between a front/rear tire, but it sure didn't
last long.
Unlike your experience(s), he returned to the dealer, and
they quickly replaced the tire with a correct one. I'm sure
that dealer was just elated that their mistake had not land-
ed in the middle of a injury/death lawsuit.
Posted by sleazy on November 29, 2007, 8:14 am
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:35:55 GMT, Outback Jon
>Other than that, I do all my own service. Valve adjust, carb sync, oil
>changes, tires, brakes (not yet, but in the spring).
>And it's not "cheap"... We Connie riders prefer "frugal". :)
Connie riders are big spenders compared to those that ride KLRs. Now,
they're cheap!
sleazy
'01 R1150GSA - "Terminator"
'95 Trophy 1200 - "SPT2R"
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> > like that if I tried. I think my last tire was right at $300.
> > That's a rear Valkyrie, ~$215/tire, ~$60/mount, tax, shop
> > supplies, comes out to about $295/$298.
> > BTW. That was a Dunlop D251 - 150.70.R16
> http://arizonamoto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code= ...
> $132,
> figure $35 to install and balance after you take the wheel off the
> bike. It's not hard and you got screwed. I have to maintain tires on
> three bikes. I went the HF tire mounter and built a static balancer.
> It paid for itself on the first set of tires. I'm cheap, but I can now
> buy better quality tires online and still come out ahead. I can relate
> some horror stories of taking the bike into have tires put on at our
> local dealers. More than once and not a good one in the bunch.
> --
> sleazy
> R1150GSA - "Terminator"
> Trophy 1200 - "The Fast One"