Bike shop lack of SERVICE!

[250girl]

Had an aggrivating experience with a bike shop today. Let's see if anyone else can relate. I will keep the names of the bike shops anonymous, since the employees probably have accounts on this forum.

I need a new silencer for my 1994 WR250. I know it's old, and I don't expect to have a huge selection of silencers available for it. In my town there is no bike shop, there's a Yamaha shop in the town down the road to my left, and another in the other town to my right. One shop is a much larger fancy one, and the other is a smaller, more family oriented place.
I try the big one first. The girl on the phone she can get me a stock one for 510$. I ask her if she could by any chance find me an FMF one, wich would be cheaper. The girl sighs and tells me that she won't be able to find anything for a bike older than 2003, so maybe I should just go to a bike wrecker and find one, because my bike is pretty old.

So, just for fun I decide to try the smaller shop in the other town. They tell me they can get me a stock one for $510, but ask for my name and number so they can do some searching around and call me back. 15 minutes later I get a call. They found several FMF silencers and pipes for my bike, $175 for a silencer, and that they can have it to me by the weekend.

How exactly can one Yamaha shop find me what I want while the other tells me I have to order the $510 one or go to a bike wrecker?!?! I assure you it will be the last time I deal with that shop.

I am impressed with the smaller shop. Friendly people and great customer service. The shop I usually deal with is a small Suzuki place. When I walk in or even call, they know me by name, generally make fun of me, and don't expect me to give them a credit card number when I order something over the phone. Always helpful and polite, and put up with me calling them every day to see if my part is in yet :laugh:

Maybe I should have gotten a silencer from my Suzuki guys in the first place.

 

[IndyMX]

It's not that the bigger shop couldn't do it, they just didn't want to. After all, opening up that catalog to the proper page is a real hassle. I mean damn, she might have even had to look at the index.

We have a shop like that here.. They never have anything in stock.. Not even the things you'd think would be selling like mad. You know, consumables.. Nope, gotta order it.

I'd rather order from Service Honda and wait a few more days than to put up with the crap I have to put up with from my local dealer.

 

[Patman]

We have one local shop (KTM) that I will deal with, the few other small shops are both a further drive. The local big shop is worthless, low parts stock but massive stock of helmets, T shirts and fringed jackets. I can appriciate the desire to make a buck and those items as well as the new wheeled toys bring it in but come on now, there IS money in parts! I pretty much have given up on getting parts locally and deal with Service Honda (Powersports). The people on the phone are VERY helpful and friendly, getting what I need is easy and it gets delivered to my door for less than I could drive and order then drive back and pickup the same part for.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

I live 30 minutes from harassing AJ at Service Honda, I have another Honda dealer 3 minutes from my house, they would have to order a bottle of 927! Not buying a new bike from Service for years, I get a cheaper price ordering over the net, and dealing with someone declaring themselves as poo, that part I will stop by and find out who that is? I have access to the net? I have an old dog that parts are a nightmare, without doing a search on the net first! My locals do not seemingly need my business, oh well! 3-5 business days usually, its at my door.

 

[Patman]

Poo rocks!

 

[truespode]

I have a small Husky/Gas Gas dealer that I deal with. I ride a Yamaha YZ250F but even when I had my Yamaha WR250 they always got me the parts I wanted.

The bigger shops don't have the same passion as some of the smaller shops. Upstate Cycle has people who love the sport and have worked their for a very long time... it is like a family business.

I like to do into the bigger shops and get them worked up by asking a lot of questions they don't know the answers to. It really isn't their fault but it does tell me whether I should be giving them my money for anything.

Ivan

 

[Ol'89r]

Poo rocks!

Hey! I know him. :cool:

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

In my area I have dealers, chain stores and small private shops.

The dealers intention is to sell bikes with minimal margin and then make big profits on service, parts and accessories for the bikes they recently sold. The people working in the store might actually ride a bike but it is probably a street bike. They have little interest or incentive to stock parts for older bikes. I had a Honda dealer a few minutes from home but they went out of business after only a couple of years, which doesn't surprise me because their prices were high and the sales people knew very little about what they were selling.

