Saltire - Bike service today

Big thumbs up for Saltire once again!

Only booked it in last last week and had my choice of days for this week.

Arrived at 8:20 and hung around outside looking at bikes 'cos I knew I was well early. At 8:30 the guy comes out to get me "Is your bike booked in for a service? Do you want to come in?". They should open at 9am.

Working at a customer in Edinburgh city centre, last minute change of plan, so didn't actually need the courtesy bike, but the guy says, it's there, take it if you want it, it'll save you a walk. He can't find the indemnity forms though, so says stuff it, maybe I'll get into trouble for it, but gives me the keys anyway with a look in his eyes that says "please don't crash it".

(The CB500 really makes me appreciate the SV, it's a pile of poo to ride, but I'm just happy to have a courtesy bike. If I went to service the car I'd need to book three months in advance to get a base spec Corsa so a CB500 is what you expect)

The customer is a difficult one and I know when she's paying 850 quid a day for my services she won't be happy if I walk out pre 5pm to get the bike. So I need to arrange a late 1/2 hour for lunch and Saltire promise the bike will be finished by 2:30. At 1:30 I get a call to say it's ready.

Total cost for 15K service and a front Pirelli Diablo Strada, a wee bit under £300 quid. I asked last week at Cupar (not that I would have been going there, just curiosity) and they quoted me £280 just for the service.

That place deserves every award it gets, if you ask me it should win more than just Rider Power.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Big thumbs up for Saltire once again!
....
That place deserves every award it gets, if you ask me it should win more than just Rider Power.

Yep, this is what I have always thought and said, they are a great bunch down there

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

The CB500 really makes me appreciate the SV, it's a pile of poo to ride

Did you get the faired one? It was so bad that it was actually fun, had very little go to it

Originally Posted by Endellion

Did you get the faired one? It was so bad that it was actually fun, had very little go to it

Yep, slow as a slug. Very comfy tho! And I'm led to believe they are unburstable! Couriers and commuters everywhere love 'em.

But at the end of the day

It was so memorable I forgot what it was, I had a faired Suzuki GS500, not a CB500! Same difference eh?

Screen so low you wonder if it's worth having or if you'd be as well off on a naked bike.

If you want one in preference to a 250 commuter fair enough, but if you want a big bike as a comfy workhorse, buy a faired Bandit.

It had a pram wheel for a back tyre too

Send an email to Calum and tell him how impressed you were - people normally only contact to complain so it would make his day and reinforce the message that they are doing right. calum@saltiresuzuki.co.uk

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

I did some phoning round for tyre prices when I replaced the OEM dunlops...Now I just go to the one place as I've found them to be the cheapest...C & J Wilson, Broxburn, trade on ebay as BikeSpeedUK.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Total cost for 15K service and a front Pirelli Diablo Strada, a wee bit under £300 quid.

Aha! Unfaithful to C&J at the first opportunity, shame on you!

Originally Posted by Tiger 55

Aha! Unfaithful to C&J at the first opportunity, shame on you!

Haha, I do usually get tyres at C&J and got my last chain and sprocket set there. They are ebay cheap, and 15 minutes from my house. Makes a difference to be able to go on a Saturday morning and throw a wheel in the back of the car, Saltire or Strathearn I would normally need to pay ride in ride out, or travel a long way by car with the wheel.

For servicing (and anything else the bike happens to need at the same time) I've gone to Saltire ever since they opened. When it comes to the important and expensive stuff I prefer to trust a Suzuki dealer.

Tyres are tyres, usually just buy them wherever it's cheapest, but this time I needed convenience.

My tyre had worn on the right shoulder and had a completely bald ring all the way round it (too hard round roundabouts ), completely illegal, but the rest of the tyre still had 2mm left. I didn't notice it until this weekend (realised why the copper was staring at my front wheel when I was stopped at the Sma' Glen accident last weekend! Good job it was either too dark to be sure or he decided to let it go).

We've all got the Aviemore trip next weekend and I wanted to scrub in the tyre before then.

The bike was booked in for it's service so I decided to get the tyre done at the same time regardless of cost, I was nicely surprised when it didn't cost any more, mainly because I just got charged the labour for the whole job in one hit (the tyre itself was £73 inc VAT which is only a few quid more than C&J)

Originally Posted by Scooby Drew

Send an email to Calum and tell him how impressed you were - people normally only contact to complain so it would make his day and reinforce the message that they are doing right. calum@saltiresuzuki.co.uk

Will do, I'll just send him a link to this thread and a few others posted in the past.

I thought you were moving to Nottingham? I see your location is now Leamington Spa. My sister lives in Labroke. Next time I'm going for a run with my brother in law I'll give you a shout see if you want to come along.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Will do, I'll just send him a link to this thread and a few others posted in the past.

I thought you were moving to Nottingham? I see your location is now Leamington Spa. My sister lives in Labroke. Next time I'm going for a run with my brother in law I'll give you a shout see if you want to come along.

Good stuff. I work in Northampton and live in Leamington. If it wasn't for the fact that all my mates live around Leamington and Northampton is a dump, I'd move cos 400 miles a week commuting can be wearing and means that the last thing I want to do on my weekends is go for a thrash... It would be good to see you when you come down though and I might be in the mood for a wee spin & maybe a beer or ten

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Big thumbs up for Saltire once again!

Nipped through to saltire today to get the tyre checked out after the nail incident. Brilliant friendly (no bullcrap) service.

" no thats only went into the tread not the carcase, its fine, to be on the safe side i'd change in in say 3 - 5 thousand miles"

Magic back on and rode home happy and without the constant "what if this blows out" running through my head.

Thanks again Saltire.