Dead Bike
 

So the battery refused to stay charged so I changed the battery. Still no good.
Dead bike. So I do search of the area (I've receintly moved to Finsbury Park) and find 'The Pit Stop' on Holloway Road. So last week I wheel the bike to them and just got the bike back today. Asked for a general sevice and for the battery prob to be sorted. On the phone the guy says that there were some probs with the brakes, a mixture of brake fluid and dust has built up and needed to be cleaned away as it was pushing the discs forward and messing with the brakes. This took a long time they said. Anyway, the bikes running beautifully - but the bill!

Breakdown:

1 regulator/rectifier - £90

1 set front breakpads - £45

2 spark plugs - £15

engine oil = filter - £35

airfilter - £25

rear brakepads - £21

Labour - 5 1/2 hours @ £35

Total - £424.00

Now before the battery issue I was going to do the oil and spark plugs myself (You lot have inspireded this new found confidence :) )

But as they had the bike I fought I'd just let them get on with it. It's the labour I'm not sure about and the brake pad thing. Have I been done/? Or have they just done a good job? I've no idea. :?

Re: Dead Bike
 

I don't know whether garages mark up parts - never really used one, but I know that the cost of the plugs and pads seem on the expensive side unless they swapped them with sintered pads and iridium spark plugs.

£35 p/h is pretty standard for labour. As for time, I don't know. It does seem a tad much (time wise) but then I don't know to what extent they 'cleaned the brakes up'. I spent quite a while completely overhaulling mine fairly recently - but then I'm not charging myself an hourly rate!

i would serioulsy argue the toss over the bill,

a lot of those items are extremly over priced... and 5.5 hours.. thats a stupid amount of time for that work, i could do all that, strip the calipers and re build them for less time than that.

maybe i have no idea what garages do charge but i would at least say its a little excessive.

some London comparisons:


Garage that I go to charge £40 p/h - that's Farringdon.

T'other day I bought an oil filter for £6 (OEM one) & semi-synth oil for either 6.99 or 8.99 a litre & the sv is what - jsut shy of 3 litres?

That only seems to add up to £266?? Am I missing something?

Yes, the other 4.5 hrs of labour charges!

The other 4 1/2 hours labour... :lol:

the labour.... 5.5x35 = 192.5

You missed the other 4.5 hours labour. :shock:
It does seem dear but that seems to be the way of things if you let bike garages loose with a just fix it instruction.I always do the simple stuff like oil and filter changes myself and if I need a garage to do anything I leave strict limits on what I want done.Live and learn. :evil:

I think they mean the labour charge :roll:

How much!!!!! done up like a kipper :shock:

Oh holy Mary is that how much they charge. I charge £400 flat fee for most resi conveyancing - some of it takes 10 - 12 hours, gives me an hourly rate ot £33 - £40. That's after 6 years trg and 20 years experience. And still people complain :shock:

I don't think so. I would put money that you do all you own work and servicing and so seeing the bill of a garage can seem expensive when you look at how much the parts would cost you. However, I don't think that it is unrealistic. I think it is on the expensive side, but I think that it would be quite possible to reach that price, and still be considered to be within the realms of fair. As BB said, chalk it down to experience and don't give garage's carte blanche to fix/service your bike!

engine oil and filter..35 notes...having a laugh. sounds like they put fully syntht in there (not needed) or at least charged you for it...

Retail for OE oil filter is £10.19. Apparently the SV uses about 3 litre(never measured myself) so using the above mentioned prices for oil,
3x £6.99 + £10.19 = £31.16 OR
3x£8.99 +£10.19=£37.16

Air filter curvy=£21.98
Rectifier Curvy(up to K1)= £85.41 and K2=£98.84

Air filter Pointy=£18.64
Rectifier Pointy=£89.12

The pads appear to be the only thing that seems a tad expensive but as said depends on what they put in. That could still be just what they sell the parts for.

£35/hr sounds good though so maybe if you look at it as having gained on the labour charge and lost a bit on the parts bit, it's wouldn't look so bad :roll: :wink: .

Always makes sure the garage knows exactly what they should or should not do. Saves unnecessary lengthy conversations at the very least.



Cheers
Ben

Im with ben. Its about right for parts. HG sell plugs at £6 a pop for the record.

What epople have to remember, is that not everyone has the Tools, time or environment to work on thier bike. Its fine if you have a tool kit, know what you are doing, have a decent garden/garage to work in, and have the time!

I need to service doris, including the valve clearences, but been busy, and when i had the time, it's raining, so it will have to wait for now.

That looks about right in my experience. Now I do most servicing myself. Just did a 4'000 miles service on my Hornet and spent about £45 in total. 4x spark plugs, new semi-synth oil, OE oil filter and some chain lube. The garage wanted £200 for the same thing!

It does seem a lot of labour, but electrical problems can be difficult. And without knowing the condition of the calipers, you can't really say how long it should take to fix- could be they brought those back from the brink of scrap, which would take time. But, I doubt that tbh since they didn't charge for new seals- any bad buildup would usually take the dustseals out.

Thanks for the replies guys. As Vinny said I've no real tools or experience. I wouldn't have a clue about taking brakes apart let alone putting them back together again. the guy at the garage was a good bloke and has even offered to try and give my alarm a go, a problem which has bothered me for months.

:D

An air filter from my local suzuki dealer is £15 and oil and filter from HG is £25.

:smt081

Err... :? Now the brakes are sh~t! OK round town but nearly killed myself racing a porche on the way to work this morning! Front brake seems not work till lever is all the way down, very spongy, no real grip :shock:

Woah dude be careful, New brake pads take some time to bed in before they give optimal performance just take it easy.

Saying that if the lever is coming right back to the bar you might well have air in the system still. Sounds like the garage might not have bled the brakes properly.

If your not happy take it back and get them to sort it, Alternatively you can do it yourself its not hard to do. It just takes a bit of time and patience.

Have a search through the site, bleeding brakes has been covered a few times.

HTH

Cheers, I'll have a look through Fizzwheel, though it should be for the garage to do. He did mention that I might need a new caliper though.