Bleeding brakes?

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by Badbilly, Nov 21, 2014.

  1. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    All this is valuable information. Y'all can go back to whatever you were doing now. I am going to start looking for a taser to use on the dude with the 93 in case he spots me someplace and starts asking more simple questions.
     
  2. NormK

    NormK New Member

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    Billy don't stress, but if this stuff was easy and straight forward we wouldn't be still talking about it, so don't tazer the poor guy, it isn't his fault, it is a worldwide problem.
     
  3. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    If ever I get down your way, be assured that checking oot a Harley dealership will be at the bottom of my bucket list. Come to think of it, that goes for Florida too..;)
     
  4. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    The older the bike the more simple and basic it is. Shops that won't work on older bikes may be incompetent to work on ANY bikes !
     
  5. NormK

    NormK New Member

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    Squirrel, simplicity is not the issue, it is finding things that have been mongrelled up, butchered,cross threaded or just worn out, bits that require machining and rebuilding and the difficulty of sourcing parts, a shop doesn't want some customer whinging in their ear because his bike has been stuck in their shop for 2 weeks, or more, while they try and find the parts that are NLA, just better off working on newer stuff. Plain ecconomics, if you want to ride older stuff you either work on it yourself or get a newer bike and pay the man at the counter when you go to pick it up
     
  6. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Being a big fan of the Jeffersonian model of "All men are created equal......" some how equating that with motorcycle shops is a little hard to swallow..
     
  7. nozzle

    nozzle New Member

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    If the guy can't wrench his bike he has to pay. After bleeding the linked brakes on my 5th gen, $100 does not seem bad. I had a small shop near me want $100 to mount a tire where I'd brought the tire and rim, that shop is closed-but that price was his way of saying he did not want to deal with my problem. It was his shop, no hard feelings. I had the price before the work so no problem.
     
  8. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Oh shit! I had no idea the guys 93 had linked brakes or needed a tire too.
     
  9. nozzle

    nozzle New Member

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    Neither did I.

    If you wanted an "agree with me that $100 is too much " thread, I missed that in the subject ;-)
     
  10. Gator

    Gator Insider

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    Bleed and replace didn't take a decent mechanic an hour. But then a decent mechanic probably would have done a full inspection of all the brake components and that would take an hour easily. I bet they bled them while filling from the top making sure no air got in and did the job in 15 minutes.
     
  11. Gator

    Gator Insider

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    I wonder if I can find a shop to work on my 38 year old RD 350? lol

    I'm sure there would be one but they are not touching it.
     
  12. Gator

    Gator Insider

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    Ever replace plugs on a CBR 1000RR? Now we are talking about a lot of time and a real pain in the ass. Did it a few weeks ago for only the second time. Forgot how painful it was.
    plugs.jpg
     
  13. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    I always knew you could read better than that. My faith is restored..;)
     
  14. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Nope. This is why I have had various thumpers over time.. Ahh the two strokes.. Only three moving parts unless ya count the tranny in the mix..
     
  15. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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  16. nozzle

    nozzle New Member

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    Ask another dude and perhaps a bacon-crab cake cheese burger would be recommended. Hope you are ducks fan after last night's battle of the ugly uniforms (says the Maryland fan)
     
  17. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    Hmm.

    This is probably totally irrelevant, but from a European perspective I think the dude got a pretty fair deal for that work on a 20+ year old bike. Over here he would be very lucky to find any professional outfit willing to touch it - except for people returning with a bike which the shop has routinely looked after over most if not all of those 20+ years!

    There are a number of factors to consider here.

    That 100 dollars bill is not pure profit over the staff wages.

    Running any workshop is not cheap - especially once you factor in all the environmental, training and Health & Safety costs imposed on businesses nowadays, and the growing willingness to sue people for pretty much anything culture, which we seem to have imported from the other side of the pond. I suspect the insurance premiums needed to keep all those lawyers suitably rewarded will cream off at least 10% of that bill.

    To put other shop costs in context, this lot .. http://www.ovalmotorcyclecentre.co.uk/prices-and-facilities/
    run a fully equipped DIY motorbike repair centre in London. You book a workshop slot and get to work on your bike in a warm and well lit shop equipped with professional ramps and tools etc. Officially it is DIY but even so the centre staff will offer advise if you hit problems and make sure any work is properly tested before you head home. So yes if the guy knew what he was doing and did not encounter any problems then I guess with access to roughly similar facilities he could do that fluid swap within the minimum 1 hour slot. If he was a total novice he might struggle to complete the work in three.

    So assuming the work entailed just 1 hour of workshop overhead fees - that alone would cost £24 plus a further £6.50 for sundries and environmental waste disposal for the old brake fluid - which at current exchange rates works out at about $47.

    I have no idea what typical wage rates are like for workshop staff over in the USA, but my guess is that at over half of what is left will be go towards paying the staff and all related social charges and taxes etc. So optimistically that leaves the shop with less than $20 real profit on that job. Given the potential reputational risk of that work going horribly wrong - ie the sort of sheared bleed screws - wrecked calliper scenarios previously mentioned, I tend to think he got charged a fair price - especially given the guy was seemingly unwilling to get his fingers dirty! Over here with our minimum wage rate rules he could easily be paying double that!

    Hey Ho.




    SkiMad
     
  18. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Tillamook cheese of course. Roast duck? The crabbers should make some money this season. The Chinese are buying up a bunch. Locally buying off the boats is done.
     
  19. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    I agree. Irrelevant, boring and verbose.

    Not much new aboot DIY shops. Basic search term is " diy garages" subset "motorcycles".
     
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