6000 service done today - £300 - Oh good grief Swing arm had a bit of play and needed adjusting, and a few other bits needed sorting on top of oil and filter - but £300? Can this be normal?? Are there any non-franchise BMW mecahnics around the Hampshire area people can recommend (who don't charge £66/hour).
depends what else they did......valve adjust is due at 6k and if they did the annual brake fluid then it's bloody cheap.
Did you buy into the low maintenance shaft drive sales pitch?
Lloyd
It's not how fast you ride, it's how you ride fast.
Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear
bright until you hear them speak.
HOW MUCH?
Just had a 6000 mile job with brake calipers cleaned up, oil leak sorted, a couple of other little jobs fettled, normal tune up AND a MOT. A tadge over £180 inc. VAT. Pidcocks in Long Eaton. No complaints there judging by other riders bills.
at South London, I've never had a service cheaper than £500; although I do usually get a new set of tyres at the same time; worst experience was Vines of guildford [read thieves of guildford] which charged £950 for the 24,000 service + 2 Bridgestone BT020's ; is it just me or am i getting seriously shafted....
BrettC wrote:at South London, I've never had a service cheaper than £500; although I do usually get a new set of tyres at the same time; worst experience was Vines of guildford [read thieves of guildford] which charged £950 for the 24,000 service + 2 Bridgestone BT020's ; is it just me or am i getting seriously shafted....
Even with "London weighting" that sounds like someone's sticking half of that in their back pocket before it reaches the till.
I'd suggest not buying tyres from them, though. Pidcocks, for instance, charge around £20-£30 a wheel for a ride-in ride-out thingy, rather than £15 for both at Grippers down the road. Add that to the extra 10% or so for the tyre price in the first place, and it becomes silly. Bath Road in Bristol were no different. Tyres are better bought from a tyre place. Funnily enough.
But for comparison, I reckon the 24K service with two 020s from Pidcocks would cost around £500.
--
Rob.
BrettC wrote:at South London, I've never had a service cheaper than £500; although I do usually get a new set of tyres at the same time; worst experience was Vines of guildford [read thieves of guildford] which charged £950 for the 24,000 service + 2 Bridgestone BT020's ; is it just me or am i getting seriously shafted....
don't get tyres there - very bad idea.
don't think I've ever paid more than 400 ish for a service at Vines (but would have to look back through the receipts). Normally they're doing a lot more than just a service though, eg warranty work or non-warranty extra stuff too.
decisivedave wrote:Are there any non-franchise BMW mecahnics around the Hampshire area people can recommend (who don't charge £66/hour).
Oh well - no beer for me this month
Cheers, Dave
I live Nr Southampton and can rent you my finest twatting rubber hammer for £1/hour. The answer is ..... do it yourself
My bike has only spent about £400 at SPC in the last 85k miles. Seriously though, most of it is pretty simple, even a BMW mechanic could do it Confidence is the key I reckon
Jason M wrote:...my bike has only spent about £400 at SPC in the last 85k miles...
...in a few hours I'll bring my bike to the stealership...
...a little play in my rearwheel...
...an oil leaking driveshaft...
...and a majour ABS/brake failure...(we (son and me) almost hit on a car a few days ago ; the brakes didn't do anything...)
...oh...the bike : the thing has a staggering 11.438 miles on the clock...
...can't wait for the stealership's invoice...
...BTW Andrew ; that's quite an avatar you've got this time...
Jason M wrote:...my bike has only spent about £400 at SPC in the last 85k miles...
...in a few hours I'll bring my bike to the stealership...
...a little play in my rearwheel...
...an oil leaking driveshaft...
...and a majour ABS/brake failure...(we (son and me) almost hit on a car a few days ago ; the brakes didn't do anything...)
...oh...the bike : the thing has a staggering 11.438 miles on the clock...
...can't wait for the stealership's invoice...
...BTW Andrew ; that's quite an avatar you've got this time...
Glad you're OK and missed the car Ron
re the £400 - that's not to say that nothing has gone wrong with the bike in the last 85k - it's had a couple of sets of paralever bearing, main swing arm bearings, new clutch, replacement gearbox, replaced rear lower U/J , shocks, fork seals plus lots of odds and sods like blown instrument lights etc etc plus all the usual consumables.... oh, and the ABS lights have been flasing for a while.... about a 2 year while now actually... It's just that I will always try to do it myself first instead of giving hard earned cash to the stealers (I'm sure S C management use £20 notes as toilet paper )
If you take the bike to a dealer and get them to plug it into their diagnostic computer, it will tell you why the ABS lights are flashing. They might also be able to reset the lights for you if the failure has righted itself. It's a 30 second job for them and they would have to be pretty hard hearted to charge you for it. Once you know what the problem is you can go back to your own toolbox to rectify it (or not).
Cheers,
Paul
You really need only two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape.
If you take the bike to a dealer and get them to plug it into their diagnostic computer, it will tell you why the ABS lights are flashing. They might also be able to reset the lights for you if the failure has righted itself. It's a 30 second job for them and they would have to be pretty hard hearted to charge you for it. Once you know what the problem is you can go back to your own toolbox to rectify it (or not).
Cheers,
Paul
Chears Paul - I know what the problem is.... it involves a fork leg, a reluctant-to-move abs sensor, and a BIG F**K OFF VICE . Well, it came out anyway.... in a couple of pieces... and a bit smaller . A bloke at work reckons he's managed to solder it back together (it's only a simple coil) and I've refitted it but I just have not got round to going to SPC cos they're not open the only day I start work later that 7:30 (Monday). I know I should.... except that the other day I was changing the rear caliper, went to bleed the rear brake and there was a loud POP and the rear brake hose blew open. I'm not a trained mechanic (I've taken A-Level 'twatting' but haven't completed the arse-scratching and sucking-teeth sections yet) but I suspect the explosion of the pipe may have lead to bubbles in the ABS system which is a non-optimal setup I'm led to believe. In an effort to cure this, I am awaiting delivery of a big bugger off syringe and tube to vacuum suck the brake system, then I might get round to SPC. I need to get up there and get some replacement pieces for my Justisimo as visor-overuse has resulted in the plastic detent mechanism wearing out and failing, and it automatically shutting in about 0.0001 seconds any time I exceed 10mph...which is nice. But rather than buy a new helmet (you getting the walletus-emptyus picture ) I now have a large black sucker off the end of a valve grinding stick stuck on the inside of the bottom of the visor keeping it open a crack and this seems to work a treat from 0-loony mph
6000 mile service, around £130 at a dealer. There should not be any variation across the country. If there is, someone is taking the piss. Last weekend my brother in law had his 1200C serviced. They told him both tyres were borderline. Front one had about a thousand miles left in it and the rear was as good as new.
Swing arm had a bit of play and needed adjusting, and a few other bits needed sorting on top of oil and filter - but £300? Can this be normal?? Are there any non-franchise BMW mecahnics around the Hampshire area people can recommend (who don't charge £66/hour).
C management use £20 notes as toilet paper 
. Well, it came out anyway.... in a couple of pieces... and a bit smaller 