The chain stores sell clothing and basic parts. If you are lucky you can get them to order a part that they have in their own catalog but forget about odd parts.

The small locally owned bike shop is where I go when I need something for my 23 year old bike. They don't sell bikes, they only sell parts, accessories and gear. These guys ride dirt bikes, some of them compete in district level events. These guys can tell you the difference between a Leatt and EVS neck brace. After searching on my own for 10 minutes for an air filter element for my '97 WR250 I asked the sales clerk and he says "That would be right here" and goes right to it. When I ask for a piston for my 97 WR250 he says "that would be the same as a '95 YZ" and then he gets one, out of stock.

I give them my business because I value their service. I could order things cheaper off the internet but that would be a very selfish thing to do and would only hurt myself if the local shop went out of business.

Rod

 

[250girl]

Not many of the shops around here stock parts, big or small. The big fancy shop stocks all the fancy stuff, as you guys have pointed out. Not much useful stuff though.

The small Suzuki shop I deal with doesn't stock much at all. They simply don't have the amount of people going through, or even 1/4 the space of the big guys. They just don't sell as much. That's not their fault and I don't hold it against them at all. They have some stuff though. When my STUPID dog knocked my bike over the day before I had a ride with a bunch of guys arranged, and broke my throttle assembly, they had one in stock that fit my 2000 RM. Most of the stuff that shops stock (Suzuki in particular becasue if the chages between 200o and 2001) is 2005 and up. 2001 for Suzuki, it you're lucky. I was very appreciative of my ride being saved!

Also, the small guys will dig around and go out of their way to find the part that is the best deal. Big guys, wring every last cent out of you if they think they can.

I buy things from the big shop if one particular guy is working there. I will ONLY deal with him, because I know he is honest, tries his best, and always gives me a good deal. Usually a good little price cut, more if I yell :p
The owner of that shop has a very bad reputation with a lot of the local bikers. Mom won't even set foot in that shop she is so mad at him.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

Hey! I know him. :cool:

Rats! I envisioned Poo as a female! Most vintage shops are great to deal with for some odd reason. DGY has a lot of parts for walk ins, but they go way overboard with the over retail pricing, and the crapachino machine. Should have seen what a pigsty of a shop was seemingly in business before Service Honda bought them out, what a joke, Lee's Honda! Even the newest shop they absorbed, Extreme, they were, do we screw you and how, kinda people. I seriously would not buy anything other than a Honda, just because Service is so good, now my market is broadened to all bikes, nearly. Thank you Greg Foster and friends! And let me tell you what a deal you get if you buy a bike from them!!!

 

[SVTMc-G]

we've got several shops here in evansville. My buddy is the parts manager for one of the 2 honda dealers here and he orders anything I need, and I usually pay less than ANY internet price. Gotta love friends!!!

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

we've got several shops here in evansville. My buddy is the parts manager for one of the 2 honda dealers here and he orders anything I need, and I usually pay less than ANY internet price. Gotta love friends!!!

Gotta love the 200 percent average mark up! When you know a guy, that equates to parts at half price!

 

[_JOE_]

The mark-up is crazy. That is a great reason to get to know the local shop guys. Usually if you go in there alot they'll hook you up.

 

[extrememxaddiction]

i have had the same situation with 2 dealers near me. one is medium sized and the other one is tiny. i usually am an idiot and have to call 3 or 4 times one the same order. the guys at the bigger one are always very snotty to me and usually i do not mind returning the favor, but the small ones guys are always very nice to me and we know each other by name, bike, bike model/year ect. and i can get the same part from the little one for at least half of the price of the big one......you can probably tell where my business goes....

 

[lazywaffleman]

Boy oh boy, When my yz was in need of a new top end and seals for the bottom end the local big shop said 200$ for parts and get this 600$ for labor alone. So I called my small local shop, they said 160 for parts and 125 for labor, the guy i talked to on the phone was much more interested than the guy i talked from the big store with 100,000 helmets.