Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Recent Craig's List Ad Offering Service

Hi... I was just on Craig's List (Los Angeles) and there is the following ad offering maintenance & repair on vintage foreign bikes ....

"Are you tired of having someone you don't trust or like servicing your bike? We repair vintage motorcycles (American, British, Japanese, Italian and German makes). We are efficient, trustworthy, and we are not stuck up. Drop us a line if you have general questions - someone will get back to you to you shortly. If you're interested in a tune up, general service, or misc. service please reply with your name and a phone number so we can get back to you.
Thank You

I sent them an e-mail asking if they did strictly vintage work or do they work on newer bikes as well (ie my '06 TBA).

Their first response was "what do you need done and do you have the repair manual?" My question is if they have to ask me for the manual.. how knowledgeable can they be?
Chris

Being that they work on old stuff, I would imagine they are the "I can figure it out eventually" kinda guys, so they figure if you have a manual, they can figure it out.

hmm.. that doesn't boost my confidence level too much.. think I'll stick to my faraway dealer for now.
Thanks

Yeah I know it wasn't really an answer

I dunno, I don't think it's unusual at all to ask for a repair manual. If they had one for your bike they wouldn't have asked. Years and years ago I used to work for a rental construction equipment company and maintained hundreds of machines from 2 cycle cut-off saws to Bobcats and consulted repair manuals on a daily basis for specs and part numbers.

Steve

They sound like they know their stuff. They asked for a manual because they work on old bikes, which I'm sure they have manuals for. If you work on a lot of makes no matter how good you are you gotta have a shop manual. If it was me I would give them a shot.

Really if you think about it, our bikes aren't that much different than the old Triumphs. Sure there's differences, but our bikes still have the same basic vertical twin, carbs, etc.

You'd need the manual for things like fork oil levels and such. That's not something you should just be eyeballing.

I use the shop manuals daily, even on equipment that I'm very familiar with. It's necessary for torque and measurement specifications, special tools, as mentioned for oil types and capacities, as well as service intervals, etc.

Ok.. I get the point.. and you are all correct. I guess my objection is / was that they claim to specialize on foreign bikes like Triumphs, yet they don't even have their own manuals. I suppose they would likely not have a newer manual for an America, especially if they specialize only in vintage bikes, which was my first (unanswered) question to them. I am making too much of this and I appreciate everyone's input.

You're not making too much of this if you need a dependable shop to work on your bike.....
The best thing to do would be to take a ride to their shop and see who/what you would be dealing with. A good mechanic still needs the correct tools and factory info to do the job properly, I don't care what he's working on.

Go check 'em out.