Who can I trust.......

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Does anyone have any experience of/comments on mail order/online distance-learning courses in bike maintenance? Even if it's £500, it'll easily pay for itself through my biking life, if they're any good.

I don't think that's necessary tbh - even a complete mechanical novice (like me) can pull the bike apart and put it back together (mostly!) and you'll do even better with aid of a Haynes manual.

The only more complex stuff will be engine internals but you probably wouldn't be able to do that yourself anyway (you'd need specialist equipment for splitting crank etc) so you'd need to stick it in a garage - I even dropped the engine out of my old bike when this needed doing and at that point I knew absolutely Sweet F.A.

Anything else, I'm sure you can handle, given enough spare time

I know, I know, but I just never have time to do it. Believe me I'd like to, it would be a pleasure.

If you've got the time to take the bike to a dealer and fart about waiting for them to finish it off/find the keys/find the bike/get the spares/find "Rodders"/do the paperwork etc, and then spend more time taking it back to argue about why they turned your bike into a death trap, you've got the time to DIY. The routine stuff is a piece of wee wee on an SV. (Apart from plugs.) Just get a Haynes and get your paws dirty.

Originally Posted by BillyC

Heathfield - Groombridges - NO!

Is there something I should know? I've just booked my bike in with them.

[mattSV]

You aint seen this, roight.............

I try not to take my bike to the shop for anything... Try to do it yourself if you feel confident enough, or makes freinds with a mechanically inclined person. however if you do have to take it to a shop and you know what needs to be done make sure you explicity tell them what to do and nothing else ... some of them will try to scam you or try to fix a problem that's not even a problem. If they will let you I would be standing over their shoulders the entire time they are working on your bike ...

Good luck

Originally Posted by mattSV

You aint seen this, roight.............

That's the one!!

[BillyC]

Originally Posted by Longshotmojo

Is there something I should know? I've just booked my bike in with them.

Well... here is a selection of incidents that would deter me from using their services:

1) Putting Chutz's gear shifter on upside-down: 5 gears down, 1 Up; not encouring when you pull away in second gear, and then change "up" into first! Yes, the rear wheel locked!

2) Putting Chutz's rear wheel on wonky! A separate occasion to point 1, he just thought his riding was poor... then found out a week later the rear wheel was out by 5mm. Put him off his riding for a month!

3) Forgetting to balance my wheels despite having paid for it. Communication between the workshop and the upstairs management is a bit poor.

4) When Tim (Coombest) bought his Tripple from them, they didn't replace the chain and sprockets which was an agreed part of the deal.

5) Again with the Triumph, they obviously paid no attention to the PDI and gave him a faulty and dangerous bike.

6) After the bike being returned 4 times they still hadn't fixed it.

7) The bike then goes to a Triumph Dealer, who report that 4 out of 5 warranty recalls had not been carried out on the Tripple - despite Groombridge's saying that it was all done.

One of the recalls was a new chain!


I've heard other stories too, but these are just the experiences of people I know on this forum.

Hmmm, can't say I've had much agro from them so far but maybe I'll be taking a trip to J.S Gedge in future